12 Ways to Get Rid of Bloating

Bloating is very common, affecting about 16–31% of us, and it is especially frequent during menopause.

Fortunately, it usually goes away on its own in a short time. Unfortunately, for some people, bloating can be a long-term issue that causes moderate to severe symptoms and harms their quality of life.

Bloating can be caused by many dietary and lifestyle factors, so it is important to find out what is causing it to help reduce or eliminate the symptoms.

Here’s where to begin.

1. Find the cause of bloating

This might seem obvious, but it is not always easy to know what the cause is.

It could be due to gas, as too much gas in the gut can lead to bloating. You can swallow air, or certain foods can ferment in your large intestine and create gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and methane.

Some foods that may cause gas include fibre, sugar alcohols, and FODMAPs. Other possible causes of bloating include:

– food intolerance, like lactose or fructose intolerance
– swallowing too much air
– excess fluid in your bowels
– constipation
– an imbalance in the gut bacteria

Additionally, stress, anxiety, high-fat meals, weight gain, and hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle and menopause can also lead to bloating.

Some people may also have bloating because of muscle reflexes in the abdominal wall and diaphragm.

In rare cases, bloating can be a sign of a medical problem. If you have ongoing bloating that does not go away, it is important to see a doctor to find the underlying cause.

2. Limit foods that trigger bloating

Many women feel bloated after eating some foods that have hard-to-digest ingredients.

These include types of fibre, sugar alcohols, and the sugars raffinose and fructose.

When you eat foods with these ingredients, the undigested fibre and sugars go to your large intestine, where bacteria break them down, causing gas.

Foods that may cause bloating include:

Vegetables – broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage

Fruit – prunes, apples, pears, and peaches

Whole grains – wheat, oats, wheat germ, and wheat bran

Legumes – beans, lentils, peas, and baked beans

Artificial sweeteners –  sugar alcohols and like aspartame, xylitol, sorbitol, and mannitol, often found in sugar-free products

Drinks – all carbonated beverages, including fizzy water

While these foods can cause gas, not everyone will feel bloated after eating them.

Keeping a food diary may help you find which foods cause your symptoms, so you don’t have to follow a very strict diet.

After identifying these foods, you can remove them from your diet and then slowly add them back to see how they affect you.

3. Check for lactose intolerance

Lactose is a sugar found in milk and your body needs an enzyme called lactase to break it down.

However, most people don’t produce enough of this enzyme to break down lactose once they reach adulthood, resulting in lactose intolerance.

This then causes lactose to pass through your gut, pulling in more water until it reaches your colon, where it’s fermented by bacteria and releases gas.

This may lead to symptoms like bloating, stomach pain, increased flatulence, and belching.

If you suspect you have lactose intolerance, reducing your dairy intake may help eliminate symptoms of bloating.

However, it’s important to rule out other causes before making any significant changes to your diet, as dairy is an important source of key nutrients like calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, potassium, zinc, phosphorus, and protein.

Fortunately, some dairy foods are lower in lactose and may be better tolerated annd  include Greek yoghurt and aged cheeses.

Additionally, many lactose-free dairy products allow you to reap the benefits of dairy without the symptoms of lactose intolerance.

4. Alleviate constipation

Constipation affects about 14% of people worldwide, causing symptoms like infrequent bowel movements, excessive straining, hard stools, and bloating.

In particular, it can lead to bloating because the nondigestible components of food spend longer in your colon and are thus subject to more fermentation by bacteria.

These are some of the ways you can improve symptoms of constipation.

– Increasing your fibre intake. Aim for 18–30 grams per day of both soluble and insoluble fibre from whole grains, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

– Drinking adequate fluids and 1.5–2 litres is the NHS recommendation per day of water and other fluids.

– Exercising regularly. Walking, jogging, swimming, dancing or cycling for about 30 minutes each day may help keep your bowels moving regularly.

CAUTION!

You might need to carefully increase your soluble fibre intake because it can be fermented in your colon, which may lead to bloating.

Also, adding fibre too quickly can make constipation worse, so it’s best to increase your intake slowly, aiming for 25 grams per day for women.

