By Madelyn Moon, author of The Perfection Myth
Abs are where it’s at these days, right?
Everywhere you look, left and right, there are headlines for the ?Top 10 Flat Tummy Foods? or my personal favorite, the ?Never Eat These 5 Foods if You Want Abs? posts. It seems to be a really hot topic as society continues to induce more and more unrealistic pressures on people to lean out.
Unfortunately, for many people (especially women) leaning out to a certain degree is not only unhealthy but also dangerous–psychologically and physically.
On the physical side, the body can become hormonally unbalanced, metabolically-damaged, and vitamin deficient. On the mental side, there can be disadvantages such as brain fog and memory loss or emotionally-straining problems such as obsessions and disordered thoughts in regards to one’s body type, size, or weight loss ?progress.
Regardless, nobody enjoys bloat. If it’s for aesthetic reasons or just for physical comfort, bloat can cause stress mentally, physically, and emotionally. So what’s the best way to reduce it?
I’ll let you in on one thing; it’s not what you think. No, the answer I’m going to give you doesn’t require quitting dairy, gluten, grains, beans, meat, polyunsaturated fats, or anything else for that matter. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
Here are my two methods for reducing bloat naturally:
1. Stop Stressing over your weight and food.
Do you tend to be out of touch with your meals or so emotionally disconnected that you eat in a stressed state without awareness? Are you so concerned with the calories you’re consuming, unsure of the exact gram count that you can’t even enjoy the flavor or company you’re eating with? This causes something called cortisol to spike. I’m sure you’re familiar with the term. Cortisol can spike for various reasons but unfortunately, so many people are fearful of spiking their cortisol with certain foods, that they eat their meals stressed the heck out and still spike their hormones simply from the amount of stress they are bringing on! Eating in a stressed state can create discomfort in the stomach, bloat, and tummy troubles. My remedy for this is to delete your calorie or macro counting app, be present at your meal, create intimacy with food, and eat intuitively. Food is not only fuel; it is also love. Stop stressing out so much about something that gives you life without asking for anything else in return.
2. Start eating forbidden foods again.
Do you have a list of ?off limit? foods longer than foods you are allowed to consume? Did you create this list just because? If you’re one of the thousands of people that cut out food groups out of fear of what they will do to your body, or out of a need to control something in your life, then you’re not alone. If you have no particular sensitivities or serious allergies, but yet you’re scared to death of dairy, I’m going to challenge you to have a bite and see what happens. What I can almost guarantee for anyone that cuts something out and then reintroduces it is that at first, it may be a little hard to digest. Your stomach may be like ?Whoa, what’s that!? and then you’ll have an initial bloat reaction. This is totally normal because your body hasn’t had to digest it for a while.
But don’t let this discourage you!
I went through several months of having to reintroduce grains, gluten, dairy, beans, soy, red meat, smoothies, and even salads, one at a time. Did I feel bloated at first? You bet. Did I lose faith that what I was doing was working? Yup, sometimes. Did I eventually get back to normal? Yessiree. My body took a while to adjust, but after several months of continuously eating these ?forbidden foods? I could finally digest everything perfectly, and all the bloat disappeared. Not only did it disappear, but it was way better than when I was actually cutting out all those foods in the first place! I could eat out at restaurants and still have energy afterwards. I could eat new foods and feel like a champ. My body started to warm up.
More than the physical benefits of this are the mental ones. I stopped fearing foods that could potentially ?cause bloat? because I knew better. I knew that avoiding foods as well as stressing out about them is actually the cause for bloat. It is for me at least, and a lot of people I’ve communicated with about this very topic.
Once I began to enjoy a great spectrum of amazing foods again, all of my bloat disappeared, my metabolism sped up, and my hormones began to get back on the right track.
I dare you to try this natural bloat-reducing remedy instead of the next ?fat blasting foods? article, because surely, this is one that will finally bring you mental peace, clarity, and even, dare I say, pleasure.
About the Author
Madelyn Moon is a former fitness competitor turned healthy and relaxed. Read more of her work at www.mindbodymusings.com, and pick up a copy of her first published book–bestseller The Perfection Myth.
