Nobody likes that bloated feeling!
Usually occurring at the worst timing for you, bloating can be caused by common triggers such as stress, food sensitivities, and a lack of digestive enzymes, among other things.
The good news is that there are plenty of steps we can be doing each and every day to help reduce bloating while helping to improve our digestive health. Here are 8 steps you can start doing today:
1. Mindful Eating
You may have heard about the two parts that make up our nervous system – the sympathetic, which is needed for our ‘fight or flight’ response, and the parasympathetic, which is also known as ‘rest and digest’. We need to be in a relaxed state, or without sympathetic dominance, to be able to digest our food optimally. Eating mindfully means that we are relaxed enough for our parasympathetic nervous system to do its enormous job of digesting food and absorbing its nutrients.
2. Eat Fermented Foods – But Don’t Overdo It!
Fermented foods are those that have been through a process called lactofermentation. Once foods go through this process, the end result is full of B vitamins, omega-3’s, and various strains of probiotics. When we eat too much sugar, processed foods and alcohol, the good and bad bacteria can become imbalanced. Consuming things like yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchee and other fermented vegetables will introduce live beneficial bacteria into the digestive system to help rebalance this. Although these foods change the state of our digestive system in a positive way, some people do have reactions such as bloating or flatulence when introducing these foods – so introduce them slowly and be mindful of how they make you feel.
3. Fiber
Fiber has many jobs to aid in digestion and bowel function. Insoluble fiber is able to pass through the digestive system with minimal changes. This is beneficial because it can bind to waste to be excreted from the body, eliminating toxins and ensuring a good bowel motility. Eating fiber from natural sources such as wholegrains, vegetables and fruits means you’re going to get the vitamins, minerals and other wholefood benefits – so opt for this rather than the processed fiber sources.
4. Identify Food Intolerances and Food Sensitivities
Food allergies and intolerances are different types of reactions, but both are important to treat mindfully by excluding the reactive foods completely from the diet. Intolerances are more common, and often include lactose, gluten and fructose. If we continue to consume foods that cause a reaction in our body this can cause inflammation, gradually heighten the response to it, as well as potentially cause permanent damage to your digestive system. This can lead to intestinal permeability, or leaky gut, which may inhibit the ability to digest and absorb nutrients. Approximately 20% of people have reported reactions to certain foods, although this seems to be on the rise – possibly due to a reduction in food quality, increase in preservatives, additives and insecticides, and food processing practices.
5. Ensure Adequate Hydration
Aiming for 2.5L of water per day can improve the health of your digestive system by improving bowel motility and preventing constipation. Dehydration can slow the transit time of your bowel movements, as well as prevent adequate flushing of toxins. The amount of water intake changes depending on exercise patterns, size of the person and the weather. As a general rule I recommend to aim for 2.5 L/day.
6. Look After Your Mental Health
It’s been found that there is an association between stress and digestive upset such as IBS. This comes back to point #1 – if your body is in sympathetic dominance you don’t have the energy to adequately digest your food and absorb its nutrients. Psychological and digestive health go hand in hand – your serotonin (your ‘feel-good’ hormone’) actually lives in your digestive system. So it’s fair to say that an unhappy digestive system may be partly responsible for an unhappy mood.
7. Consume Herbal Medicine That Has Actions On The Digestive System
Many plants contain active components that have the most incredible effects on our health. Some of the most easily accessible herbs are of the most beneficial: peppermint and fennel reduce gas and bloating, whereas licorice root helps to soothe the lining of the digestive tract and reduce any inflammation. Chamomile is a favorite for IBS patients whose symptoms worsen with stress as it helps to both nourish the nervous and digestive systems, encouraging them to work together in harmony.
8. Take Probiotics After A Course Of Antibiotics
This is because, unfortunately, antibiotics aren’t selective with what they’ve been set out to kill off once they enter your digestive system. Anti-biotic means they wipe out bacteria, even the beneficial bacteria. This good bacteria is a very important part of your microbiota, which is your own little community of microorganisms that help to balance your digestive, nervous, endocrine and immune systems.