Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 3: Eating healthy
• Method 2 of 3: Eat well
• Method 3 of 3: Anti-bloating habits
• Tips

Anyone who suffers from bloating (also called dyspepsia) knows that a distended abdomen is a symptom of this condition. This is a condition that causes a lot of discomfort. It's hard enough to squeeze in pants without your stomach swelling, let alone if your stomach is swollen. Fortunately, with a diet and some other tricks, you can prevent your belly from swelling.

To step

Method 1 of 3: Eating healthy

1. Don't eat too much fatty, processed foods. This is not only bad for you, but it also contains many ingredients that your stomach can hardly process. Food with a lot of fat and sugar can be processed less quickly and thus ensures that your stomach remains full for longer. An entire meal has to be processed in one go and that is not good for you.
   • However, foods without sugar, like frozen foods, are also not good. Frozen products contain a lot of salt and other preservatives that cause you to swell quickly. Food without sugar is not a good alternative because it causes you to get a lot of blood alcohol and the bacteria in your intestines to work overtime and produce a lot of gas that makes you bloat (this is almost never due to water).
2. Eating fiber can help prevent bloating. If you eat enough fiber, drink enough water and defecate regularly, you can prevent constipation.
   • You can get fiber by eating fruits (raspberries, pears, and apples), vegetables (artichoke, beans, peas, broccoli), and grain products (spaghetti, barley, and bran). You can also eat beans, lentils, and split peas, as they contain twice as much as the previously mentioned cereal, vegetable and fruit types. However, these products are all healthy.
   • If you're not constipated, eating extra fiber can make your bloating worse. If you still go to the bathroom regularly, you may need to avoid high-fiber foods. Especially if you occasionally experience bloating accompanied by flatulence.
3. Do not overeat foods that cause flatulence. These are the cruciferous vegetables in particular. Avoid these vegetables until your body is ready. These vegetables are good for you, but you have to learn to eat them.
   • Some cruciferous vegetables are: beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage, bok choy, and cauliflower. As said before, these vegetables are healthy but you have to learn to eat them. Your body has to get used to it.
   • Eat fewer carbohydrates. If your muscles store glycogen (a type of carbohydrate), they also store water in a ratio where three units of water are stored per glycogen unit. Avoiding carbohydrate-rich foods such as bagels and pasta will reduce the amount of water absorbed into the body.
4. Cook your vegetables before eating them. Cooked vegetables are easier to digest than raw vegetables.
   • The cooking process can remove some of the fiber and enzymes that cause stomach problems and bloating.
   • You can also steam your vegetables. Steaming reduces the amount of lost nutrients your food loses when you boil it in water.
5. Watch what you drink! It is best to limit yourself to water. If you find that a bit boring or tasteless, you can also mix your water with some fruit or drink tea. Tea makes you less hungry and also ensures that you do not swell.
   • Did you know that the sting in drinks doesn't go away after you swallow it? The injection also remains active in your stomach and creates gas in your intestines. Prick is not only bad because of the calories but also because of the fact that it makes you swell. Enough reasons to stop drinking carbonated drinks.
   • Drinks containing acid irritate the gastrointestinal system. These types of drinks cause the system to swell and make you feel bloated. Examples of these types of drinks include: coffee, tea, juice and alcohol.
   • It's also good to avoid drinks with sugar substitutes. Substances such as sorbitol, xylitol and mannitol cause swelling.
6. Try to limit the amount of salt you consume as salt also makes your body bloat. This is because the salt clings itself to water as the amount increases. A teaspoon of salt contains 2300 mg of sodium, while your body only needs 200 mg of sodium per day. That's another perspective!
   • If you consume too much sodium, you can develop cardiovascular disease. It sounds rather dangerous when you consider that one teaspoon already contains more than 10 x the daily amount of sodium, but the good news is that you get the most salt from things that we add to the food ourselves. So if you prepare your food without using too much salt, you can easily limit your salt consumption.
7. Avoid hot spices. Black pepper and chili powder stimulate the secretion of stomach acid. Other ingredients such as hot sauce and vinegar have the same effect. When the stomach secretes acid it causes irritation which causes bloating.
8. Try to eat foods that don't make you bloat. Research has shown that certain types of food expel excess water and air from your body. Peppermint tea, ginger, pineapple, parsley, and certain yogurts.
   • Bananas, galia melon, mango, spinach, tomatoes, nuts and especially asparagus are high in potassium, which is a natural diuretic and thus also helps prevent bloating.
   • Try to eat more peppermint and parsley. Most herbs are good for the stomach, but parsley and peppermint are especially good for treating bloating. Parsley keeps your digestive system clean and peppermint stimulates bile production to help digest fats.
   • Try to eat more foods with potassium in them. Potassium regulates the fluids in your body by offsetting the sodium. Examples of potassium-rich foods are: bananas, potatoes, galia melon, mango, spinach, tomatoes, nuts, and asparagus.
9. Use probiotics, which are good bacteria used to aid digestion. If the digestion is going well, the number of bloating symptoms will decrease sharply.
   • If the number of bacteria in your intestines is not balanced, you can suffer from swelling. You can fix this by using probiotics.
   • Yogurt is a source of probiotics. However, probiotics are also available separately as supplements.