HALLELUJAH! Why oh why did I listen to a “nutritionist”???? Since I had, I’ve been worse off and the most miserable in as long as I can remember.
Thank you for this. I look forward to reading The Perfection Myth.
This kind of advice is the most useful, it works on the long run and it is one of the best ways to decrease stress in general.
Unfortunately, most people are looking for a magic pill or sudden and fast changes, besides believing in all the health and fitness dogmas of people on steroids talking about their healthy lifestyle :D
Thank you for this post. What if we do have food sensitivities and allergies? I’ve been struggling with these for decades and I get bloated (among other symptoms) when I consume virtually anything, including water.
This sounds soooo tempting. To be able to enjoy everything again! What a dream that would be! Interesting idea. Thank you.
Not that my reply means much. But this is exactly what happened to me. I read Matt stones free book and it encouraged me to start eating sugar again. Spending years off sugar definitely helped my immune system when it happened to be super run down. But my metabolism was suffering and I had become sensitive to sooo many foods. I’ve since ramped up my carbohydrate consumption and no longer bloat when consuming sugar. Even a teaspoon of sugar in herbal tea would have me in cramps the whole day. Now I don’t notice it at all. The only thing that bloats me now is lactose and coffee. From fruit, honey, white bread, juice, salad dressings etc. The list was long. Now down to two things that aren’t really super important. Plus my energy is way better and my #2’s are lookin good. Just my two cents. Don’t be afraid of the foods. I didn’t have any anaphylactic allergies or anything just sensitivities like bloat and muscle pain and swelling in joints that kind of stuff. Started practically force feeding myself till my hands were warm and badda bing all that went away ;)
I’m totally on board with this philosophy, and think that so many people can benefit from it. However, I do have to say that it’s not always quite so easy. I know how Matt and his tribe feel about things like SIBO, but it is real, whether we want it to be or not.
I have had a good relationship with food most of my life, but the bloat is always out of control. After an intense round of antibiotics a few years ago due to a septic infection, my bloat magically disappeared- for two years! Of course it came back, even with a lovely, hearty, no fearing attitude towards food. I have SIBO, and I am treating it. I wish I could think it away and eat whatever I want, but it’s sadly not always that easy :(
I was dx with it too. I actually find probioitcs make me bloat! What way do you treat the SIBO?
Oh ya Lynn, probiotics are just adding more bacteria upon your already overgrown bacteria! I have the same problem. You can either treat SIBO with herbal or pharmaceutical antibiotics and follow a low Fodmap diet. At the risk of getting kicked out of here (Sorry Matt!) check out this website: http://www.siboinfo.com/
Again, when have I ever “kicked anyone out?” Is this your first time visiting this site? Hi, I’m Matt Stone. The guy open to all ideas and information without thinking about it in ways that are extremely narrow and limiting. The guy who has never deleted a comment in 8 years. The guy who provides a completely free place to discuss health ideas with a completely open mind.
Not the guy who kicks people out for dissent or denies the existence of well-known medical conditions. I think you’re confusing me for everyone else.
Guess what? Chicken butt
This sentence kept me interested in 180degreehealth :P I was like finally sometime who jokes in the health world.
Matt, chill out, I was joking about getting kicked out. But some honesty in jest I suppose. I have read your books and been following this site for a few years. To play devil’s advocate here, the main message that you are impressing to your readers is ‘Eat anything and everything and you will get better.’ I have gotten emails from you totally ridiculing things like SIBO. I can remember one specific diagram that ironically linked every problem you can think of to SIBO (remember that one?) Yes all of this must be taken into context, but I wonder if you’re giving off a stronger, more closed minded attitude than you realize? I don’t think you’re close minded, but your writing is passionate, and your opinions are strong. That may be leading to a more narrow minded image of yourself from your readers…. just saying!
Oh dear. Does one have to do that restrictive diet or can one just do the herbs/ABX? I have been on LT ABX for Lyme and interstitial cystitis for a year and have just finished up. Will the Augmetnin have had an effect on the SIBO? I eat gluten free and low sugar.
