8 Quick Tips to Prevent Bloating

If anyone knows me, they know I love Mexican/Latin Food. But not when it makes me bloated. No matter your favorite cuisine, or even if it's your daily meals, the discomfort of bloating after eating (or even throughout the day) is not a good feeling. It can truly feel miserable and no one wants to walk around sucking their stomach in all day.

Well, you're not alone and I'm going to give you a few reasons why and some tips to minimize and eliminate the bloat!

Bloating happens due to a few reasons:

• Our natural digestive enzymes +stomach acids aren't breaking down the food we eat well AT ALL (and this is most often the case after eating) or we are deficient in them.

• We have an intolerance to something that we ate.

• There is undigested food in our digestive tract that is fermenting and causing gas (not very pleasant smelling gas). This often accompanies constipation.

• We are combining the wrong foods, which is slowing down and impairing the break down of each food we eat, leading to undigested food.

Quick Tips to Relieve Bloating

Relieving bloating relies on the proper breaking down of the food we eat.

1. Prepare the body for digestion by drinking warm water or lemon water in the morning after awakening and 20-30 minutes before eating. This gets the digestive juices flowing (and also makes the liver very happy).

2. Implement Digestive Enzymes to help break down carbohydrates, protein, and fats + other common ingredients.

3. Eat in a relaxed environment, not rushed or in the car if you have control over that. If you don't be sure to loosen your jeans & be mindful about breathing and chewing your food thoroughly.

4. After eating, move around. Moving around helps the digestive process get going.

5. Be aware of what doesn't work well for you. Your body is your best advisor. If fried chicken never seems to "sit right" in your stomach, pay attention to that.

6. Know your intolerances. Look for sneaky ingredients (a common one is different variants of milk protein, thickeners, and preservatives) that cause bloating and discomfort.

7. Combine the proper foods. When we pair the right foods, we create less work for our digestive system to break it down. An efficient digestive system = a happy digestive system + less bloating.

8. Watch the sugar. Sugar has many different names & weasels its' way, but at the end of the day when sugar sits in our bodies, it ferments (basically rots) on top of other undigested food. This fermentation releases gas and causes bloating.

If you've had chronic bloating for some time and it hasn't seemed to subside, please consult your primary physician or work with a Functional Practitioner. A great place to start is the Foundations Reset!

Have any tips that you would like to share with us? Drop them in the comments below!