I hear you Todd... I would like to get some blood work done. Except, my doctor is not a nutritionist, I hate needles, and I'm no fan of doctors either. lol
Example, all my life I've had digestion problems. The doctors remedy? Treat the symptoms with TUMS or some pill. WRONG. The problem was that my stomach did not make enough acid. The solution, I started drinking
Braggs apple cider vinegar every other day. No more burping, hiccups, and indigestion. I can finally take on some garlic like never before!
I drink it now every morning. Plus it helps keep my body in an alkaline state. Just like lemons are very acidic, but when they get to your stomach, the turn alkaline. I also eat an apple+seeds everyday since its one of the most alkaline foods out there. The seeds are loaded with B-17, that has super cancer fighting properties.
Todd, I'm glad to hear about you cutting the wheat out. Try it and see what happens. I would cut as much as you can, if not all of it. It might be what's causing the binding. It's an industrial product now, its not our grandparents wheat anymore. Give it time too, everyone's different. I do still treat myself to things that might have some wheat, but I've cut 90% of it out of my life.
Another result of the paleo diet is that I'm never hungry. Products like wheat (gluten) and corn syrup are designed to increase our appetite. I was always hungry when I ate that stuff, hence being 20lbs over weight!
I eat 3 times a day, normal meals and I'm satisfied each time. I have a bag of nuts or piece of fruit in between. But I don't think we were designed to "graze" all day, eating 5-8 meals/snacks. I think that is a result of gluten and sugar making us hungry all the time.
So for this weekend, I'll being dining on some BBQ RIBS along with red onions, green, yellow and red peppers with plenty of Kerrygold butter (from grassfed cows), salt, pepper, garlic, maybe some asparagus too. Unsweetened ice tea to wash it down and for desert, raspberries, blueberries and starwberries with homemade whipped cream.