Good’s contributing nutritionist and naturopath Jess Blair shares her tips on decreasing the symptoms associated with bloating.
For women and men unfortunately bloating can be a regular occurrence – sometimes a daily problem that causes severe discomfort. Around two thirds of women will experience bloating periodically in their life. One in five will experience bloating so severe it will affect their lives and work lives. Here are my tips for helping to combat bloating.
About two thirds of women will experience bloating periodically in their life
- Go for a short walk – even though you may just feel like lying on the couch – going for a short walk can relieve the pressure of the gasses around your stomach and the symptoms subside.
- Including a variety of healthy foods into your diet, as well as those high in fibre will support a healthy digestive system.
- Make sure you are drinking plenty of water during the day.
- Peppermint tea is known for its stomach calming qualities, containing relaxant and antispasmodic properties to help spasms in the gastrointestinal tract. Enjoying a few sips of peppermint tea before or during dinner can help detoxify the liver. A well functionally liver is vital for good digestive health.
Getting enough sleep is the most important thing anyone can do for their health. See our tips for a super sleep
here
.
- Add parsley to your dinner. Not only is it high in iron, potassium calcium as well as folic acid, it’s high enzyme content contributes to improved overall digestion and the effective elimination of waste.
- Diets rich in potassium are known to relieve cramping. Potassium can provide relief from bloating by balancing and circulating body fluids. Try add strawberries, bananas or kiwis to your diet.
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Drink water
away
from meals, drinking water with your meals can dilute the stomach acid that needs to break down your food. We want the stomach acid to be concentrated to break down the foods. - Get enough sleep – the recommended amount is eight hours per night. Our body works on a fight or flight, so if we are tired or stressed our bodies uses its energy to focus on other areas. This could affect the digestive system and in turn cause uncomfortable bloating.
- Eliminate foods that react with your stomach, and make sure when you are getting bloated, or gas pains that you write down what you have eaten so you can be able to identify what the food intolerance is so you can avoid eating that food.
Jess Blair is a practicing nutritionist and personal trainer who currently resides in Australia with her husband and two small children.