10 Tips to Reduce Abdominal Bloating and Distention

Abdominal bloating is not fun!

Abdominal bloating and distention happens to everyone at some time. Whether it’s occasional or daily, one thing we know is that abdominal bloating is an unpleasant experience.

This article is a follow-up to the previous month’s article “10 Reasons for Abdominal Bloat and how to tame it!”

In that article we looked at the causes of abdominal bloating. Today you can find out what you can do to prevent abdominal bloating from occurring. Plus, ways to reduce belly bloat once started.

Abdominal bloating and distention, happens to everyone at some time. But whether it’s occasional or daily, one thing we know is that abdominal bloating is an unpleasant experience.

Ideas to reduce abdominal bloating are great but finding the root cause is the goal. Whether it’s a specific food or group of foods; lifestyle eating habits; stress-enhanced indigestion; or a serious health condition like gastroparesis or Celiac Disease. The tips below can help to reduce and even eliminate abdominal bloating.

Let’s begin with the easy to put-into-place solutions and move into the more complex.

1. Stop sucking in air!

We’re sucking in air whenever we talk, eat or drink. Speaking of drinking, ditch the straw! Straws provide the vehicle for super uptake of air. You can hear it when you finish that drink! Instead sip straight from the cup or glass.

What you drink is important to avoid belly bloat too. Carbonated drinks contain carbon dioxide gas that makes soda and similar beverages fizzy which can cause bubbles and abdominal bloating in upper abdomen or stomach.

Another way we get air in the belly is the habit of chewing gum. Stopping this habit can reduce abdominal bloating in one day!

2. Stop speed eating!

The first tactic for reducing abdominal bloating while increasing digestive enzyme release are three word’s I share with my clients on their first session – chew, chew, and then chew more!

Once we start to focus on chewing our food, we automatically slow down our eating speed. Eating quickly increases the amount of air that gets into the gut. Eating too fast, eating big bites, or talking too much while eating all can lead to abdominal bloating.

Speed eating can result in upper abdominal pain and bloating.

3. Keep an eye on gas-producing foods

Vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, bok choy, and broccoli and several more are known as cruciferous vegetables This extremely healthy veggies contain the largest amount of the sulfur-containing beneficial phytochemicals called glucosinolates.  

When these undigested veggies travel to the colon, bacteria in the intestines ferment them. This leads to creating gas leading to abdominal bloating. Luckily, this doesn’t mean you need to ditch these healthy vegetables. The first suggestion is to cook these veggies since cooked are easier to digest than raw. Next watch your portions.

4. Rescue Relief – Enteric Coated Peppermint Oil Capsules

Peppermint has been used as a digestive aid for hundreds of years. The main ingredient of peppermint oil, L-Menthol, has anti-spasmodic and anti-carminative properties. This means it can prevent or reduce muscle spasms that can occur in the smooth muscle that line the gut.  

The best way to reap the bloat beating benefits of peppermint oil is to ingest it as an enteric-coated capsule. Enteric-coating helps to ensure that the peppermint is released into the small intestine versus the stomach.

Using enteric coated peppermint oil is recommended for anyone with acid reflux. Otherwise, the peppermint will relax the esophageal sphincter and cause a reflux of peppermint. Not pretty!

5. Take a break with a Tummy Loving Tea

Chamomile tea is made using the buds of chamomile flowers. It’s known worldwide as a soothing and relaxing brew. It’s also one of the best home remedies for abdominal bloating and pain including baby’s colic.

Chamomile tea offers carminative properties, which means it helps to reduce feelings of gas and bloating. My go-to brand is Traditional Medicinals. Non-GMO verified with all certified organic ingredients, Kosher and caffeine free. They also use high-quality herbs from ethical trading partnerships.

6. Fiber – friend or foe?             

Hear the word “fiber” and eyes roll. Many have a horror story trying to increase the fiber in their diet whether through food or a fiber supplement. The sudden increase in abdominal bloating and distention results from too much, too soon. Plus, the wrong type of fiber for the situation.

Fiber is the rock star nobody screams for; yet it holds the key to a healthier gut, better sleep, heart health, reduced cancer risks, blood sugar stability, weight management and bowel regularity. Fiber and bacteria have a close relationship. Bacterial colon use fiber to make short chain fatty acids. These acids are used to reduce inflammation, development of cancer cells in the colon, and contribute to our ever important immune system.

Fiber is an undigestible component of foods such as fruit, veggies, bran, beans and nuts. It can create a basketball type of belly bloat if you up your intake of fiber too quickly.

If you’ve recently upped your intake of fiber-rich foods you may be feeling a little pressure in the midsection. This is normal. The body needs time to adjust. Since fibrous foods linger longer in your digestive tract, allowing bacteria more time to release gas. It becomes a double whammy for belly bloat.

The solution – go low and go slow! Introduce fiber into your diet over time. Add a fiber-rich food to just one meal per day, and when you feel comfortable with that, add another. It may take time, but your digestive system will adjust.

7. Check for sugar alcohols

Sugar alcohol has neither sugar or alcohol in it! They got their name since their chemical structure is similar to sugar. Their official name is Polyols. Examples of Polyols, such as sorbitol, mannitol or xylitol, are used to create foods with fewer calories and less sugar. However, sugar alcohols easily create bloating, gas and even have a laxative effect, when too much is consumed.

Nowadays, it’s easy to consume too much sugar alcohols since they’ve become a common food ingredient. My suggestion is that you check the food labels for these sugar alcohols.

