3 Bloat Basics

So you can’t button your pants by the end of the day. You’re dying to put on your bloat sweats and crash on the couch. You’re staring at your healthy meal prepped dinner wondering if it’s somehow only going to make your bloat worse.

You’re in the right place.

Let’s talk bloat basics, the little things that may be contributing to your bloat more than you realize and what to do instead

Rushed & distracted meals. You can either be in fight or flight or rest and digest, not both (picture a teeter totter or light switch). If you’re working through a meal, sipping your smoothie while driving, standing at the counter wolfing a meal down, there’s a good chance your digestion isn’t even turned on, which means you’re not regulating digestion and motility very well —> CUE BLOAT. You may notice bloat within 15-30 minutes or an hour or so after eating.

Instead do this: put away distractions (phone, computer, driving), sit at the table, take 3-10 slow deep breaths (such as 4 seconds in, 6 seconds out), then chew your food to applesauce consistency.

Before I go on, let me just emphasize that this is the biggest tip that has people DMing me saying “my bloat is already better”. Seriously don’t under-estimate it!

Straws & carbonation: I LOVE crackin’ open a crisp can of bubbly water (plain flavor for me plz). But if Le Croix, diet coke, Poppy, OlliPop or other carbonated drinks have become a regular habit, then you could be drinking a lot of air (it’s bubbles after all), which can increase the volume and pressure of your stomach. Same for using straws. You can end up swallowing air and building up gas in your gut.

What to do instead: Trial 1-2 weeks of skipping straws and limiting consumption of carbonated bevs to 1 or less per day and see if you notice any changes in your bloat.

Limit the HIIT workouts. Just yesterday my sister in law told me she had been doing a ton of HIIT in her workout program and noticed way more bloating in the evening. She asked me: “Is that real?!”. Yes, it can totally happen. While HIIT workouts are awesome for your cardiovascular system, they really shouldn’t be an everyday workout for everyone (think Orange Theory or F45). I’ve seen a pattern in clients who do HIIT workouts or other high intensity exercise 4+ days per week, their digestion starts to slack. These workouts can activate our fight or flight, which can have many benefits, but it can eventually affect digestion and motility, leading to bloating.

What do to instead: Trial swapping a few HIIT sessions per week for weight lifting, walking, slow jogging, or other low intensity movements (where you can talk through it).

There’s a few places to start with reducing bloating. Those are what I consider the low hanging fruit, and for many people can lead to big improvements in digestion. But for others, it’s a piece of the puzzle and we need to go deeper by exploring other potential causes of bloating:

• Stool testing allows us to identify gut imbalances:

  • H. pylori infection

  • Candida overgrowth

  • Bacterial overgrowth

  • Low healthy/commensal bacteria

  • Poor digestion

  • Poor gut immune function

  • Gut inflammation (calprotectin) and more

• Antibiotics, birth control and other medications

• Chronic stress and poor gut-brain connection

• Food poisoning

• Poor diet

• Nutrient deficiencies

• and more!!

Every client is a unique puzzle and part of the fun of working together is figuring out the pieces for YOU and putting them together so you can actually wear your favorite jeans all day!

If you want a deeper look at a stool test here’s a 10 minute video where I review my bloated client’s results and what we did to get her bloat free in just a few months!