While medicine can help relieve constipation, some types, like bulk and osmotic laxatives, can make bloating worse. Talk to your doctor about your symptoms to find the best option for you.

5. Try a low FODMAP diet

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common digestive issue that causes stomach pain, discomfort, diarrhea, and constipation.

About 66–90% of people with IBS also have bloating. Studies show that reducing certain carbohydrates, called fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols (FODMAPs), may help lessen bloating and other IBS symptoms.

FODMAPs are not well digested and can be fermented by bacteria in your colon, leading to more water being held in your bowels.

This diet involves three steps  starting by stopping eating certain foods, then gradually reintroduce them to see which ones cause problems.

It’s best to follow the elimination part of the diet for only two to six weeks to improve your symptoms. After that, you can add back one high FODMAP food every three days to see if it causes any issues. If a certain high FODMAP food causes symptoms, avoid it long term.

Foods high in FODMAPs to limit include:

*Wheat-based products such as cereal, bread and crackers

* Dairy-based milk, yoghurt and ice cream

*Beans and lentils

*Some vegetables, such as artichokes, asparagus, onions and garlic

*Fruit, such as apples, cherries, pears, peaches, dried fruit

*Vegetables including artichokes, asparagus, onions and garlic, mushrooms, cauliflower, sugar snap peas, and Brussels sprouts

*Nuts: cashews and pistachios

Foods low in FODMAPs to include:

*Eggs and meat

*Cheeses like brie, camembert, cheddar and feta

*Almond milk

*Grains like rice, quinoa and oats

*Vegetables like aubergine, courgette, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber

*Fruit such as grapes, oranges, strawberries, blueberries and pineapple

6. Try probiotic supplements

Probiotics are live bacteria that can help your digestive health. You can find them in supplements and also in some foods like yoghurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, miso, and tempeh.

Some studies suggest that probiotics may help with digestive issues like bloating by increasing the good bacteria in your gut. However, results are mixed as some studies show that probiotics do not help with bloating compared to changes in diet. How well they work may depend on the person and the type of probiotics used.

If you decide to try probiotics, choose one type and use it for at least 4 weeks to see if it helps.

To reduce bloating, consider eating smaller portions and limiting salty and fatty foods. Eating large amounts of food can cause bloating in two ways.

First, big portions can stretch your stomach, leading to gas and feelings of fullness.

Second, if your food contains hard-to-digest carbohydrates, having more of these in your colon can create more gas.

Eating too much salt can cause water retention in your gut and bloating.

Also, high-fat foods can hold onto gas and increase bloating, which is why many people feel bloated after eating fatty meals.

To help reduce bloating, try smaller meal sizes and cut back on salty and fatty foods like fried foods, fast food, chips, chocolate, and sweets.

8. Try peppermint oil

Peppermint has a long history of helping digestion and in supplement form it can help reduce bloating and fullness in people with IBS.

I personally like to have peppermint tea after a meal instead of coffee, which is more acidic. Sucking on a strong mint can also help.

9. Avoid swallowing too much air

Swallowing too much air when eating can cause bloating, especially in people with gut disorders like IBS.

If you eat quickly, try to slow down to reduce the amount of air you take in.

10. Do light exercise regularly

Exercise can help reduce bloating because it helps remove gas from your intestines. Light exercise, like a short walk after a meal, has been shown to ease bloating more effectively than medication.

It can also help with stress, fatigue, and depression, which can affect digestion.

11. Combat oestrogen dominance

During menopause, hormone production changes when oestrogen stops being produced in the ovaries, leading to more production in the fat cells of the belly. This can cause bloating if hormones are out of balance.

Bloating and a ‘muffin top’ are common during menopause. To help with excess oestrogen, make sure you have enough progesterone, which supports weight loss and reduces bloating.

Supplementing with Wellsprings Serenity, which is a progesterone only hormone cream, can be a good place to regain hormone balance.

If you think you may have too much oestrogen, starting a diet designed to balance hormones could be helpful.

https://blog.wellsprings-health.com/the-diet-to-help-beat-oestrogen-dominance/