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Bloating may be a regular problem or it may happen from time to time, but there’s a lot you can do to prevent it, look slimmer and feel better.
The problem with bloating is that the causes vary from person to person, so the first thing you’ll need to identify is what trigger yours. According to one survey, six out of ten women who said that they experienced digestive discomfort, or felt bloated and sluggish, didn’t take any steps to sort things out because they believed that nothing could make a difference. Not true! Check out the following possible causes and if any of them seem beatable, then follow the advice in the beat-the-bloat section. Of course, consult your doctor to rule out any underlying medical reasons.

What’s Causing The Problem?

• Swallowing Air
• Stress: We often gulp down air when we’re stressed, when we eat too quickly or if we’re chatting a lot while eating and drinking. This turns into trapped air bubbles in the intestine, causing that bloated feeling.
• Chewing Gum: As you chomp up and down you introduce extra air into the gut.

Eating And Drinking The Wrong Things

• Fizzy drinks: Colas and lemonades contain preformed bubbles which lead to almost instant bloating. It sounds odd, but aerated foods, such as home-made smoothies whizzed up in a blender, mousses and puddings, can also have the same effect.
• Pulses: Baked beans and lentils introduce gases into your digestive tract which then form bloat-causing bubbles as they contain two types of carbohydrates that are not broken down in the intestines. Instead, they move further along to the colon, where bacteria feed on them and produce gases such as hydrogen.
• Lactose: The sugar in milk can cause bloating because some people can’t digest it in their small intestine. Like the carbs in beans, it provides food for gas-producing bacteria in the colon.
• Vegetables: Cabbage, onions and sprouts trigger extra gas production. Keep an eye on what happens when you eat any of these and you may find that you have to add them to the list.
• High-fat foods: Foods low in fiber, such as sausages, pies and cakes, can mean that both food and gases hang around in the intestine for longer than necessary.

Other Causes Of Bloating

• Menopause: Hormonal fluctuations during menopause can make your kidneys retain more water and salt than normal which adds to the bloating problems. Sticking to around 3g of salt a day may be a useful step at this time, but check with your GP before you try this. Eat fruits and vegetables which are rich in potassium, a mineral that helps to flush out excess salt, and drink a daily cup of dandelion tea, a natural diuretic.
• Antibiotics: A course of antibiotics can sometimes cause bloating because they kill both the “good” as well as the “bad” bacteria. By disturbing the balance of good-to-bad bacteria in your colon, gas-producing “bad” ones can flourish. Antibiotic treatment can also trigger a bout of irritable bowel syndrome and bloating can result. Many doctors now recognise that it’s a good idea for people to take a course of probiotic “good” bacteria with prescribed antibiotics to help reduce the risk of unbalancing gut bacteria.

How To Beat The Bloat

• Changing Habits
• Eating slowly: Eating hastily and not talking during meals is something you can fix straight away. Granted, it takes a bit of practice, because changing habits can be tricky, but the pay-off is that the results are pretty instant.
• Sugar-free sweets: Like mint, sugar-free sweets will freshen your breath as efficiently as chewing gum, while cutting back on swallowed air.
• Less salt: Consuming less salt can help our bodies release extra fluids, since a low salt intake (up to just 3g a day) can help our bodies release up to 1.5 litres of excess fluids. A high-salt diet causes us to retain more water to dilute it. Less salt means that we can wee this excess fluid out, combating a swollen tummy and potentially losing up to 1.5kg (3lb) in body weight.

Get Moving
Moderate exercise, for instance walking, swimming or cycling each day, or regular stretching and toning exercises, such as yoga and pilates, can help speed up the time that food takes to go through your digestive system, which in turn, can reduce bloating.

Anti-bloat Foods
Soy milk: Soy milk enriched with calcium is worth trying. Intolerance to lactose can pass with time, and even when it’s a problem, yogurt, which has less lactose, can often still be tolerated. Yogurt contains good, probiotic bacteria (Bifidus Actiregularis). It’s been scientifically proven that one 125g pot a day can help speed up the rate at which food passes through the digestive system. Further benefit was shown when two pots a day were eaten.
A balanced diet makes a real difference to bloating. Try porridge or sugar-free muesli for breakfast; a whole meal pitta stuffed with tuna and salad for lunch, oatcakes and a banana mid-afternoon, and a light supper of lean shepherd’s pie with carrots and sweet-corn for dinner.

Exercises That Will Also Give You A Flatter, Stronger Abdomen
The Plank
1. Start on all-fours, hands placed slightly wider than shoulder-width length and shoulders and knees underneath the hips. Keep your spine and neck in a straight line so that you are looking at the floor.
2. Walk your hands a few centimeters forward, shifting your shoulder-weight over your wrists, and hold, keeping your back flat. Hold for just a few seconds.
3. Return to the all-fours position.
4. Lower yourself down gently and lie flat on your tummy, putting your hands one on top of the other and resting one cheek on your hands. Take a couple of deep breaths, and relax.

Knees Together Twist
1. Lie flat on the floor, checking that your body is straight.
2. Relax your head on the right side.
3. Place your right foot on top of your left knee and twist your right knee over to the left. Keeping both shoulders flat on the floor, the left hand is to be placed gently on the right thigh, but take care not to apply too much pressure.
4. Take the right hand out in line with your shoulder, palm uppermost, and look towards it.
5. Hold for approximately seven breaths.
6. Return to the center, relax flat on the floor and check if your body is straight.
7. Repeat exercise on the other side

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