Did you know that around 15% to 30% of American adults suffer from bloating? This is a physical state where the stomach feels full or larger than usual, leading to discomfort, gas, and stomach rumbling. While this is usually harmless, it generally comes with excessive pain, unintended weight loss, blood in the stool, fever, diarrhea, or vomiting, which require medical attention to address underlying causes. Most of the causes of bloating can easily be handled with certain changes in diet and lifestyle. Learn some of the best tips and diet changes to avoid bloating in this article. You can contact us by visiting our clinic or visiting our website at https://doralhw.org/.

Tips to avoid bloating
Here are some common tips to help you avoid bloating, including:
1. Identify the triggers:
Bloating may be triggered by some food and dietary habits, including:
• Certain fruits, vegetables, and grains.
• Carbonated drinks.
• Some sweeteners.
• Drinking through a straw.
• Chewing gum.
• Eating a large meal.
• Consuming beverages while eating.
Some foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can cause bloating but are also necessary for essential nutrients. So, if you’re adding them to your diet, make sure you do it gradually to lower the risk of symptoms. You can also wait an hour before eating fruit or having a drink after a meal. Keep a food journal with you to identify which foods and eating habits may be the reason for your symptoms so that you can avoid them or change how you consume them.

2. Get moving:
Light exercises such as walking or cycling, can help you release trapped gas from the intestines that cause bloating. According to some research from 2021 based on people with IBS if they walked or cycled after meals it helped to reduce bloating better than medication.
Additionally, regular exercise also helps to manage stress, a common risk factor for bloating and other abdominal symptoms. Other benefits of regular exercise include weight management, lower risk of heart disease, and other chronic conditions. Experts recommend that you should do at least 150 minutes (about 5 hours) of moderate-intensity exercise such as brisk walking per week.

3. Avoid swallowing excessive air:
Normally, you swallow some air when you eat and drink, however, if you consume excessive air, it may get trapped in your digestive tract, and cause bloating. You can avoid swallowing excessive air by cutting down these habits:
• Chewing gum: This generally comes with sweetened sugars that are hard to digest.
• Drinking carbonated beverages: This contains gas that causes bloating.
• Using straws: This captures air and sends it to your digestive tract.

4. Eating slowly:
Eating slowly helps you to reduce the amount of air you swallow with your food. If you eat too fast, it prevents your brain from processing signals of satiety, which helps you to stop eating once you’re satisfied. This lack of signaling leads to overeating, which also causes bloating.
So, you should be mindful when you eat your meal, paying attention to the textures, flavors, scents, and combinations of food in the mouth you eat. This helps you eat slowly, enjoy food, and reduce bloating.

5. Stop smoking:
Studies found that smoking is linked with gastrointestinal distress, which includes bloating, constipation, and abdominal pain. Additionally, it also increases the risk of certain diseases with abdominal bloating, including GERD, Crohn’s disease, pancreatitis, and gastrointestinal cancers. Even when you first smoke it causes uncomfortable abdominal effects.
Research suggests that nicotine withdrawal will also cause changes to the digestive system and how fast it processes food, leading to constipation and bloating. To manage these symptoms, you need to work with your doctor until your body adjusts when you quit smoking.

6. Managing constipation:
Constipation happens when stool remains in the intestines or your body isn’t able to pass stool regularly, which leads to waste and gas buildup, and causes bloating. Additionally, the longer certain substances stay in the gut like lactose, the more fermentation by bacteria can happen, which increases the amount of gas. However, certain ways can help you manage constipation, which include:
• Consume high-fiber foods.
• Stay hydrated.
• Stay physically active.
• Check your medications to see if they make constipation worse.
• Use over-the-counter medications.
• Consult with your doctor about prescription medicines for constipation.
Make sure you add fiber gradually to your diet, otherwise, it makes bloating worse until your body adjusts.

