15August 2021
You and every other woman out there probably know the feeling: you wake up feeling fit and slim, but throughout the day, you feel yourself becoming more and more bloated. While being bloated isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s still impractical, to say the least, since this can leave you feeling very insecure.
However, just because it’s not abnormal, doesn’t mean that there aren’t certain reasons that can be responsible for you being bloated. If you don’t know which ones, now follows an oversight of the 7 most prominent reasons! Luckily, this post will also include 4 extremely helpful ways you can incorporate in your lifestyle to reduce bloating, so keep reading to find out!
7 Reasons You’re Always Bloated
1. You’re Not Eating The Right Foods
First and foremost, your diet plays a big part when it comes to bloating. That is to say, foods like beans, onions, leeks, and legumes are prime examples of foods that cause a lot of gas and bloating. The same can be said about fatty foods, alcohol, and heavily carbonated drinks. The reason behind this is that these types of foods and drinks are harder to digest since they make your stomach work slower. In turn, these foods cause bloating, so while you don’t need to steer clear of these foods and drinks completely, you still need to
understand that eating like this is a big factor when it comes to feeling bloated.
2.Food Intolerances
Now, being bloated is not always something that is your fault, so to speak. No, food intolerances also are a big cause of bloating, for example. This reason is especially problematic since a lot of people that are gluten or lactose intolerant aren’t even aware of this. To be more concrete, when these people consume gluten or lactose respectively, this will cause several digestive-related issues such as cramps, nausea, constipation, diarrhea, and -yes, you guessed it- bloating!
3.Your Digestive System Is Out Of Balance
Furthermore, it could also be that your digestive system isn’t entirely in balance when you’re feeling bloated. There are multiple possible explanations for your digestive being out of balance, ranging from being stressed or having an unhealthy lifestyle to not drinking enough water or suffering from inflammation. Whatever the case, when you have issues with your digestion process, you won’t be able to digest food as easily as you normally would and this can definitely lead to bloating.
4.You’re Chewing Gum Too Often
Another reason why you could be bloated is chewing gum too often and the explanation behind this is actually quite straightforward. When you chew too much gum, you swallow an excess of air, which can result in stomach pain and being bloated. Besides that, chewing gum also signals to your brain that you’re
eating food. In turn, this will set your digestion process in motion without there actually being food to digest and that can cause you to feel bloated.
5.You’re Regularly Skipping Meals
While skipping meals might sound like a good idea to you if you’re trying to lose weight, this isn’t necessarily the best thing you can do when it comes to your digestive system nor is it super healthy. To make this less abstract, your stomach and bowels need to receive food regularly to stay active, so to speak.
Consequently, if you skip your meals from time to time, this really boycotts your digestive process. That’s why, if you do decide to eat something after you’ve been skipping meals, you will get that bloated feeling significantly faster than would otherwise be the case.
6.Your Hormones Are Raging
Moreover, your hormones also play a big part in the way that your digestive system works and operates. To be more concrete, hormones can facilitate bloating and that’s especially true for artificial hormones such as those produced by some forms of birth control. For example, if you’re on the pill and you feel bloated often, you should keep in mind that this could be a side-effect of your chosen form of birth control.
7.You’re Under A Lot Of Stress
Last, but certainly not least, there’s the possibility that you’re under a lot of stress. Being too stressed has a detrimental influence on many aspects of life and that’s no different when it comes to bloating. Namely, due to biological reasons, when you’re under a lot of stress, your body sends signals to your brain that set a “flight or fight”- reaction in motion. Because of this, blood flows from your digestive system to your muscles and consequently, your digestive system doesn’t work as hard as normal. Hence, that’s precisely why stress can cause bloating!
4 Effective Ways To Reduce Bloating
1.Chew More
The first tip to reduce bloating is one that’s remarkably easy to incorporate into your day-to-day life. Namely, you can start by chewing a lot more on your food. This eating habit might be hard to commit to at first, but you’ll find that once you’re used to chewing more, it will feel like second nature to you. On the one hand, chewing your food more is great since it lowers your chances of “eating” air. This benefit really shouldn’t be underestimated since having air in your stomach can really contribute to you feeling boated. On the other hand, chewing more is also beneficial because this way, you are literally turning your food into a mixture that’s easy to digest. Hence, your stomach won’t have to work as hard to digest your food and this, in turn, reduces bloating!
2.Hydrate Yourself
It might sound cliché, but you should really make sure that you drink enough water on a daily basis. If, on the other hand, you don’t hydrate yourself enough, this increases your chances of becoming constipated and that’s a big cause of feeling bloated. Thus, if you notice that you’re more bloated than is normally the case, you should really consider getting the recommended amount of water in, each and every day!
3.Start Exercising More Often
Furthermore, if you’re bloated, it’s also always a great idea to start exercising more often. More concretely, when you keep your body active, you do the same for your digestive system, which reduces your risk of being bloated. Additionally, if you exercise enough, you’ll also find that you will be able to digest your food more easily, so that’s always something to strive for!
4.Stock Up On Probiotics
Lastly, if you want to lend nature a hand, you could always try stocking up on probiotics. The thing about probiotics is that they stimulate the good bacteria in your bowels and elsewhere in your body. This will give your body more ammunition to fight off bad bacteria and thus, it’s also a great way to reduce bloating. If you’re interested in taking probiotics, you should know that you can consume these in the form of supplements, but you can just as easily get your probiotics intake through several foods like certain vegetables or yogurt, to just name a few.
Verdict
All in all, there are many more reasons as to why you could be feeling bloated, but the above-mentioned ones are definitely among the most prominent ones! The good news is that you can undertake a lot of easy steps in your everyday life to reduce bloating, as explained earlier on. Of course, these tips won’t magically solve your feelings of being bloated entirely, but you can be guaranteed that you will be off to a great start on your path to fitness! So, don’t hesitate to try them out!