(#308): 5 Ways to Stop Bloating

At some point, you've probably felt super bloated and uncomfortable or known someone who has.  Maybe you even wondered how to stop feeling bloated, or if it's normal to be bloated for days at a time.  Or maybe you just want to understand a little bit more about how bloating happens, what causes it, and how to resolve it once and for all.

Well, you're in the right place!  Gut health has always been a passion of mine and I'm so excited to be able to share some education and resources on the topic and help you live a life free of bloating.

From identifying foods that make you bloat, anti-inflammatory foods, and foods that can help reduce bloating, this podcast has it all!

Tune in and leave us a review or share this podcast episode with someone who could use some bloating help. For more information, please visit liveunbreakable.com

Transcript

01:32 Coach Shaun: Well, if you've made it to this episode, I'm going to assume that at one point or another, you or someone you know and love, or someone who's been around you maybe has felt bloated or complain about bloating. And you're trying to get a better understanding of not only what it is, but how to maybe avoid it or how to stop it, or even resolve the issue completely.  That’s awesome because you are now in the right place. So I know that I've mentioned bloating in a couple of podcasts on mine, probably in 105, 106 when we talk about celiac disease, hydration nation which is 110, and probably most recently in 301 where we debunk a couple of nutrition myths, but this time talking about bloating is going to be a little bit different.  Gut health always been an interest of mine, so being able to share the research and education that I have with others on a free platform is actually really exciting.  I think the best way to start this is to talk about the main causes of bloating, and there are a couple of them that seem really easy, but they've become so much a part of our habits in our daily life that we might not even notice that we do them.

A big part of bloating is really understanding the way that your body functions, and part of that is understanding what it has to function through.  A lot of times clients will come to me with this question of, I'm really uncomfortable while I'm eating or I feel like I'm not making any progress. But they really don't necessarily understand what they're doing on a daily basis, minute to minute, hour to hour kind of thing. They're very distracted. So being able to take that step back and say, Alright, well, let's look at this one thing. Be able to determine what's causing it and then move forward, and that seems like I said very simple, but sometimes that can be the resolution. Now, when we're talking about the causes of bloating, some of these may apply to you, some of them may not, some may apply to you sometimes, but not always, etc, etc. There's a bunch of caveats, because everyone's body is different and the way that they digest is different, no two people are ever going to be the same, which is another reason that nutrition and diet and bloating can be a little bit frustrating for people when they start and I know that I've mentioned that before.

So hopefully, some of these beginning causes of bloating that I'm going to mention are pretty easy for you to identify if they are a part of your current habits or your structure.  If they're not, that’s totally fine. I'm going to go through a bunch of them, and then we're going to talk about how to resolve bloating if you cannot seem to avoid it.

04:05 Coach Shaun: The first one, and probably the most common cause of bloating is just the simple active eating too much.  Smaller portions should be able to ease this pain, overeating is always going to cause your stomach to both look and feel larger than normal because it's just extending, your stomach.  You have too much in there, so it doesn't have anywhere to go, so you're just going to notice it's going to look and feel bigger. And that's not always comfortable. But what happens is that when you overeat, gas gets trapped in your GI track or a gastrointestinal track, which is the system of organs that break down foods and liquids.  That can be really uncomfortable because while you're eating, there's nowhere for that to go until it gets digested and turned into either more human or into waste, and so it just sits in your GI tract getting ready, so it’s just going to sit and distend your stomach and make it bigger.

05:05 Coach Shaun: The second and third causes of bloating, I tied these two together, are eating too fast and taking in too much air. Now, if you listen to my podcast, you know I talk really fast. So this used to be a problem of mine, and it's something that I called a special attention to for me anyways.  Bringing too much gas into the GI tract, can be a really big cause for bloating, because once this air is in your system and it has nowhere to go.  If everything else is going down your digestive track and you just have extra gas in there, it's going to follow everything else down this track.  It’s either going to sit in your stomach until you can belch or burp, or it's going to go through your intestines and it's going to cause other problems.  Swallowing too much air can definitely cause you to feel bloated, anything that causes you to take in more air than usual.  So that's like drinking through a straw, chewing gum, poorly fitted dentures, or drinking carbonated beverages can also contribute to excess gas because that carbon dioxide turns into gas in your stomach.  So if you stuck in too much air, it has to go somewhere.  It’ll naturally pass to your stomach and you can try to belch, but if that doesn't work, because it's trapped by all that other stuff that's also going down your GI system, then it's just going to contribute to that bloating and distended feeling that we talked about before.