I was one of the first people to write about SIBO’s connection with IBS online around 7 years ago, so I’m not sure why you’re writing as if I don’t believe in its existence. It is very much real, and the work Ray Peat has done provides many elaborate possibilities for why it becomes overgrown and the dangers of doing so–metabolically and otherwise.
Speeding along the transit time through metabolic enhancement is one potent way of improving it. Less time for food to sit and ferment. A slowed transit time also seems to be one of the causes of the overgrowth in the first place.
I have been having success with reduction of constant acid reflux with Ageless Nutrition brand Ageless GI Recovery and L-Glutamine Containing Dietary Supplement which I found on GutSense.org author Konstantin Monastyrsky.
Twice a day before a meal has gotten things working with regularity and I’ve also noticed being warmer and bloating abated. Peristalsis is going the right direction.
Bloating was worsened with bicarbonate of soda for acid reflux relief (when most painful), but was also happening without it.
Now eating when hungry/stopping when satisfied-full is also easier to accomplish. I can now eat bread and fruit in the same meal without acid reflux.
I also stopped drinking coffee, which may have not been helping, but wasn’t the cause of all acid reflux or bloating, as acid reflux and bloating has been a torture for decades before I began drinking one cup of coffee a day a few days a week a few years ago.
I also must add, I’ve been regularly taking thiroyd (yes, it’s spelled that way) twice a day for the last several weeks. I missed a dose or day and the bloat caught up with me a bit again, as well as the reflux.
So for me the thyroid AND the Ageless GI Recovery are a team for me at the moment. AND ALSO staying off the scales.
I’d kept off for several days and dropped 5 pounds. Started weighing again to see if my eating changed…yup. Stay off the scales.
Eat with permission whenever you are hungry and ignore the kitchen when you are not hungry. Just like normal weight children/adults do. Check in with your gut before heading to the kitchen when someone else is cooking or television is showing something delicious. Done.
OK, I was a little confused. I consider bloating also an edema issue. So my comment was more related to edema, but with more thought on the matter, bloating was likely as issue as well, with reverse peristalsis being the result. Even minor passing of gas wasn’t happening as easily as it should.
But now it is with quicker transit from the eating of food to warmth, the GI Recovery and thiyroid.
When I find myself feeling cool air in a 72-74 degrees F home, I know it’s past time to eat.
*****
Google Inclined Bed Therapy for even better sleep and overall circulation, blood, lymph, digestion, etc.
I haven’t been tested or anything, but I’m convinced I had SIBO when on the paleo diet and was about to spend hundreds of dollars in treating it when I broke out of paleo. The SIBO symptoms actually started a few months after going on paleo! Argh! If only I hadn’t been brainwashed. It also makes me think that a restrictive diet exacerbates SIBO symptoms. My SIBO symptoms are fading away as I’m eating a decent amount of carbs and basically all the food – I just have to tackle the gluten thing head on without fear. I do know that I can’t eat yeast or drink kefir and wine as it gives me a rash, but those rashes are becoming less frequent now and my digestion has improved ten-fold. Before I couldn’t even eat a tiny portion of carbs and I’d feel awful. Now the bulk of my meals are carbs and I feel wonderful! I’m very wary of low-fodmap diets as they’re very restrictive, but I’m coming from a skewed viewpoint and may be incorrect. Possibly soaking grains may help them to be more digestible and I do that with gluten grains, oats and seeds. I don’t bother with rice and corn as I don’t want cooking to become a stressful affair either as it was on the paleo diet. And I don’t think the soaking grains thing should become a rigid “have to.” It’s just something I do as I suffered from IBS for many years.
In my opinion, what Matt was mocking was the fact that nowadays there seems to be a trend that a lot of people are blaming SIBO as their reason for poor health. Just like with gluten, casein, etc. Also mocking that SIBO is a consequence of other underlying issues that are much more important but often ignored. And I remember that newsletter, it was funny!
Gustavo, do you have a link to that blog post?
Kathy, if I recall correctly, it was from the metabolic newsletter when you subscribe..
