With warm weather on the horizon, the last thing anyone wants to worry about is Bloat…
Summer and warmer weather comes with so much, joy but sometimes comes with worry when digestive symptoms like bloat are a frequent occurrence. You should be at beach, relaxing in the sun and pool free of any worries, especially looking and feeling bloated. Don’t worry, The team at Allergy Test is here to help you enjoy the summer you deserve, and support you with some great tips to minimize bloating.
What is “bloat”?
You often hear someone say, I feel bloated! Essentially, bloating is a condition that causes your stomach to feel pressure, full, and tight.
It may or may not be accompanied by a visibly swollen abdomen, and can be downright uncomfortable with a feeling that can range from mildly uncomfortable to intensely painful. It usually goes away after a while, but for some people, it’s a recurring problem.
Between 10% and 25% of otherwise healthy people complain of occasional abdominal bloating. However, as many as 75% describe their symptoms as moderate to severe. For 10% of people, bloat is regular daily occurrence, and can be life limiting.
Why is my stomach bloated?
The most common cause of stomach pain and bloating is excess intestinal gas and digestive issues. One of the main contributors to bloat are food sensitivities and intolerances.
If you would like to help minimize your bloat, a great first step is taking a food intolerance test with Allergytest.co. Since bloat may be caused by food sensitivities and intolerances, it is important you identify them so action steps can be taken to help you feel better. Taking an intolerance test is an easy and comprehensive way to personalize and optimize your health, and hopefully help reduce your bloat and digestive discomfort.
Here are some easy tips to help minimize your bloat today
1.) As mentioned above, Take an Intolerance Test and eliminate or minimize offending foods
An intolerance test will tell you exactly what sensitivities you may have. At Allergy Test, we believe you should identify your sensitivities, as you work hard to reduce the symptoms that you are suffering from. How can it help? By identifying your intolerances, we will tell you what foods and items you should start limiting or avoiding. By identifying your sensitives, Allergy Test can help you become the happier, healthier you.
2.) Water
I can’t stress how important drinking water is, for almost every organ and body system and process. As it relates to bloat and digestion, drinking enough water will encourage motility along your entire digestive tract and keep your digesting food from becoming too hard and compacted to pass through. Water also helps you feel full between meals, and though it may seem paradoxical, reduces bloat.
Nope, we’re not talking about English Soccer player, Danny Drinkwater, we are recommending that you actually drink lots and lots of water. It can be extremely beneficial, kicking off your metabolism in the morning, flushing your body of harmful toxins, and also keeping your mind fresh, hydrated and ready to work. Getting water to your brain can be the exact change you need.
3.) Eat more Fiber!
If you don’t typically get a lot of fiber in your diet, gradually start incorporating more. You do not want to overwhelm your system with too much at first. Fiber will initially cause more gas at first, but once it starts sweeping through your digestive system, it will help clean out the fermenting fecal matter that’s stuck. Fiber also tells your body to drink more water, and it makes you feel full sooner so that you don’t eat too much. Finally, fiber is a prebiotic that helps feed and promote the good bacteria in your gut. Some great high fiber foods include beans, broccoli, berries, avocado, whole grains, apples, potatoes and nuts. Often, these foods are initially bloat triggering for many people, but with small incremental amounts, it should end up helping and reducing bloat in the long run.
4.) Move your body!
Exercise and movement helps prevent water retention and keeps your digestion and bowels moving. If you have a desk job, regular exercise can seem difficult due to time contraints, but it doesn’t take too much — just remember to get up and walk around now and then.
5.) Minimal processed foods
Processed foods are low in fiber and high in salt and fat. Salt causes water retention, and fat slows down the digestive process because it takes longer to digest. All of these things can lead to constipation and bloating. Processed foods are also low in nutrition, and often contain non-nutritive additives, thickeners, preservatives, sugars, fake sugars, and food colorings. In addition to unhealthy and non-nutritive chemical substances, they can also leave you feeling hungrier even after you’ve consumed a lot of calories. This leads to more eating and compounding the problem.
6.) Mindful Eating
We all have crazy schedules, which sometimes offers minimal meal times. This leads to a natural tendency to eat food quickly, and not chew it thoroughly. This in and of itself can create bloat and some unpleasant digestive symptoms. It can also lead to swallowing air, which causes bloat. Take your time to chew thoroughly and stop before you are full. Feeling full is a delayed reaction because it takes a while for the food you eat to reach your stomach. Most people eat enough to be full before they can actually feel that they are.
Hop over to www.allergytest.co and take a look around for yourself, it will do you wonders! Our Customer Service advisors are always available via LiveChat, and they are always looking to help you out.