06:30 Coach Shaun: Another one I wanted to talk about, and this one gets a little bit more scientific, is FODMAP.  If you've heard of the FODMAP Diet, which we'll talk a little bit later when we talk about elimination diets, FODMAP is basically an acronym for a lot of big words.  It's an acronym for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols, all of which are carbohydrates that are thought to trigger GI systems, according to the American College of Gastroenterology.  Excess gas often comes from this category of foods, which do contain carbs and sugars that aren't well absorbed by the small intestines because they're quickly fermented or broken down by the bacteria in your gut. Now, during fermentation, there's a lot of gas created, which can lead to the bloating, FODMAPs exist in a lot of common foods that we eat every day, we don't even think about: dairy products, cereals, breads, some vegetables, artificial sweetener or stuff like that.  So if any of those ring a bell and you're eating a lot of them and notice that you're bloated or distended, it could be because these foods are higher in carbohydrates, so cutting back on them could go a long way in reducing symptoms.

07:44 Coach Shaun: Eating foods that you're intolerant to; this one might seem really easy, but unless there's a strong allergic reaction, lots of people don't know that they are intolerant to certain foods, so they just continue eating them because they don’t notice that they're uncomfortable. So intolerances and allergies, I say that in the same breath can cause excessive gas production or they can cause gas to be trapped in your gastrointestinal track, if you think that you are eating foods that you're intolerant to, your first stop should be your medical professional.  So that you can ask them to do certain tests that you can tell if you have allergies or intolerances and all these things, and it'll give you a bunch of information.

08:24 Coach Shaun: The last one is inflammatory foods, foods that are difficult to digest can obviously cause gassiness and bloating. I guess I want to stop here for a second, because there's a really big divide between what people think of as inflammation and as a digestive problem, like bloating.  So inflammation is a reaction that occurs when your body comes into contact with something it perceives as foreign or dangerous, and then it produces substances to attack it, which can definitely result in physical symptoms like fluid build-up, swelling, redness or heat.  Kind of counter-intuitively, inflammation can sometimes be a good thing because it's a sign that your body is trying to ward off an infection, but if inflammation is constant or frequent, obviously that's going to be worrisome.  Bloating from a medical standpoint, it's probably not a big deal because it's just a non-technical term people are using when they feel like their belly gets distended after they eat, and it's usually attributed to gas or swelling in that stomach area. So in all of the causes I was just talking about, typically it breaks down to the fact that there is gas trapped in your stomach that causes that bloated feeling, bloating is normal, and after eating, you should absolutely be bloated because your system is processing what you just gave it. However, if it does not subside on its own and/or problems persist, you should see a healthcare professional because chronic or recurring bloating could indicate a systemic infection or some sort of cancer or something else.

So if you have an autoimmune disorder or you are unaware that you have an autoimmune disorder, sometimes that can contribute to bloating as well.  So you should see a doctor if you're dealing with frequent or chronic inflammation, or it's just something that is really uncomfortable for you, and you should be your best advocate for this in your doctor's office.  If there's something wrong with your body, you'll know it, and you should really advocate for yourself in that way, whether that is taking those food intolerances or allergy tests, whether that's getting some blood work done, whatever the next steps are, your medical professional will know.

