Bloating is embarrassing, uncomfortable and it makes you worried about eating certain foods.
You may find your stomach expands after eating, leaving you with that dreaded ‘food baby’. Or perhaps the bloating appears randomly—and there are days where it’s debilitating. Not only is it painful, but it’s beginning to affect your confidence.
There are lots of reasons for bloating, but there’s also a lot you can do about it.
Lots of things can cause bloating, including:
Small intestine bacterial overgrowth can produce gas that leads to constipation. Dysbiosis (bacterial imbalance in the large intestine) can influence constipation too.
Too much of the stress hormone, cortisol, can disturb the digestive system and contribute to constipation.
If your body is dehydrated, it will take water from your large intestine (colon). This can make your poop dry and difficult to pass.
Fibre bulks up the stool. Too little fibre can mean your poop is insufficiently formed, resulting in a slow transit time.
This is a condition in which you don’t have enough thyroid hormone available. This slows everything down, contributing to constipation.
Your intestines move poop through (and out) via a series of signals that involve your nerves and hormones. If your nerves aren’t working properly, constipation can result.
Constipation is associated with other conditions:
Start with these three steps:
Most of us eat in a hurried state. This affects blood flow to the digestive system, hindering its ability to do its job properly.
Food that isn’t broken down properly puts stress on the digestive system, which can lead to bloating. In an ideal world, we’d all chew each mouthful 20 times. As much as you can, try to ensure each mouthful is liquid before you swallow it.
Functional testing can help you find out whether SIBO or Leaky Gut are contributing to your bloating. What’s more, the test report will show you what to do
Bloating can be triggered by different things in different people. These approaches can be helpful:
FODMAPs are natural sugars found in some fruits, vegetables and pulses. A low FODMAP diet involves reducing these foods for 6–8 weeks to see how it affects your symptoms.
This can be helpful if you suspect food sensitivities. You eliminate all the major problematic foods—including wheat and dairy—for up to 8 weeks, and then reintroduce them one by one.
These include: Fizzy drink, Sugar alcohols, such as xylitol, sorbitol and mannitol and chewing gum.
Through uncovering your unique biochemistry, Functional Medicine can help you tackle bloating for good. Here’s what you can do:
Bloating can be a symptom of an underlying digestive issue. If you’d like to work out what’s going on, start by taking our free 3-minute symptom checker.
Symptom CheckerAn imbalance in bacteria, known as ‘dysbiosis’, can lead to digestive discomfort and bloating. Discover how you can optimise your gut microbiome by taking a gut health test.
Explore your microbiomeSmall intestine bacterial overgrowth is believed to be behind most cases of IBS, which is often linked to bloating. You can find out if you have SIBO by taking a breath test.
Look for SIBOWhen we’re stressed, digestion falls down your body’s priority list. But in today’s world, many of us are stressed without realising it. You can take an adrenal stress test to find out how your body is faring.
Investigate your stress levelsBloating can occur when your body finds it difficult to digest certain foods. Sensitivities vary between people, so testing can be a useful starting point to see what you need to tweak in your diet.
Uncover food sensitivities
