6 reasons you’re feeling bloated and how to beat the bulge

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6 reasons you’re feeling bloated and how to beat the bulge

Feeling bloated? Whether it’s after eating a big bowl of pasta or during that time of the month, we all experience that bulging belly feeling at some point in our lives. 

But what if you’re suffering from it more than just every now and then?

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One thing’s for sure: it can make you feel downright uncomfortable (not to mention a wee bit unattractive).  

Thankfully, dailymail.co.uk has done some investigating and found that while the exact trigger can vary day to day, these are the biggest reasons for bloating:

Stress

According to professor of medicine at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester, Peter Whorwell, “there is clearly a link between the brain and the gut”.  That means “…angst can make any digestive symptoms more severe.” 

Interestingly, “with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, this connection is exaggerated and the gut is oversensitive to factors such as stress, diet, hormones and bacteria,” says Peter. 

“I see many patients who say they’ve always had a bit of a funny tummy but the problem has got really bad since a stressful event a few years back. It’s likely they always had a predisposition to stomach problems, but a stressful event has finally set them off,” he says.

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Eating too quickly

If you a) suffer from bloating and b) love to eat your lunch in a nanosecond, you may want to slow down – your on-the-go eating is probably causing your tummy to expand. Why? Well, according to Professor Whorwell, “When we eat, we swallow roughly the same amount of air as we do food.” Which means the quicker you gulp down your food and the bigger bites you take, the more air you’ll swallow.  Now, what was that thing your mum said about chewing your food for three seconds?

Chewing gum

Chewing gum can also increase bloating, as you swallow even more unnecessary air as you chew. If bloating is a problem for you but you have to get your gum fix, avoid sugar-free versions: “These are worse as they contain ingredients such as sorbitol and xylitol which are fermented by bacteria in the gut and may also cause bloating”.  Yikes. The same ingredients are also found in sugar-free drinks, so step away from the Diet Coke!

High-fibre foods

You may find this surprising, but according to Professor Whorwell, high-fibre foods (like cereals, beans and pulses) can also be the cause of bloating as they ferment in the gut. The lesson? Eat them if you feel fine afterwards, but don’t force yourself to have brown bread and bran if it’s hurting you. 

Healthy snacks can also be an issue. Large amounts of fresh fruit, nuts, seeds and even edamame beans also ferment in the bowel. The lesson here? Limit your snacks to snack-size portions. 

Fad diets

On the other hand, reducing your fibre intake too much can also have adverse affects when it comes to your stomach size. “Faddy diets [such as the Atkins or Dukin, which are high in protein] don’t help when it comes to bloating,” dietician Luci Daniels says. “People wonder why they are bloated and constipated, yet they are on a high-protein diet so getting very little fibre, which is what we need to go to the loo regularly,” she adds. Noted. 

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Re-heating food

Do you find your bloating only strikes when you eat out? Apart from the obvious ate-more-than-you-usually-would factor, it could also be because the pasta, rice or potatoes in a restaurant have been re-heated. According to Luci Daniels, re-heating starchy food is a bloating bugbear as it changes its molecular structure, turning it into ‘resistant starch’. This can’t be digested in the small intestine, so it passes into the large intestine, where the bacteria that helps break it down produces gas (and therefore a rotund tum).

Do any of these causes of bloating resonate with you? What are your top tips for getting a flatter tum?

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