Great post! So true! Worry will cause more bloat and belly fat than anything else. I’m currently getting my body used to gluten and dairy again. Cultured vegetables (cabbage in particular) make me bloat. Even after many months of just small amounts. Go figure.
http://drbganimalpharm.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/how-to-cure-sibo-small-intestinal-bowel.html
I think the real devil here is slow intestinal transit. The body’s attempts to optimize for insufficient calories. And the more you’ve done it the better your body becomes at slowing down, it’s had practice.
= build up of air (fermentation)
= build up of solid matter
= feeling full, uncomfortable, heavy, pressure
= food sits in stomach much longer
Certain food combinations can make you not want to eat all day, due to discomfort not lack of hunger
Rob,
I think you are on target. When I keep stepping on the scales, my eating is off. I tend to ignore hunger, undereat in volume and calories when I do eat or overeat (volume) when I finally eat.
Regular eating makes for more regular elimination. Not regular eating by the clock, but by paying attention to the slight hunger cues and preparing before ravenous hunger.
I and others could have the same problem of preparing food for ourselves/spouse, so I need to get back to preparing at least one ‘family’ meal a day around a traditional meal time with plenty of leftovers; and fruit and vegetables on hand/prepped for easy to grab meals.
Perhaps even take one day to prepare a week of meals to refrigerate AND freeze for easy grab and go meals to eat as is, or reheat. It’s not a new concept, but makes more sense to me as I dislike making a cooking mess every day, let alone three times a day. Now to stick up a post it note, so I remember. Ha!
Hi all :)
I just wanted to share something.
I had been extremely ill for 13 years up until a few weeks ago.
I was allergic to basically all food except chicken, and was so exhausted and in pain that i would sleep for 15 hours a day.
Then i met an Indian woman who told me about something called “petchoti”.
Basically, it’s a type of stomach massage that concentrates on the navel.
It is believed by many cultures that sometimes a navel can become displaced (it can happen for any reason- pregnancy, strenuous exercise, a fall, stress etc), and once this has occured, a body will stop functioning correctly, a person will become very sick and have multiple ailments.
So i went for a “pechoti” massage, and a month later i also had “cupping” done on my navel which basically does the same thing- it pulls it back into place.
And guess what?
I got better! :)
I can eat without collapsing from pain, I’m not as exhausted, but best of all, I’m not getting terrifying allergic reactions to foods that just a few weeks ago would have left me hospitalised.
Just wanted to share my experience.
I hope this can help someone.
Good luck everyone, hth :)
Surely I’ve been missing something because I’ve followed this same advice for more than two years now and my bloating has only gotten worse.. the other day a woman offered me her seat at the subway because she thought I was pregnant…
I think that by eating more food (something I have tried and failed in the past but never actually nailed) will help. I hope it works because it’s uncomfortable as hell :)
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=445112
Reverse peristalsis.
this is perfect! we just need to chill out! I’ve had a lot going on lately, so the anxiety and stress are higher than usual, thus the bloating has been more frequent. including loud farts.(embarrassing, but whatever) my sister was over and I had a particularly gassy day so I just started making a joke out of it and counting out loud everytime I farted. It was hilarious! I got up to seven and I thought “hey maybe I’m onto something!” so I’ve been audibly counting how many times I fart in a day, and they are lessening! only 4 times all day yesterday! haha! It’s probably not related, but It sure lightens things up!
just thought I’d share that funny story.
I know I’m not in your target audience, but I’m having serious issues with bloating. I’m a fit, 35 year old guy who has been suffering serious bloating and GI issues for over a year. A few years ago I went very strict Paleo for a few months, went way underweight, and obviously wrecked my metabolism. I tried Matt’s stuff for a while and over the past year or two have gone back to eating what I want (focusing on real food with balanced macros, but not stressing over deviations). I’m very happy with my health and body composition overall, but this bloating and GI stuff is killing me. I spend almost an hour in the bathroom on a daily basis and worry about the long-term effects. I wish your 2 points worked for me, but they don’t! Any other ideas?? :-(
That’s really common post-Paleo or low-carb Jason. Eat Diet A before–no bloat. Go Paleo and eat diet A after–serious bloat.
Much of it probably has to do with changes in gut bacteria during the paleo stint and induced by the metabolic changes as well.
