Since I quit smoking two years ago, I've gained quite a bit of weight and therefore try to watch what I eat. As a smoker, I could eat anything and still be ten pounds underweight. Not so anymore.
As I have experimented with my diet over the months, I make a mental checklist of what works and what doesn't. Something in my diet was making my stomach bloat up like a 7th month pregnancy and I could not figure out what it was. One day I did a google search - not sure what magic word combo I used but it had to do with bloat. I was half convinced I had cervical cancer until I found a couple of sites about sorbitol and sucralose. Both of these are sugar compounds that have had their molecular structure altered somehow so that they supposedly are sugarfree. They are found in diet sodas so I quit drinking Pepsi Edge and the daily bloat went away. I still had it occasionally and traced that to various sugarfree gums.
This week I had a bout and searched my desk for the culprit. Altoids chewing gum. Crossed that off the list of acceptable things to shove in the mouth. This evening my gut bloated up huge again so I turned the house upside down looking for what it might it be. There was a partial pack of Eclipse Polar Ice gum on Todd's reloading bench and I'd chewed two pieces of it. Got on the Wrigley's website and sure enough, add that to the list too. I guess I can either keep gaining weight or I can bloat up with air. Bloating up with air is quite painful so bring on the sugar!!