Natural Remedies for Belly Bloating
Are you ready to get rid of belly bloat forever? No one wants to experience that swollen, sometimes painful feeling in your stomach, and it can stop, or not even start, when you change how you eat the common culprits.
Usually, bloating is caused by your diet, either you’re eating the wrong types of foods for your body, or you’re eating too much, or you’re eating foods that are known to cause gas. In fact, so many healthy foods – like beans, legumes, and cruciferous vegetables can cause a build up of gas and create an untimely escape of that gas. Who wants to put up with that? So your choice is to avoid eating these healthy foods or find a clever way to avoid bloating in the first place.
Let’s talk about three really common foods that cause bloating and gas: beans, broccoli, and bread.
Beans offer valuable protein and fiber, but they also contain raffinose, an indigestible carbohydrate that passes through the gut, and lands in the colon – where bacteria help form a fermentation factory – creating methane and other kinds of gas. You can reduce raffinose by soaking dried beans in water overnight or rinsing canned beans well if you are making your own food. If you dine out, I suggest taking an over-the-counter Beano capsule because it’s formulated to digest raffinose and other sugars that aren’t typically digested. This means less gas is produced—and you can hang out longer at the table—just be sure to take 2-3 Beano tablets prior to your meal. Less doesn’t seem to be very effective.
Broccoli and other cruciferous veggies like cabbage and Brussels sprouts offer so many nutrients and plant chemicals that help to fight cancers and heart disease. These foods also contain raffinose, but if you cook or steam the veggies, you can make it easier for your body to break them down. Just realize that you won’t be getting the same quality of nutrients that you would if you ate them in their raw form. Beano isn’t just for beans. It works wonders on cruciferous veggies, too.
Now for those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, eating wheat causes major GI issues. Even if you don’t have issues with gluten, you can still get bloated after a meal of bread, pasta, or pizza. Clearly avoiding wheat flour products is a good first solution, and there are many gluten-free alternatives to wheat, like oats, quinoa, buckwheat, almond flour, and coconut flour. I found a dietary supplement called Wheat Rescue that I tried and had good success with it. It contains probiotic spores along with digestive enzymes that can completely digest gluten and other inflammatory wheat-derived proteins within about an hour. Wheat Rescue might be a good solution for those who are gluten sensitive if they accidentally consume hidden gluten in their food.
There are a couple of good alternatives to getting rid of gas naturally. Caraway seeds are a wonderful herbal remedy for gas. Chew on a teaspoon of caraway seeds after meals for instant relief. You can also get caraway seed powder in capsules. And some people make a tea by steeping 1 tsp caraway seeds in boiling water for 10 minutes and drinking before or after meals. And just a note: If you’re pregnant, avoid taking caraway—it is possibly unsafe for you.
Finally, get moving! Exercise helps expel gas quickly and you don’t have to take a 30 minute walk for exercise to work. Try 1 minute of deliberate and slow cat-cow yoga poses to stretch and compress your intestines. Russian twists and wide child’s pose can help too.
All of these natural solutions should keep you from ditching those gas-producing foods and keep you on track to eating healthier.