7. Stay hydrated:
If you don’t drink enough water or take part in activities that can dehydrate you easily like sports, then you may experience constipation. Dehydration is one of the most common causes of constipation because water retention slows digestion and makes you feel bloated.
To avoid dehydration and bloating, drink plenty of water and avoid sugary, caffeinated, or alcoholic beverages. According to the National Academy of Sciences, adult men need around 3 to 7 liters of water per day while adult women need 2.7 liters per day. Higher water intake may be needed for people who are highly active or living in warm climates.

Food habits to avoid bloating
Certain foods and eating habits can help you prevent bloating, including:
8. Cruciferous vegetables:
Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, kale, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower are some of the most nutritious and antioxidant-rich foods, however, they can cause a bloated belly and embarrassing gas. It happens because these veggies contain raffinose, an indigestible carbohydrate that passes through the digestive system without getting broken down. When it reaches the large intestine and interacts with bacteria, it releases gas and causes a bloated belly.
However, you shouldn’t remove these veggies from your diet, instead, lightly steam or cook these vegetables in a way that becomes digestible and easy to chew. To increase the beneficial bacteria in the gut, add fermented foods like kimchi, kefir, and sauerkraut to your diet to help you digest these vegetables.

9. Try the Low FODMAPs diet:
People with IBS mostly suffer from bloating, abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, and constipation. Researchers found that limiting certain carbs like Fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols (FODMAPs) can lower bloating and other IBS symptoms. This happens because these carbs have many natural foods and additives that are difficult to digest, especially for people with IBS. That’s why you should try limiting foods that are high in FODMAPs, like:
• Grains: wheat and rye
• Dairy: milk, yogurt, and cheese
• Fruit: apples, pears, mangoes, peaches fruit juice, and dried fruits
• Vegetables: cabbage, brussels sprouts, onions, leeks, asparagus, zucchini, and green beans.
• Pulses: lentils and legumes
• Other: sugar-free gum and honey
If you follow a low FODMAP diet, remember that you will eliminate certain foods for several weeks and then gradually reintroduce them to check their effect.

10. Superfood smoothies:
Smoothies are an easy option to get vitamins, minerals, protein, fat, and fiber in just one drink, however, sometimes these ingredient combinations lead to a distended belly. For some, combining fruit and protein or fruit and fat can cause bloating, and gas, and weaken the overall digestive system.
To make your smoothie good for the digestive system, add fermented protein, fermented greens powder, kefir, dairy-free coconut yogurt, or digestive spices like ginger and turmeric.

11. Onion and garlic:
While onion and garlic are the main ingredients of most dishes to add flavor and support the immune system, however, they contain fructans that pass poorly through the small intestine and are then fermented by gas-producing bacteria in the colon, causing bloating and flatulence. Instead of onion and garlic, use other alliums like chives or the green tops of scallions and leeks that are easier to digest. You can also add ginger, cumin, and turmeric to get different flavors in your dish.

12. Avoid greasy foods:
Some foods are naturally hard to digest and produce gas, constipation, and bloating. T hard-to-digest natural sugars contained in commonly consumed foods are:
• Fructose is a form of sugar used in many processed foods and is naturally found in vegetables like onions and asparagus.
• Raffinose is found in many whole-grain products and beans.
• Sorbitol is used in sugar-free foods and is commonly found in certain fruits like apples, peaches, pears, and prunes.
To avoid them, read nutrition labels on packaged and processed products to avoid them.

Managing bloating symptoms is not difficult once you learn the causes and identify the triggers. Add the above-mentioned tips and diet changes to avoid bloating and improve your overall digestive health to live a better life.

If you need help with bloating or digestive problems, visit our clinic in Brooklyn to get professional medical help. Call us to book your appointment now and ease your symptoms!!!!
You can schedule an appointment with Doral Health and Wellness doctors in Brooklyn. If you are looking for treatments, you can also talk to our specialists and inquire with them. To schedule an appointment, please visit us at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11212 or call 1-347-384-5690.