The inside scoop on our favorite tips to ditch chronic bloating and feel your best going into summer
Summer is finally here, and we are so ready. From warm sunny days, lounging by the pool, drinking cocktails on patios, heading to the beach with friends, and BBQing outside, summer is arguably one of the best times of the year, and the last thing you want to be dealing with during this season is the discomfort of bloat.
We know, we’ve all been there.
There’s nothing worse than feeling insecure in your swimsuit, dealing with bloat and heaviness in your stomach on a fun night out, or walking around trying to hide the food baby you develop after every single meal. The good news? There are ways you can help naturally de-puff your body, quickly reduce bloat in hours, and feel light and energized post-meal, and we’re about to give you the inside scoop on our top tips to make this possible!
Tip #1: Not what you eat, but how you eat
It’s not what you eat, but how you eat it…what do we mean by that? While food can play a role in increasing bloating, HOW you eat your food and the habits you have around eating may be affecting you more than you realize.
- Chew Slowly. When we eat too fast, we can create air bubbles in our stomach that lead to excess gas. Try to eat slowly, chew each bite thoroughly, and put your utensil down between bites. This helps regulate your eating and gives your body time to adequately process your food, plus it allows you to really savor your meal and enjoy it.
- Save water for later. While you may think water helps wash your food down, benefiting your digestion, it actually does quite the opposite. Water can dilute our stomach acid, which is responsible for breaking down our food, and therefore makes it harder for us to digest and receive all the nutrients from our food we need.
- Fruit first. If your stomach is extra sensitive, you may want to consider eating fruit on its own first, rather than with a meal. Fruit digests in our body quicker than most foods, as proteins, fats, and carbohydrates digest much slower. When eaten all together, it can result in a traffic jam in our stomach, as the other food groups end up preventing the fruit from its natural quick digestion, leading to stomach pain, cramps, and bloat.
Tip #2: Foods to avoid with a sensitive stomach
Now let’s dive into the certain foods that are more likely to cause a chance of bloat than others, and look at which are best to avoid if you know you have a sensitive stomach.
- Carbonated drinks. These drinks are filled with carbon dioxide gas, which can get trapped and build up in your stomach, leading to pressure and pain.
- Cruciferous veggies. Not only are they high in fiber, but they also contain raffinose that must be fermented rather than digested in the body. The fermentation and the fiber combined both increase gas build up.
- Processed foods and refined sugars. From overly processed sugars, extra sodium, and unhealthy additives, any of these foods are not natural, and are therefore foreign and harder for our body to break down.
- Beans. We all know beans make you gassy, but did you know it’s because they contain complex carbohydrates that the body can't digest? Now you know!
- Onions. They contain a soluble fiber that has to ferment in the gut in order to be broken down, again leading to gas build up.
- Gluten and dairy products. As the most common allergens and food sensitivities, gluten and dairy can cause bloat and pain if you are sensitive to them, as your body has a hard time digesting them and negatively reacts as a response to this.
Tip #3: Identify the root problem
While avoiding certain foods and eating carefully can definitely help bloating, your bloat will never fully go away until you identify the root problem. This may be different for everyone, but the top culprits behind bloating are usually poor gut health and food allergies.
- Gut health. Our gut is the powerhouse of our body and impacts way more than you may realize it does. A healthy gut microbiome works to create a balanced ecosystem in our body, and so when our microbiome is invaded by bad bacteria, our whole body reacts, resulting in anything from chronic bloating, poor digestion, decreased metabolism, brain fog, skin breakouts, or lack of energy.
- Food allergies. As we talked about above, food allergies are becoming more and more common, and can develop with time and age. When we eat foods we are sensitive to, our body essentially freaks out, as we lack the correct or enough enzymes to digest these foods, and we go into fight mode as a result. As our body tries to fight off allergies, symptoms like bloating can occur.
Tip #4: Holy grail supplements
On top of eating correctly, avoiding certain foods, and understanding where your bloating stems from, finding a holy grail supplement for aiding to reduce bloat is key.
Gut Glo capsules: Through extensive research, we have discovered that taking probiotics, digestive enzymes, magnesium, and detoxifying herbs all together is the most effective way to decrease bloat efficiently, which is why we created Gut Glo: a supplement combining all those ingredients into one ground-breaking product. Designed to be not just a quick fix but a real solution, our supplement helps decrease bloat within hours, while simultaneously working to heal your gut and rebuild your microbiome - which, as we discussed, is most likely the root cause of your bloating. Talk about the best of both worlds!
Tip #5: Lifestyle maintenance
Lastly, you have to understand that you can’t eliminate chronic bloat in one day, just like you can’t lose 5 pounds or clear your acne in a day. It’s all about building sustainable habits and creating a healthy lifestyle that will work daily over time to heal your body from the inside-out
- Move your body. Movement helps increase digestion, detox, and keep everything in your body flowing. Even squeezing in a 5 minute walk daily can be beneficial for you!
- Drink LOTS of water. Seriously, try to drink at least half your weight in ounces of water daily, if not more. This helps your body flush out toxins and keep your bowel movements regular.
- Find a way to destress. There is a strong brain to gut connection in our body, and when we stress, we actually impact the environment of our gut microbiome and increase the growth of bad bacteria in our gut, which only increases bloating. To help this, try to let go of your stress daily, whether that's through meditating, deep breathing, working out, listening to your favorite music etc. Find something that works for YOU.
Putting it all together
We know bloating can be debilitating, but we hope by combining all of these tips you can feel empowered to overcome your usual bloat and step into this summer as the best, most confident version of yourself. Life is too short to miss out on the fun just because you're feeling bloated or experiencing stomach pain, and it's time to stop giving anything the power to get in the way of you enjoying all that summer has to offer you!
Click here to order Gut Glo.