10:40 Coach Shaun: The next one I want to talk about is hormones.  Guys, don't turn this off just yet, because I'm going to go into your specific hormones too, because there are hormones in both male and female bodies that can contribute to bloating, if they are imbalanced.  I’ll go through women first.  Mild bloating is often the result of lifestyle factors too, so we don't want to just narrow it down to diet, it can also be lifestyle factors, like stress.  Chronic stress is a condition, it's a problem, especially in America, and it can cause an underlying hormonal imbalance that leads to bloating and distention in a number of ways, which is why women experience bloating as a symptom of PMS or Premenstrual syndrome, but also why so many menopausal women gain weight and have bloating as an issue.  They feel really uncomfortable all the time, they want to eliminate that feeling.  Menopausal bloating and sexual dysfunction and all that kind of stuff are the first symptoms of menopause that women notice, and they also experienced more severe bloating during peri-menopause and menopause as a result of the water retention, intestinal gas, and decreased bile production, or even a combination of the three, so it gets really uncomfortable really quick.  When we immediately think about female sex hormones like estrogen or progesterone, when we're discussing the female experience, we can't forget about testosterone because that also plays a role.  As your ovaries are slowing down and you're eventually they stop functioning or post-menopause, the production of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone basically come to a grinding halt. So at this point, the balance between all three is thrown off: low testosterone, especially chronically low testosterone, can lead to a host of negative side effects of which weight gain and loss of muscle mass are only two, so definitely a huge issue there.

12:39 Coach Shaun:  Cortisol is another hormone that can foster negative side effects when its levels are thrown into disarray.  Cortisol, which is the stress hormone, I'm sure you've seen that on social media and heard that before, it's created by the adrenal gland during stressful situations to promote feelings of calm in your system.  If stress is something that affects you, it's especially present and daunting for menopausal women.  If stress isn't addressed and it consistently starts the pile up and becomes chronically an issue, cortisol levels will need to basically balance that out, and that can lead to a number of other issues like mood swings, fatigue, high blood pressure, muscle weakness, weight gain, and acne. Now, the hormones, progesterone and estrogen also play a significant role in fluid retention, which is typically what people feel like they have when they're bloated, they feel like they have too much water in their system.  Women tend to retain more water than usual when their estrogen levels are high, which is why bloating is common in the days leading up to your menstrual cycle.  Bloating during menopause can really take off, and when estrogen dominance sets in due to hormone imbalance, it can be really uncomfortable.  While having too much estrogen can lead to bloating, having to little estrogen can contribute to abdominal discomfort, and that's because estrogen also has an effect on the production of bile.  While estrogen levels are low, bile production increases, which is just to be very clear bile is a fluid produced by the liver and aids in digestion.  Also, bile helps to emulsify fats from the food we eat and aids in cholesterol synthesis.  It also acts as a lubricant for our small intestines, so without proper lubricant in your intestines, stool can accumulate within your small intestines and also cause bloating, which is due to constipation.  Your estrogen levels are fluctuating, it can cause a bunch of other issues in your system, including constipation, bloating, etc.  It's not normal, but there is fluctuation in hormones that can cause bloating as well; it’s not always diet, there’s hormones as well. 

So for males, we'll talk about both low and high because I think that it does matter.  Testosterone is the most important male sex hormone, we all know that.  Although females also produce it.  It helps to determine typical male characteristics like body and facial hair.  It also promotes muscle growth, and testosterone is a hormone that can decrease as males age, so a deficiency can halt muscle growth and lead to weight gain.  Testosterone deficiency can occur due to medical conditions or to the removal of your testicles, so other causes also include infection, auto-immune conditions, chemo, and pituitary gland disease.  There’s a bunch of things that can influence your testosterone levels in a negative way, and as well as weight gain, testosterone deficiency can cause a erectile dysfunction, hair loss, fatigue depression, reduced sex drive, and loss of muscle mass.  If you don't have enough testosterone in your system, the chances of you having issues with digestion go up a little bit and then constipation and bloating start to rear their ugly heads. Estrogen, is also in the male body.  There are three types of estrogen, we have estradiol, estriol, and estrone. So, estradiol is essential in modulating libido for males, including the production of sperm and erectile function, low levels of estrogen can cause low sexual desire and excess fat around the belly, which also impacts digestion.  But high estrogen levels, especially in males, can cause weight gain.  Our hormones, while we both have estrogen and testosterone in our systems, both males and females, the balance is really important not only for the functioning of our bodies and our sexual organs, but also for digestion.

