Are you familiar with bloating?

It’s that uncomfortable sensation when your stomach feels full and swollen like you’ve swallowed a balloon. Everyone experiences bloating differently. Some people wake up with a flat stomach, but by the end of the day, their stomach feels like it has a basketball in it. For others, the bloat is constant. They are bloated all day, every day.

So many people are bloated that it’s easy to associate bloating as a regular part of the eating experience.

Let’s set the record straight . . . regular bloating is not normal!

Although bloating is a common experience for many, it’s actually a sign of underlying gut dysfunction that needs to be addressed. Excessive gas and bloating are clear indicators of a compromised digestive system. Various factors, such as food intolerances, gut dysbiosis, and poor eating habits can all contribute to your symptoms.

If you want to eliminate the bloat so you can feel comfy in your own body, here are some helpful strategies to identify the root cause and improve your symptoms.

Diet Do’s:

– Consume plenty of high-quality protein and healthy fats: Protein and fat play important roles in signaling the process of digestion and provide essential building blocks for a healthy gut lining.
– Cook your veggies: Vegetables are rich in nutrients and should be included in the diet. However, they can be harder for some people to digest. Cooking starts the breakdown process of the food and reduces the amount of work your digestive system has to do!
– Increase fiber intake: Adding fiber-rich foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes can help to promote regular bowel movements and prevent constipation, which can contribute to bloating. Remember that more fiber is not always better! Be careful not to overdo it. And note: for some people, this can make things worse–which is why working with a professional is advised!
– Stay hydrated: Drinking enough water throughout the day helps maintain proper digestion and can also prevent constipation. Hydration is especially important when you start to add more fiber to your diet.

Diet Don’ts:

It can be helpful to limit or avoid foods that cause gas and bloating for some people. We’ve already discussed why there is no one size fits all approach for bloating, but you may find it helpful to experiment with some of these triggers. They may not be the root cause of your digestive problems, but being mindful of your intake could help provide some symptom relief.

• Sugar
• Alcohol
• Gluten
• Dairy
• Excessive fiber intake

Start experimenting to see if reducing any of these foods reduces your symptoms. If you’re struggling with bloating and are consuming a lot of these foods, you may want to reconsider. Try replacing the items above with more nutrient-dense foods, which are a foundational part of health and well-being.

If you find that your bloat continues after avoiding some of the common triggers, it’s time to go deeper so that we can get to the root of your symptoms and finally get rid of them.

Digestive Function:

The best lifestyle strategy to prevent bloating is to support your digestive system with better eating habits.

Anything that compromises the digestive system can cause bloating. Digestion is a parasympathetic process, which means the body needs to be in a calm and relaxed state. The parasympathetic nervous system is often referred to as the “rest and digest” branch of the nervous system! If you’re stressed out or eating distracted, it’s hard for the body to send the proper digestion signals, which creates a negative domino effect, often resulting in bloating and gas.

An easy way to support digestion is to actually take the time to sit down, chew your food, and enjoy it! Just eating more slowly can reduce bloating because you won’t swallow extra air, which can lead to bloating. Chewing your food is also key for optimizing digestion and preventing undigested food from hanging out in your stomach.

Prioritizing these foundational strategies for digestion will go a long way to improve bloating and any other digestive symptoms you may have.

Stomach acid:

The gastric juices produced during digestion play a key role in helping the body fully break down proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. As a result, the nutrients in your food can actually be absorbed by your intestines and go to work fueling your body!

Digestion is a series of compounding steps, which means every part of the process needs to be functioning optimally. Dysfunction early in the process, such as a lack of chewing or insufficient stomach acid, can create a negative domino effect and lead to a variety of digestive problems, including bacterial overgrowths, poor nutrient absorption, and bloating.

Many of our clients find that taking stomach acid support such as HCl (Hydrochloric Acid) can provide bloating relief. Our goal at ABT is to support the underlying cause of low stomach acid, but supplements like HCl have a valuable role in providing support along the way!

Before you go out and buy HCl, it’s important to know that we do not recommend supplementing with stomach acid if you are still dealing with heartburn. Please consult your health practitioner to work on eliminating heartburn first.

If you’re looking for guidance on adding stomach acid to your health plan, we would love to help. We provide all of our clients with a customized strategy that includes supplement recommendations to optimize their health and eliminate symptoms like heartburn and bloating.

Gut imbalances:

Many uncomfortable symptoms, including bloating, are caused by dysfunction in the gut, but there are many different types of problems that can be at the root. Yeast overgrowth, bacterial imbalance, histamine intolerance, and low stomach acid are just some examples of issues in the gut.

At ABT, we use stool testing to get a clear picture of what’s going on inside your gut so that we can get to the root of your bloating. With functional lab testing, you don’t have to guess or settle for a Band-Aid solution to manage your symptoms. Our goal is to address the cause of your health concerns so that you can finally experience relief.

A healthy gut is foundational to overall health and allows you to thrive! Let’s optimize your gut health so that you can experience life without worrying about bloating or any other digestive symptom that’s preventing you from living your best life.

Food sensitivities:

Avoiding certain foods like gluten or dairy may relieve bloating for some people, but when it comes to a compromised digestive system, any food can cause bloating. Elimination diets and food journaling can be helpful tools for identifying what foods may be triggers for you. However, we often find that these techniques are unreliable to uncover all of the bloating culprits.

Instead of going through a lot of trial and error, we have our clients complete a food sensitivity test to get to the bottom of any food sensitivities. The lab test checks for over 170 different foods and additives, so that you know exactly which foods are contributing to inflammation and bloating in your body.

With food sensitivity testing, the process of removing irritating foods and healing the digestive tract is so much simpler. Does it still take work? Yes, but now you won’t have to guess.

The goal is to temporarily eliminate these food triggers, restore your gut health, and then slowly reintroduce as many foods as possible. As a result, you will be able to eat more foods and skip the unpleasant bloating!

If bloating is a daily battle for you, and these tips don’t make a difference, we’d love to help you get down to the root and figure out the best way to eat, drink, and thrive!