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3 Underrated Tips To Banish Bloat, From A Functional Medicine Doc
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To be clear, everyday gas and bloating are completely normal—but the latter often leads to discomfort, which can be pretty frustrating.
And you'll know if you experience more than the occasional bloat. Allow Mary Pardee, N.D., to paint the picture: "After breakfast, your stomach feels a bit distended, you feel gassy, you feel bloated, and it doesn't go anywhere," the functional medicine doctor (who specializes in integrative treatments for gastrointestinal conditions) says on today's episode of the mindbodygreen podcast.
"Then you eat lunch, and it gets worse, and now you actually have some pain and discomfort, maybe some cramping," she continues. "People will tell me, 'Before I go to bed at night, I feel nine months' pregnant. I don't even have an appetite because I feel so full.' That's what we call bloating."
We repeat: It's a pretty frustrating scenario. The good news? Pardee shares some tried-and-true tips to stop bloating in its tracks. See below for her expert advice:
Commit to regular meal times
"Consider eating more discrete meals versus grazing all day long," Pardee says. This can be difficult, especially if you have a smaller appetite (due to bloating), but she suggests having sit-down meals—breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with perhaps a snack in between—to give your digestion a break.
"If you're grazing all day long, you're not allowing for as many repetitions of the migrating motor complex1, or the MMC," she explains. "In your small intestines, you have this mechanism of housekeeping; when you're fasted for about 90 minutes, it triggers that MMC to come in and sweep the contents of the small intestines through so that you eventually clear it, have a bowel movement, and can eat."
But when you snack throughout the day, you keep that MMC from getting triggered. "You have to be fasted for about 90 minutes for that to be initiated," Pardee explains, and it takes around 1.5 hours to complete2. Of course, you should always listen to your body and eat when you're hungry, but consider having separate meals that you can space out regularly.
Now, that MMC is person-dependent, adds Pardee. On average, it gets initiated after 90 minutes of fasting, but in some people, the time frame may be shorter. But generally, she recommends spacing your meals by about three hours (so you activate the MMC and give it enough time to do its job).
Skip sparkling water
"When it comes to bloating, another thing to consider is carbonation," Pardee shares. Nothing against sparkling water—we love it, and so does Pardee! However, if you do struggle with bloat, you might not want to make seltzer your drink of choice.
"[For] some people, taking out carbonated water can actually help reduce bloating because you're actually not drinking air," she notes. (Remember: Carbonated water contains dissolved carbon dioxide gas.) Research has even shown that carbonated water can have a short-term satiating effect3, which, when you're bloated, won't be so welcome.
Don't drink a ton during meals
Even if you opt for standard H2O, you might not want to gulp it down during meals. "If you're dealing with bloating after a meal, and you're drinking a liter of water with those meals, consider taking that out and drinking it between your meals instead," says Pardee.
Adequate hydration is crucial for gut (and overall) health, so please make sure you reach your daily water quota. However, Pardee notes that consuming fluids while you eat will increase the volume of contents in your stomach during digestion. "Consider taking your fluids between meals versus with meals, just to reduce the pressure that's in the stomach at the time of digestion," she explains.
While research has shown that liquids do not affect the digestion speed of solid foods4, some who struggle with bloat anecdotally find that excessive water intake exacerbates that discomfort. Don't worry; some sips here and there won't hurt. No need to hide your reusable water bottle during meals! "But if it's large quantities of fluids and you have these types of [bloating] issues, then consider spacing them out," Pardee says.
The takeaway
Bloating—we've all been there, but with Pardee's tips, we don't have to succumb to the discomfort. By being intentional with your meals, sipping on water throughout the day as opposed to chugging while you eat, and skipping sparkling water (for now), you'll find your digestion in a much better place. Get yourself a stellar probiotic while you're at it, and you should be all set!
We hope you enjoy this episode! And don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or YouTube!
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