I’m not sure what the answer is for you, but keep experimenting.
Jason,
Check out the GutSense.org website. An excellent site from the author’s research to understanding the gut and it’s issues.
Also when I started following eat food for heat and when I finally got consistently warm, the gut regularity improved.
Finally biting the price bullet and buying the GI Gut Sense has actually helped even more. I also bought Ageless Hydro-C in case I get backed up. I have yet to need the Hydro-C.
The website will also enlighten you about fiber….it is a menace and causes more bloat and constipation than you might imagine or have been brainwashed (we all have) to believe.
However, the first time I used the GI Gut Sense, the remainder of that day I was heading to the bathroom every hour, so make your first dose of the day on a day off work and you’ll be home.
It was as if the train finally got the signal to eliminate all those backed up cars. Since then regularity isn’t a problem, unless I under eat (away from home for the day ignoring hunger and thirst — shopping for groceries, etc.) is usually also reduced fluid intake (through food or drink).
However, I no longer drink water per someone else’s rules. Fluid in food or drink is for the end result of warmth or cooling if I’m feeling too hot.
I figure I’ve messed up my gut so much over the past 50 years of dieting, the I need a little help. And it is helping.
The best thing I ever did for myself to get rid of bloat is to stop eating the foods that cause it. Whole grains including ground corn made into tortilla chips.
And really the only thing that causes bloat (stretched intestines/bowel from the contents and fermentation causing excess gas that you can release or more likely cannot) with pain is the insoluble fiber from whole grains.
Eat processed grains devoid of the bran. Insoluble, means it’s coming out in the same condition it went in. So there is no nutritional value to eating it.
For a FREE full education on fiber go to FiberMenace.com or GutSense.org Same author, same education. If you don’t care to read through the website, you can buy his book to hold in your hands and for bathroom reading while you get your gut sorted out. It’s not an overnight cure, but it will happen. You will not longer take minutes to eliminate, but only seconds.
Fiber Menace, lol. Monastyrsky is so whacked out his mind. But it’s true. Sometimes eating a low fiber diet can work as a band aid for those with screwed up guts. The “bulk” of his information is absurd though.
But the grain fiber, I agree with. Vegetable and fruit fiber, I’m good with. Except for dried apricots which seem to rip me up.
The bulk of Fiber Menace author’s fear of carbs and especially sugar I also disagree. But the part about grain fiber, I agree. Test it out. Fiber is not necessary to create stool. Try a milk and egg diet for a week and see for yourself.
Yup, did this and while I still have some bloating here and there, just sticking with it did eventually smooth things out. The first two months of eating wheat I was so bound up, but the pleasure of eating wheat, and feeling good energetically after doing so, outweighed the digestive distress. I think I must have known instinctively that it would soon pass.
I had been reading Matt’s blog for at least a year, making “plans” to start eating like a normal person again, but I couldn’t really commit; I had white rice every now and then, most often followed by severe cramping and bloating. Once I even took a trip to the ER, in an ambulance no less, and put it all on hold for a while (dill was the culprit I think, won’t touch that stuff now).
Then I had a major life change and the time felt right and I just dived into it. Honestly, I thought I was doomed to a prison of a permanent “elimination diet” (I wasn’t paleo at any point, as everyone else here seem to have been, just deathly afraid of what most foods might do to my stomach/nerves). I ate the same four foods every day, for I think 2 years.
Pure sugar seems to help with any stomach issues I have. Fiber tends to make it way worse. Its almost like stomach pain is a localized stress response that sugar ingestion alleviates.
This kind of makes sense when you think that extreme stomach cramps that come about during the flu are actually initiated by your body on purpose to rid you of a virus or bacteria.
What if long term digestive dysfunction is simply your body never fully relaxing into a non-defensive, digestive state because it is continually being influenced by a systemic stress response?
I suffered from bloat, as well as a host of other GI symptoms, for years. Recently it got even worse, with cramping and almost uncontrollable diarrhea. I got an anti-parasitic medication (OTC here in Thailand), took it, and within a week everything cleared up. My stool is good, regular. No cramping, no constipation, no bloating.
