water retention

[sglazier]

I have a friend who has been 'detoxing' , cutting out sugar and coffee, and generally eating more healthily and carefully. She has been complaining about feeling bloated lately.Her friend Verity says it could be due to water retention brought on by a change in diet. Any thoughts?

[willow74]

Easy way of telling is to identify where the bloating is.  'Bloating' due to water retention is not just around the stomach area. It tends to manifest itself all over the body, in the hands, face, etc....

Could it not be gas or PMS bloating?

If it is everywhere and she does think it is water retention then they should take vitamin B-6. It acts as a natural diuretic. However, do not take more than 100mg per day.  
 

[Englishbird]

The best thing for water retention is to drink lots of water! But she should be doing this anyway if she's detoxing to flush out all the toxins.  The body can take a little while to re-adjust to any change in diet.

[morg_monster]

Caffeine is a diuretic; that is, it encourages your body to get rid of water. So if she used to drink quite a bit of coffee and tea and has now cut it out completely, her body won't be getting rid of water quite as quickly, so she might feel bloated.  You can get pills to take (over the counter) to discourage bloating... but it seems pointless as she'd just be swapping one drug (caffeine) for another with possibly more and less known side effects.