Bloating is common, but not normal. Some women experience bloating around ovulation (around day 14 of their menstrual cycle), others may experience bloating after eating food, and some people may experience bloating regardless of whether they have eaten or not.
Here are what causes each of these types of bloating....and i'll cover what you can do about it.
#1 - Bloating during ovulation
Ovulation is when your body releases an egg, around day 14 of your menstrual cycle. This is around the time that progesterone starts to increase and becomes high relative to the hormone oestrogen. Progesterone can slow the GI transition time, which means the time it takes to digest food and move it through your intestinal tract is slowed down, causing more fermentation and therefore gas.
If this sounds all too familiar, then there are a few of things you can do: 1) support your liver detox pathways to breakdown excess hormones, by ensuring you are eating well and avoiding alcohol during this time, 2) use herbal medicine to support your liver function, such as dandelion root and burdock root, and 3) take Digestive Bitters prior to meals to ensure your stomach has enough stomach acid and bile to breakdown food, easing any stagnation.
#2 - Bloating after eating
If you find you are bloating after eating, maybe a little more with starchy carbs such as pasta and bread, but generally bloating after most foods, then your digestive system is running low on stomach acid and bile and your food is sitting in your digestive system longer than it should be.
So what can you do about it? Firstly look at how you are combining food e.g. meat with a starchy carb such as potatoes, pasta or bread. These types of food digest at rapidly different rates, and can cause a long fermentation of the carbs, causing bloating. Next, make sure you don't eat until you hungry, not just out of habit /because its the time you normally eat. This gives your digestive system a break to finish digesting older food. Next, support bile and stomach acid production with herbal medicine. There are classes of herbs that help release bile, or stimulate hydrochloric acid production. And if you still experience bloating after all of these changes, then your gut microbiome may need some rebalancing, and your intestinal tract may benefit from a cleanse to remove any heavy metals or parasites that may be lurking.
#3 - Bloating without eating
Waking up with a bloated stomach usually means your nightly liver detox process is impaired, and needs some support. It means that it wasn't able to help breakdown the food in your stomach from the night before, and its causing fermentation in your digestive tract. You may be missing co-factors for this process such as B vitamins, and zinc, or you are eating just before bed and not giving your digestive system a chance to do what it needs to do before you sleep. Try eating your last meal of the day earlier (2 hours before bed) and see if that helps.
If you are taking a probiotic in the morning, then this may also be the cause. Probiotics aren't the panacea to optimising your gut microbiome. We are all unique. Our gut microbiome species are very particular to us, and ingesting standard strains of bacteria doesn't necessarily help and can actually cause MORE bloating.
Instead of taking probiotics, consider pre-biotics. Pre-biotics feed our already existing good bacteria, rather than trying to re-populate new strains. There are some fantastic herbs that contain Inulin which is a prebiotic (e.g. Burdock root & Chicory) or you can eat foods that are high in Inulin (e.g. leeks, onions, asparagus etc).
Why you NEED to heal your gut
If you are bloating regularly, then your digestive system needs help.
It means you aren't breaking down your food properly, and you aren't getting enough of the key nutrients your body needs to function.
This has a far reaching knock-on to your overall health over time, causing hormonal issues, anxiety, lowered immunity, fertility issues, and thyroid issues (weight gain and low energy).
But I get it, it can be hard to know where exactly to start, even if you have been given the knowledge of how to make changes.
Want my help?
My 3 month signature HerBiology programme includes a step called Digest, where we deep-dive into all your gut symptoms, and I create a protocol specifically for you, including herbal medicine formulas sent to your door, supplement review and recommendations for changes, and nutrition and lifestyle advice. We have multiple follow-up consultations so I can help you embed new habits to ensure the gut issues don't re-occur in the future.
Find out more here
Any Questions?
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