Method 2 of 3: Eat well

1. Take it easy. Today's busy rhythms of life make it easy to learn bad eating habits. If you eat too fast, you will also get a lot of air, which then causes bloating. It sounds a bit crazy, but that's how it works.
   • Try to chew your food 30 times before swallowing it. You may not be able to keep this up because it takes some discipline, but it is a good way to become aware of what you are eating and eat it well. Doing this will also have a good effect on your bloating.
2. Eat more and less. Eating smaller portions is better for your stomach and waist, try to eat four to five times a day instead of three times. This ensures that your metabolism runs better and it also ensures that you do not get hungry between meals. This way of eating also ensures that you do not get stomach problems.
   • Eating a lot at the same time leads to a bloated feeling. Limit yourself to small meals.
   • Have you ever felt bad after an extensive dinner (like during Christmas)? That feeling must be remedied and preferably it never returns. If you eat less at a time, you can continue for a long time without having to loosen your belt afterwards. Food should make you feel good instead of exhausted!
3. Avoid large meals, especially at night. Do not eat carbohydrates. If you eat too much in the evening, you will wake up in the morning with a bloated feeling. This is because you retain water at night and you wake up in the morning feeling like a sponge. So if you want to have a large meal, you have to do this at noon so that you can still process the food during the afternoon.
4. Do not use straws! Do not do anything that causes you to take in unnecessary air. This also applies to talking with your mouth full. The more air you take in, the more your body has to process. This eventually converts to bloating or gas.

Method 3 of 3: Anti-bloating habits

1. Reduce bloating during menstruation. Having your period is bad enough, so you don't want to bloat too. Bloating during the menstrual period is not much different from normal bloating. So it is good to eat less salt, to exercise more and to eat the types of foods that have been mentioned earlier. Resides in the fact that the swelling will disappear within a few days.
   • If you want to add to it, magnesium and calcium can help. Take a supplement if you feel the bloating. Incidentally, Midol (medicine) can also help.
2. Watch your technique when chewing gum. Blowing bubbles is just as bad as talking with your mouth full because you are taking in extra air that has nowhere to go and is therefore held by your body. So always keep your mouth closed while chewing gum.
3. Bloating can also occur with certain food allergies. Especially people who cannot tolerate wheat and / or lactose suffer from this and sometimes do not even know that this causes swelling. However, there are also many people who think they are allergic to something when this is not the case, but because of these "diagnoses" they miss the chance of a well-balanced diet. So what should you do if something is wrong? Consult your doctor!
   • There are dairy products that are lactose free, if you eat these types of products I would like to ask you a few questions. Especially old cheeses and yogurt are low in lactose (what effect does this have on your diet?) If you eat these products in combination with other things, the results may be different.
4. Avoid stress. Stress causes many health problems, including bloating. This is due to the hormone cortisol that is triggered by stress and makes you feel like eating a lot of fat and sugars. The best way to control your cortisol is to exercise for a few minutes every day. Even though you know best what calms you down.
   • You can also try using yoga or meditation to control your cortisol. An additional advantage of these methods is that you also burn calories with them. You can achieve a lot with 15 minutes for yourself per day.
   • Breathing exercises can also help manage stress. Sit in a calm, quiet place and take a deep breath and count to 10.
   • You can use therapy if you suffer from depression or anxiety.
5. Try to quit smoking. If you bloat, if you do this, you should stop smoking so that no more air comes in. Even if you are not bloated, you should stop smoking because it is bad for your health and causes breathing problems, lung cancer, arteriosclerosis and heart problems and so on. It costs a lot of money and it is even only for the people around you. Hopefully you don't need any more reasons to quit!
   • It's never too late to quit. Your body will repair itself as soon as you stop smoking. Your lungs will feel better within weeks. So try so that it doesn't cost you even more money and you don't get even sicker and don't make even more people around you sick.
6. Move a lot. Adjust your exercises to prevent further bloating.
   • You can prevent or reduce bloating by cycling for half an hour three or more times a week.
   • You can also go for a walk / jog (3 km in thirty minutes), jump rope (fifteen minutes), dance (half an hour) or swim (twenty minutes).
   • Weight loss leads to less bloating. Being overweight is a cause of bloating.
7. Also consider the possibility that you have an allergy. A mild allergy or intolerance is often the cause of a bloating.
   • Allergens cause allergic reactions, examples are: dairy products, peanuts, tree nuts, gluten, wheat, legumes, soy, eggs, and corn.
   • Keep an eye out for bloating, if you bloat after eating a certain food you should check with your doctor if you are allergic to it. The doctor can then conduct tests to find out what is going on.

Tips

• If you want to remedy or prevent bloating, you should eat pineapple (not from a can).