17:19 Coach Shaun: Wow, that's so much. There are a lot of things that can cause bloating in your system, guys who knew.  Those are the top, when you're working with me and bloating is a cause of concern, we start with: are you eating too much, are you taking in too much air, are you eating too fast, how many FODMAPs are in your diet, do you have any food intolerances, are you eating inflammatory foods, have you seen a doctor, let’s look at your hormones.  That’s typically the order that I would look at them in and say, “What are our balances?”  Let's do our basic check-balance here, and if you don't keep a journal already, if you come to me or you see another nutrition specialist or a dietician or anything like that, another medical professional, they're going to ask you for that, they're going to ask you about your energy levels about your fatigue, about your sleep schedule, about your habits, about your eating routines, what you're eating, when you're eating, all kinds of stuff, and it's really helpful to have that information ready for them when you meet them, because they're going to ask for it anyways, so it kinda just saves everybody a little bit of time if you come prepared.

18:30 Coach Shaun: So now what you've all been waiting for, which is, how to resolve bloating. Now, there are a lot of ways to do this, and I'm going to go through probably the top five, because these are really the ones that can make the biggest impact, and that's what we're looking for. If none of these five apply to you, let's talk.  Let’s go on to our 15-30 minute free consult and let's figure out what works for you, because I don't want anyone to have to deal with chronic bloating. It's so uncomfortable, I did for years and years, just thinking it was normal. The only kind of bloating that's normal is right after you eat and it should go away and it should not be uncomfortable.  If that is not the case for you, you've come to the right podcast.

So the first one we're going to talk about to resolve bloating is eating anti-inflammatory foods and also avoiding bloat-inducing foods.  The past couple of decades, doctors have just been prescribing things for you if you have chronic bloating, chronic constipation, there's is a lot of medication out there that can help resolve the symptoms, but not the issue.  Now we're learning a lot more, and we're saying it's not necessarily the medicine cabinet is going to help you, but the refrigerator. And by that, I mean there are a bunch of anti-inflammatory foods that reduce bloat by decreasing inflammation in your digestive system that are caused by the toxins like sugar, processed meats artificial food additives, and alcohol.  The food types and micronutrients absolutely matter. And the balance of your intake also matters, so leafy vegetables like celery, beets, and broccoli; fatty fish like mackerel, tuna, and salmon; walnuts and chia seeds; coconut oil and olive oil; and then fruits like strawberries, blueberries, cherries, oranges, and pineapple; are basically your staple anti-inflammatory foods.  They’re really good for you because, they're kind of helping you decrease inflammation that is caused by foods that you're eating anyways, so they're good for you because they have a lot of macro/micronutrients in them, but they're also helping aide in cleansing the toxins from your system. So while you're doing that, you can also be avoiding some foods that lead to bloating, so some of these culprits are beans and lentils, even though they're very healthy foods, they contain indigestible sugars called oligosaccharides.  These sugars have to be broken down by bacteria in the intestines, so avoiding eating them all the time is going to be better for you. Can you eat them? Sometimes, absolutely. Are they going to cause bloating, maybe, because they have oligosaccharides, they are a higher FODMAP food.  Fruits and vegetables, like Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, carrots, apricots, prunes; those items contain sugars and starches that can cause gassiness and bloating.  Some of these foods are good for you, and I don't want you to cut them out completely at all, but just know that if you have them, there's a chance that they could contribute to gas in your system, which leads to bloating.

