Q: I am currently four weeks into my training programme and all seems to be going well. I have lost 6pounds and muscle tone is begining to show but something must be lacking in my diet as I am passing wind regularly but when it comes to going to the toilet I find myself constipated. I am eating healthy portions of veg along with protein. Any ideas Mike what could be causing this?

A: Congrats on your early progress!! Your question is a tough one to answer since everyones' digestive systems are a bit different in how they react to speicific foods. Passing wind could be caused by increased vegetable consumption, especially if you haven't been eating them much before. Most likely your body will 'get used' to them in time. I would give it another few weeks and see if that problem goes away.

Constipation is more unusual since normally eating more veggies helps with bowel movement. One thing to try is to increase the amount of soluble fiber in your diet (veggie fiber is mostly insoluble). Try having some old-fashioned oats in the morning. Beans also have soluble fiber but they may make your wind problem worse so you may want to skip them. Also, make sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day.

If these ideas don't help, unfortunately the only sure way to solve these problems is to identify which food is responsible. You'd need to make a list of 'suspect' foods and then spend a week or so without eating first food in the list, another week without eating the second food in the list, and so on. You will eventually notice the week when one or both of your problems improve and then you'll know which food to avoid. Hope that helps!