They are often found in foods labeled as lower calorie and sugar-free. These foods include chewing gum, mints, ice cream, pudding, frosting, cakes, cookies, candies, energy bars and jams. IBS and lower abdominal pain can be caused by unknown over consumption of Polyols.

8. Abdominal Massage

Massaging the abdomen can help to get the bowels moving. A massage that follows the path of the large intestine is especially helpful. People can follow the steps below to do this:

Gently press your fingers right near your right hip; slide up toward the ribs, then across and to your left hip and go south or down near your colon in a circular motion. This simple DIY movement can help move out trapped gas relieving you of stomach pains.

Based on a similar concept is trying some yoga poses to help with digestion. Bring one knee to the chest or twisting postures encourage movement of the intestines, helping move gas along.

9. Try a Low-FODMAP diet

FODMAP stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides (AKA short-chain carbohydrates), and Polyols (sugar alcohols). FODMAPs are a group of carbohydrates that are not fully digested. Instead they are fermented (broken down) by gut bacteria, serving as a food source for gut microbes.

Typical GI symptoms of FODMAP intolerance include bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, or abdominal pain.

Research studies show that temporarily following a low FODMAP diet can help reduce abdominal bloating and distention in up to 70% of people diagnosed with IBS.

For people with IBS, the low-FODMAP diet is currently the most evidenced-based and recommended by physicians and dietitians.  

How to increase your chance of success

With this success rate, it is worth the effort to give this diet plan a trial of at least 4 weeks. At first glance, this diet looks restrictive of many common and often hidden foods. The secret sauce is understanding the portion sizes and how they affect the FODMAP content of foods.

This is why many doctors suggest their patient work with a Registered Dietitian (RD). Another reason is that this diet has 3 phases: elimination, re-introduction, and maintenance. Having a RD trained in the FODMAP diet can help navigate the 3 phases and the nuances of the plan.  

10. Take a Breath

Not engaging your abdominal wall muscles could also cause bloating. Who knew? This is what could be happening for some people who say, ‘I have bloating that seems to worsen as the day progresses.’ How this happens is that you’re relaxing your abdominal wall muscles as the day goes on while straightening out your back.

One treatment for this is diaphragmatic breathing (belly breathing). You start by putting one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly. The way you breathe is to NOT have the hand on your chest move at all and to have the hand over your belly move a lot.

If you do this during a bloating attack and your abdominal bloating and distention is related to abdominal wall muscle relaxation, diaphragmatic breathing is a very reliable way to reengage those abdominal wall muscles and tighten them back up.

Another associated syndrome, is abdomino-phrenic dyssynergia (APD). Typically, the diaphragm muscles should relax when the gut senses fullness due to food, liquids, or gas and allow expansion.

However, with APD, the diaphragm contracts and the abdominal muscles relax instead. The result, significant bloating and distention. We often hear “I always look pregnant” phrase from women with APD.

Trying belly breathing is the first step. Know that if you are diagnosed with APD, physical therapy can help you further.

If you need help with these breathing exercises, there’s a free app, BellyBio. This is an interactive app, where you place the phone on your belly and then an orchestra starts playing.

If you’re breathing correctly (using your belly), the orchestra plays in tune, but if you’re not the orchestra is out of tune. This provides quick feedback to teach oneself belly breathing. Unfortunately, at this time, this app is available in the Apple store only.

Watch out for Red Flags!

In some cases, abdominal bloating may result from a medical condition. Inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Having low stomach acid which is often accompanied by additional symptoms like gnawing in the gut, can result in abdominal bloating and distention too.

The two most common reasons for regular bouts of lower abdominal bloating and distention are irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth).

Gynecological conditions, such as endometriosis and ovarian cysts or cancer, can also cause pain, swelling, and feelings of lower abdominal bloating. This is why a sudden emergence of lower abdominal bloating should not be ignored.

People with these symptoms should discuss them with a doctor. The doctor may order diagnostic tests to look for any problems. These may include an X-ray, ultrasound, colonoscopy, or blood tests.

If you’re worried about bloating or it comes on suddenly, you should definitely go see your doctor. What’s called “red flag symptoms” should prompt a visit to the doctor such as:

• Blood in stool
• 5% unintentional weight loss
• Unexplained vomiting
• Awakening in the middle of the night due to stomach discomfort
• Family history of cancer in the digestive tract

In closing …

If you experience occasional abdominal bloating or distention, start with tips 1-5 and take note of the results. If you continue to experience bloating, in addition to tips 1-5 move to tip #9. Trying a low FODMAP diet and seeing results can be the first draft of your blueprint to better gut health.

Looking for more ideas on how to achieve digestive wellness, start with 3 Tips to Power Up Your Gut Health

Looking for more tips on how to beat the bloat?

If you’re living with IBS, know that you’re not alone. Also, know you don’t have to learn to live with these symptoms.

Struggling with IBS is an option not inevitable conclusion!

My IBS was diagnosed over 45 years ago. I spent decades struggling before science discovered the microbiome and the FODMAP diet. These discovery’s coupled with learning how herbs and plants contain the natural remedy for relief of the common symptoms of IBS, has made me the master of my digestive universe.  

To learn how you can reduce unpleasant digestive symptoms and get back to enjoying life, click here to schedule a complimentary consultation. You can tell me your biggest gut challenge and I’ll share the first step to take to get closer to that happy gut!