Is bloating normal?
The two primary causes of bloating are swallowing air whilst you eat - which escapes back in the form of burping - and the breakdown of undigested foods in your intestines.
In the latter case, bacteria in your gut feed on the fermented foods and produce gas.
Certain foods + the wrong bacteria + the wrong place = bloating
Antibiotics can be a common cause for this imbalance of bacteria.
So, what can you do to limit it? To give you an overview that's not too overwhelming...
Firstly, you want to rebalance the good and bad bacteria in your gut, as the more bacteria, the more feeding, the more gas, the more bloat. Nutrition and supplementation are the primary aids here.
In addition, you can remove the foods that feed this bacteria for a period of time - whilst you combat the bacteria - and then re-introduce them as your gut improves.
This is why if you suffer from a gut issue, as you improve you can re-introduce more and more foods with fewer issues.
In addition, the motility of your gut (the transit/movement of foods through it) can cause this "wrong place" part of the equation above. This is a topic in itself, which I'll cover in another issue.
Another angle you can consider is how well you digest these foods prior to the bacteria getting stuck in!
For example, if chew properly, take your time eating, and have the correct digestive enzymes to support digestion, you will reduce bloating as the foods will arrive properly digested, meaning less feeding (and less gas).
Once again, digestive enzymes are a topic in itself, but your choice of supplement could affect how well you digest certain foods!
For example, the enzyme "lactase" helps you to break down lactose (from dairy) - I know you may not eat dairy, this is just an example for your knowledge.
Let's stick to this point for a second... so this is why there is a "spectrum" of tolerability to dairy products because both the state of your gut and the presence of enzymes to break it down, and also the quantity of lactose in the food.
That's why on The Gut Reset we re-introduce dairy products in order of their lactose quantity for those looking to re-introduce it, an approach I took when I had IBS to "re-learn" how to digest dairy - as I couldn't tolerate it at all.
So that's a broad outline of what might be causing your bloating! And remember you don't just want to mask the symptoms (the bloat) when it arrives, you want to get down to the root cause.
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