Digestive Health
Six Tips to Eliminate Bloating and Maintain an Attractive Physique
I offer practical tips to reduce abdominal bloating as part of my experience in finding holistic solutions to my digestive issues.
Purpose of the Article
Abdominal bloating is a common problem affecting millions of people and causing physical, mental, and emotional stress. As I experienced this problem in the past, I summarized a holistic approach with viable tips to eliminate them using healthy lifestyle habits.
What is bloating?
Bloating is a widespread health condition. It is mainly caused by digestive issues affecting patients’ physical and mental health.
Like many friends who paid significant attention to their physics, I also, unfortunately, experienced low self-confidence due to the effects of bloating in my younger years.
Cleveland Clinic informs that “between 10% and 25% of otherwise healthy people complain of occasional abdominal bloating. As many as 75% describe their symptoms as moderate to severe. Up to 75% of women experience bloating before and during their period. Only 50% of people who experience bloating also report a distended abdomen.”
This paper in the Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility mentions that “abdominal bloating is a common symptom affecting up to 76% of patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders”.
“Abdominal bloating and distension are two of the most commonly reported gastrointestinal symptoms. Moreover, these symptoms frequently co-exist, although they can occur separately.” [Source]
In general, bloating and distention occur due to gas-producing food for many people. However, there might be several underlying health issues, such as irritable bowel syndrome, infection, food intolerance, and fluid retention.
“Abdominal bloating and distension can develop for multiple reasons, including food intolerances, a previous infection that perturbed the intestinal microbiota, disordered visceral sensation, delayed intestinal transit, or an abnormal viscero-somatic re-flux.” [Source]
Even though there are treatment solutions for many people, these plans do not seem to apply to everyone. So, treatment methods require customization.
For example, this paper points out that:
“Treatment can be challenging to patients and providers — no regimen has been consistently successful. Successful treatment involves identifying the etiology, assessing severity, educating and reassuring patients, and setting expectations. Therapeutic options include dietary changes, probiotics, antibiotics, prokinetic agents, antispasmodics, neuromodulators, and biofeedback.”
After providing a context and brief background of this health condition, I share my approach to sustainably solving my bloating issue.
My Experience with Bloating
I experienced bloating and abdominal distension for several years when I was following a stringent plant-based diet. The root cause of my bloating was food intolerance, especially to some ingredients in vegetables that my body found toxic.
Overconsumption of some vegetables triggered the condition. My solution was an elimination diet that allowed me to find the offending food.
I finally customized my diet with help from a certified dietician and significant input from a holistic doctor. My personalized diet enabled me to eat one meal a day which became a game-changer for me.
Fixing abdominal bloating took longer than other conditions that I embarked on in my younger years. My solution required me to make significant lifestyle changes, particularly in my diet.
Here are six tips that might help you eliminate bloating and maintain an attractive physique.
1 — Perform an elimination diet.
The elimination diet helped me remove suspected and offensive foods from my diet one by one gradually. During the process, I discovered that overconsuming some vegetables were the root cause.
When I started the process, my health consultant informed me that the toxins in vegetables, such as lectins, oxalates, phytates, saponins, glucosinolates, and tannins, might have triggered autoimmune responses and led to bloating.
When I lowered specific vegetables, such as cruciferous, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and nightshades, I felt some comfort. However, when I stopped eating all vegetables and fiber, I felt significant relief from bloating.
Fiber can be great for many people but also can be problematic to some who are intolerant to it. Thus, it is essential to identify intolerance with support from qualified healthcare professionals.
As I was carb-intolerant, moving from a plant-based diet to an animal-based diet provided many more benefits, profoundly reducing arthritis symptoms, as I documented in this article titled Here’s How I Tamed Overactive Immune System and Lowered Arthritis Symptoms in 5 Steps.
More importantly, the elimination diet helped me defeat my leaky gut. After fixing the leaky gut bloating disappeared.
Furthermore, my elimination diet and new eating regimen provided me with other benefits such as increasing my energy, making my body more insulin sensitive, lowering visceral fat, maintaining lean muscles and boosting my mood.
Even though the culprit was specific plants for me, some people experience intolerance to nuts, eggs, seafood, or dairy. For example, I love eggs, but I cannot eat them anymore, as documented in this article.
The bottom line is that as we are all different, we must identify the offending food using a methodical elimination diet supported by a dietician.
2 — Deal with indigestible carbohydrates.
Certain carbohydrates, such as the ones in beans and dairy, can cause gas production in the colon. When I was on plant-based diet, beans were my primary protein source, so I consumed them excessively. My uncle warned me many times when I was experiencing digestive nightmares.
If your diet needs this food, then you might consider digestive enzymes. For example, I did not know about digestive enzymes for some food that could ease digestion in those days. Some vegan friends successfully used them.