21:53 Coach Shaun: Sweeteners do cause gas and bloating in your system because of how we have to digest them.  So sorbitol, an artificial sweetener can’t be digested at all, it just goes 100% through your system unchanged. How disgusting is that? Fructose is a natural sugar that's been added to a lot of processed foods, but it's hard for a lot of people to digest; this doesn't apply to everybody, you might eat Brussels sprouts and fructose and be totally fine, but other people, it might really start to irritate their stomach and their entire GI tract.  To avoid bloating, you want to be aware of the sweeteners in the foods that you're eating and limit the amount that you consume.  Dairy products can also be a source of intestinal distress or bloating if you have trouble digesting lactose or milk sugars.  It’s also important to note that there are a couple of different types of proteins involved in dairy, and if you're interested in learning more about that, hit me up because it gets very technical very quickly.  If you're not lactose intolerant, but you are noticing that either some cheeses or milks are giving you issues where others are not, I got you. Whole grains are recommended for health benefits, but I want you to think about incorporating them slowly if you don't already have them in your diet.  Whole grains are healthy because they have high fiber content, but fiber is an indigestible carbohydrate.  If you abruptly increase the amount of fiber that you're eating, it is going to cause gas, bloating, and constipation.  You need to introduce this really slowly to allow your body time to digest and at the same time that you're increasing your amount of fiber intake, you have to drink plenty of water so that you can balance it all out, fiber absorbs water.  Drinking water while you increase your fiber intake is going to help the fiber move through your digestive system and help to prevent or at least mitigate the bloating and constipation that you might feel.

In short guys, you want to avoid refined carbs like breads, pastas, pastries, french fries, all fried foods, soda, sugar-sweetened beverages, margarine, shortening, lard, and those kinds of things. Artificial sweeteners, last note on this, I promise I'm not trying to lecture. They're so bad for you. And for no other reason than some of them cannot be digested, but there's a way to eliminate them from your diet in a healthy way, and that's probably the easiest one you can start with. The next one, for helping resolve bloating is to understand that micro-nutrients can actually help you, and there's a bunch of ways to do that. I mentioned fiber can sometimes be a cause for bloating, but it can also help you when poor digestion is to blame. If digestion is an issue for you, increasing fiber and hydration might actually be to your benefit, and that's because too little fiber can also cause constipation, which does lead to bloating. Eating too much fiber can also cause you to become bloated and gassy.

25:14 Coach Shaun: There's this fine line that you have to find where you can walk in the middle of too much, too little. And it's going to be different for everybody. You want to think about having broccoli, lentils, avocados, blackberries, pears, and oatmeals sparingly until you figure out if this is an issue for you or not. And then how much of each of those you can have per day to even out.  Prebiotics and probiotics, you have to do it right. They elevate the levels of good bacteria in your gut, which can also aid in digestion, so if you don't have an issue with dairy, un-pasteurized yogurts, bananas, onions, garlic, asparagus, sauerkraut, kombucha, other fermented foods, and dark chocolate, is going to be really great for you. Diuretic foods can sometimes help you get rid of unwanted liquids in your body by increasing urine production, so that's apple cider vinegar, lemon, ginger, celery, cranberry juice, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, that kind of stuff. Magnesium can also sometimes help relieve bloating caused by constipation or indigestion by neutralizing your stomach acid, and therefore it also helps to relax the muscles in the walls of the intestines, so we're talking leafy greens like spinach and chard, bananas, figs, almonds, avocados, black beans, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate.  Dark chocolate also helps with your libido, while we're just talking about dark chocolate.  Potassium can help your kidneys get rid of excess sodium, which reduces bloating as well, so that's bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, spinach, salmon, acorn squash, pomegranate, and white beans.  So all of those foods can be really great for you and benefit you in the long run by having them in your diet anyways, but can also help if you have issues with digestion, if you have issues producing enough urine throughout your day, if constipation or indigestion is an issue.

The next way to reduce bloating or alleviate bloating all together is to learn and follow your caloric intake and consume fewer calories if that's what's indicated. Now, this one is a little give and take because macro counting is not for everyone, especially if you have disordered eating in your background, it can be really intense, cause anxiety instead of reduce anxiety. So if this isn't in your wheel house right now, that's totally fine, but learning your caloric intake and really understanding how much you're intaking or not intaking throughout your day can be really helpful, so undistracted eating, keeping a log, eating slower maybe to make your body feel like you're having more.  All those source of things can kind of fall into this category, so knowing that checks and balances, of what you're putting into your system can help you determine whether it's something you're putting in or not putting into your system that's causing your pain. 

