Bloating can be debilitating and painful not to mention annoying when you are wearing your favourite dress!

When you experience bloating your gut is telling you that it isn't happy, so it's worth listening and trying to help improve your gut function as this will mean less bloating.

Bloating can be an easy fix or it can be a more long term journey, we include the dos and don'ts below.

Chew your food thoroughly and slowly

Make sure you are chewing your food thoroughly. Chewing each mouthful 25 times is ideal. Eating when stressed is not a good idea as your body is in a flight or fight mode and food won’t be broken down adequately, which can cause bloating and indigestion.

If you have been rushing around beforehand, take a few minutes to relax, breathing in counting to 5 and out counting to 5, five times will help settle your nervous system and get you into the rest and digest mode that enables the digestive system to release all the juices it needs for digesting and breaking down foods to smaller particles.

 Eat smaller meals

If you are eating large meals or tend to overeat, then try smaller portions and slow down your eating, even place the cutlery down every 5 minutes to give your brain a change to register that you are full.

For some people these strategies will make a huge impact but for others the solution is a little more complex.

 Find the foods that trigger you

Bloating can be related to food intolerances and finding what triggers bloating in your gut is essential in eliminating it.

Start a food diary to find out the foods that cause your bloating. Write down each meal and what it contains and the symptoms you may experience for up to 4 hours post eating. You may also want to track your bowel movements; how many times per week you go to the bathroom, the ease or difficulty experienced passing your bowel. Read more about foods that are bloat triggers here

Once you know the foods that set you off, you eliminate them while you treat the gut. These foods may not all be bad and could be foods such as onions, garlic, apples or beans. Other foods that can trigger bloating include dairy, gluten (bread, pasta), eggs and highly processed foods, these foods you may have to eliminate for life.

The healthy foods can be re-introduced one at a time over 3 days, making sure you only re-introduce one food at a time to avoid confusion if you get any symptoms

Treating the gut can take from 6-12 weeks (see below for details)

The debloat diet 

Eat steamed vegetables rather than raw as cooked vegetables are easier to digest.

You may be ok with raw lettuce and leafy green vegetables but test these on their own to see how you react first. Eat foods that are easy to digest such as slow cooked meats, fish or tofu. If you are eating grains make sure they are properly prepared. Soak rice, oats and quinoa for a few hours then cook them. 

Adding ginger and cinnamon to your food when you can. adding lemon and/or apple cider vinegar to your salads or vegetables will help increase the digestive juices as well

Digestive enzymes are a great tool in preventing bloating, they break down the food to the smallest particles which will help enhance your nutrient absorption and reduce bloating.

Treating the gut

For a more long term solution you will need to treat the gut and the naturopathic approach is always to treat two aspects of the gut:

1. Repair the gut lining

2. Improve the gut microbiome

Repair the gut lining

Having a compromised gut lining can cause food intolerances, allergies, autoimmune diseases and skin issues.
75% of the immune system resides in the gut lining so looking after it will have a positive impact on your immune system as well as overall health.

Keeping it intact will prevent larger molecules seeping through into the blood stream mobilising an immune response. Using bone broth or collagen and Glutamine +Aloe vera can help repair the gut lining. REPAIR contains the correct type of collagen for skin and gut health plus Glutamine and Aloe vera for gut lining health plus abundance of superfoods and skin+gut vitamins.

Improve the gut microbiome

Improving your microbiome can go a long way to improving your digestion and your overall health. You want to feed the good bacteria prebiotics so they can grow and multiply, the good bacteria help digest the food you eat meaning less bloating and more nutrients gained from the foods you ingest. Having more nutrients available to you means your body is able to repair itself and your cells can generate more energy, making you feel healthier and more energetic.

Adding probiotics that are able to increase the good bacteria while also reducing the bad bacteria is a great strategy to improve gut health.  Not all probiotics are made the same, our FEED contains probiotics that improve the good bacteria and reduce the bad and prebiotics that boost the microbiome without causing bloating.

Read about How Digestive Enzymes can help reduce bloating HERE

FEED and REPAIR work well together as FEED improve the gut microbiome and REPAIR looks after the gut lining and skin health

Bundle of FEED and REPAIR