For beans, these friends mentioned that alpha-galactosidase helped. There is also a specific digestive enzyme for dairy products addressing lactose intolerance. It is called lactase enzyme. Some digestive enzyme combos include lactase and alpha-galactosidase.
As digestive enzymes have many benefits, I documented my experience in an article titled Why Digestive Enzymes Are Important and How to Address Deficiencies.
3 — Consider helpful supplements.
In my younger years, a naturopath prepared a herbal tincture, including fennel, coriander, peppermint, anise, and caraway.
The mixture helped a bit but did not solve my problem sustainably. However, some people successfully use these herbs to reduce bloating.
From a supplementation perspective, the only product that helped me was activated charcoal which is still in my emergency bag for various reasons. Charcol also worked for some family members, especially the kids, after they came from parties with food poisoning, leading to bloating.
4 — Change Eating and Drinking Behaviors.
In addition to what we eat, the way we eat can also cause gas production in the digestive system leading to bloating.
The most common behavioral problems are talking while eating, not chewing the food adequately, and using a straw while drinking. Besides, slowly eating and chewing our food multiple times can bring other digestive benefits besides reducing bloating.
Moreover, chewing gum and drinking fizzy beverages can increase gas (oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen), leading to additional bloating.
5 — Move the body and perform unique workouts.
Movement, in general, can significantly reduce gas and eliminate bloating. Cardio workouts like walking, running, and swimming can be helpful.
However, from my experience, pilates and yoga contributed to reducing the effects of bloating before my transformed eating regimen.
Some friends mentioned that they reduced their bloating by using yoga postures such as sphinx pose, puppy pose, triangle pose, torso twist, and cat-cow. You might find numerous videos showing these postures on YouTube.
6 — Practice time-restricted eating if it suits your health conditions and lifestyle.
I left this to the end as, after the elimination diet, practicing a time-restricted eating regimen solved my bloating problems sustainably.
I experienced the beneficial effects of time-restricted eating for bloating when I skipped breakfast. I noticed a substantially reduced bloating after a short time when I skipped breakfast.
However, I only gained a flat tummy when I started a one-meal-a-day eating approach. Since I began my keto-carnivore diet and eating only once daily, I have never experienced bloating. When I used long-term fasting, my belly even gained better shape.
Even though I was skinny in my younger years, my belly was always bulging due to the effects of visceral fat and constant bloating. However, when I adopted a time-restricted eating regimen with only animal-based diets, I gained noticeable abs and kept them even after age 55.
Conclusions and Takeaways
Abdominal bloating is common and can be seen as a nuisance for some people. However, it might be a severe situation for others caused by underlying health conditions. Therefore, seeking timely help is necessary.
Different people might have different causes of bloating. For example, the root cause of my bloating was the incompatible foods with my body. I stopped bloating after addressing the food intolerances and eliminating the offending food like many others.
Even though exercise and some supplements helped me a little bit, the best contributor for me to defeat bloating entirely was eating only one nutritious meal a day. I don’t feel abdominal bloating anymore.
My regimen might look radical and not suit some people. However, healthy people can skip one meal now and then when they feel bloated. Skipping a meal might bring other health benefits, too, such as making the body insulin sensitive and contributing to the reduction of visceral fat.
Nevertheless, skipping a meal for some people with underlying health conditions might be problematic, so it is necessary to obtain guidance from qualified healthcare professionals.
If bloating is constant and causes disturbances, it is crucial to obtain timely guidance and support from qualified healthcare professionals. Each person’s situation might be different. Therefore, they might require personalized solutions.
There is no shame in experiencing bloating. It is a natural process, and anyone can have it. Most bloating solutions can be solved with healthy lifestyle choices, but some might require medical interventions such as medication and even surgery, depending on the severity of the case.
I conclude my article with seven practical tips that might give you helpful perspectives when seeking solutions for your conditions.
Takeaways
1 — Recognize and accept the situation without catastrophizing it.
2 — Practice an elimination diet with the help of professionals like dieticians if you believe your bloating is caused by food intolerances.
3 — Obtain timely support from qualified healthcare professionals if the bloating is persistent.
4 — Move the body regularly with a fitness program that suits your needs and conditions.
5 — Consider skipping meals after occasional bloating.
6 — Consider alternative therapies with help from qualified naturopathic doctors or other practitioners such as naturopaths.
7 — Try relevant digestive enzymes with guidance from qualified professionals.
In terms of physique, another common problem is loose skin after bloating. As I also had that problem after losing significant fat, I documented my experience in an article titled Three Tips to Eliminate Loose Skin.
Besides my own experience, I have also written numerous success stories reflecting on real-life scenarios to pass along my tacit knowledge. You might find related stories in a collection titled, Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
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