Another way to decrease bloating or to get rid of it all together is through an elimination diet.  I mentioned this a little bit when we were talking about FODMAPs and all that kind of stuff. So I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into this one because typically, this is one of the last resorts that I use with my clients, and I work very closely with their doctor and medical professionals, because we really only want to follow an elimination diet for 4-8 weeks maximum, which is really hard, but also because when you are eliminating foods or entire food groups, you're also going to end up with nutrient deficiencies if you don't supplement correctly.  So elimination diets are basically the gold standard for identifying food intolerances, sensitivities, or allergies.  That’s what we all refer to, and it involves removing foods from your diet that you suspect your body can't or doesn't tolerate very well, these foods are later introduced one at a time, while you look for symptoms that show specific reactions, so this can help if you have a sensitive gut, a food intolerance, allergies, all that kind of stuff, or you're dealing with chronic bloating.

29:21 Coach Shaun: Once you successfully identify a food that your body can't tolerate, you can remove it from your diet completely to prevent any uncomfortable symptoms, but if you have a known or suspected food allergy, you should only try an elimination diet under the supervision of a medical professional. Because re-introducing foods or food allergens or similar foods can result in very dangerous reactions as well, so that's why you always want to do that with a medical professional.  Some of these can be lactose-free, sugar-free, gluten-free; those are probably some of the most common elimination diets you've heard of, low FODMAP, which is reducing all FODMAP or having low FODMAP foods only. You can also do a “few foods”, which is just taking out the 1-5 foods that you think you're allergic to, living without them for a while, then re-introducing them.  Rare foods elimination is you can only eat foods that you really ever eat because they're less likely to trigger your symptoms, but sometimes that kind of backfires because you might have reaction to some of those because they are related to similar foods you're allergic to.  Fasting, which involves strictly drinking water for 5 days, 5 whole days just water, not like black coffee and water, just water, and then reintroducing food groups one at a time.

These are all drastic and should only be done under medical supervision because they can go south really quick, and you should know symptoms that you're looking for with: dehydration, nutrient deficiencies, and other reactions that you're not sure of. Because it gets very serious very fast, so you should only do these if you know what you're looking for, and you have someone who's watching out for you as well.  Last way to get rid of bloating and this seems very counter-intuitive or counter-productive: is to drink water because water is actually going to help us flush out our system and reduce puffiness, bloating, and that uncomfortable feeling of inflammation in our stomach.  But not sparkling water, that can actually make it worse. We talked about carbonated beverages being an issue, we don't want those, they are going to contribute to bloating, so just room temperature water is best, but you can also introduce other fluids and juices if that helps too. So realistically, the best way to resolve bloating is just avoiding foods that are super inflammatory or super high in fiber, if you're not used to that, increasing your hydration, and then having a system set up for macro and micro nutrients in your diet that fit well together.

So that you have the right balance of all sorts of nutrients, all sorts of bacteria and all sorts of hormones, happily balanced in your system.  Which can be really difficult and it's probably easier when we're little, we don't have as many issues typically, these usually rear their ugly heads in our 20s, but you can get back to a good balance and your body can feel good after eating again, I promise you. We can get you to that point. Alright, now you're educated on some gut health and bloating things, and next time you have some issues with bloating or someone around you has issues with uncomfortable, bloating or distention, you have a whole army of awesome tips and tricks and skills that you can use to help them feel better.

Coach Shaun: Thank you so much for tuning in today. It was such a pleasure having you on the Crash Course podcast, brought to you by the LiveUnbreakable brand. If you enjoyed today's podcast, please some love on iTunes as a review so that I can keep this good stuff coming at you. Or share this podcast with your friends to give them a crash course on something that you're passionate about.  If you're not following me on social media yet, I would be honored to have your follow so search for LiveUnbreakable on any major social media platform and enjoy the extra motivation and knowledge shared over there, and of course, reach out to me at LiveUnbreakable.com with any questions. Until next time, y’all.