So, I would suggest that if anyone reading this is suffering from IBS like symptoms such as bloating, look into the possibility of intestinal parasites. I am a new man because I did!
Did you also suffer from heartburn especially at night or when your hungry? Or esophageal damage? Or burning sensation all around the stomach?
Not much heartburn except for a few bouts of it over the years. Not much acid reflux or esophogal damage. However one symptop that I had which is often chalked up to GERD was incessant burping. I would get pockets of gas in my tract that would make me feel almost as if I couldnt breath properly. It was like torture. I would burp them out, then another would follow within minutes. Sometimes this lasted a week, then it would go away for months, then return.
This culminated in the worst spell yet recently. I think because perhaps I moved to Thailand and exposed myself to new parasites, which effected me greatly because my system already was host to parasites I had for years already.
I took the anti-parasitic medication and BAM, done, gone within two days. Indigestion, burping, bloating, water retention, acites, constipation, all gone. Skin problems better.
The problem is, if you are in a U.S. or EU city, these meds are not OTC (over the counter). So to get them, you have to go through the process of going to the doctor, consulting, giving a stool sample, and going back to the Dr., THEN getting a Rx (prescription)…what a f’d up, broken system. I like to be able to do my own research and experiment on myself at will. And here in Thailand I can do that. I can just go to a pharmacy and order on demand.
I could be wrong, this could be some psychosomatic effect. But my GI tract is working and feeling better now than it has in a decade after taking those anti-parasitic meds.
So, if one lived or traveled to Thailand what would one request from a pharmacy for parasites?
It’s easy, just research whatever ails you, decide what you want to buy, (penicillin, testosterone [I dont use them but many guys come to Thailand and get juiced up], anti-parasitic meds, whatever…), go to the pharmacy, tell them the medical name of the medication, and they will sell it to you. Otherwise you can just tell them what ails you and they will suggest a med.
If only it were so easy. This advice could only come from someone who hasn’t spent years debilitated by ibs, chronic constipation and a 6 month preg looking bloated belly. In the end you just do whatever works to get some relief. That might mean low (ish) carb sometimes. surely we are all unique and my solution may not be yours. I do agree with taking the brakes off the stress pedal though.. just wish it was as easy as you guys make it sound
alb
It wasn’t easy. It’s actually taken a few years to be mostly free of constipation and have normal easy passage.
I eat 1 to 2 tablespoons of gelatin every day since 3 years ago when I discovered Matt, Peat groups. Matt’s books helped the and links other ‘just eat the food’ links he’s shared. I dissolve it in cold water and then make a coffee drink with it. If I hadn’t trained myself to drink coffee at work to stay awake for my very sedentary seasonal/part time job, I’d probably make it into vanilla pudding or add it to some other food as a thickener. Still should.
Magnesium used to help occasionally for constipation.
Of late what I think has helped the most is one tablet daily of thyroid (thiroyd from Thailand). My last purchase from Amazon in 2012 (1,000 tabs). And eating on time and enough to get the metabolism toasty…but it’s still difficult to get the temp up to normal without the thyroid.
There is still something going on with gas not moving along as quickly as it should, but I’m still sorting that out. Perhaps if I took a daily walk or several for just a few minutes every day after a meal.
Also some reflux (the gas/bloat), but that too seems to be from not getting a good signal to use the bathroom for either function. Once that’s taken care of the reflux seems to calm down. Sometimes, I just haven’t eaten enough.
I used to drink bicarbonate of soda daily and sometimes all day long, until I figured out the elimination coincidence. But with that knowledge, I’ve been able to cut back considerably, because it really wasn’t helping.
I didn’t see thiroyd on Amazon yesterday. But I found the website for thiroyd.net Apparently, you now e-mail for orders….at least I hope it’s legit.
Or search Amazon thiroyd and it will state it’s postcards for $42 for 120. You’ll probably need to contact the seller or a reviewer for an accurate description and amount.
Awhile back I researched (did some reading) on hiatal hernia. One chiropractor has videos to show how you might be able to massage it back into place. At times this works for me, too if the burning pain (tender to touch) is at the stomach. Although, if enough gas build up, it can be anywhere in the gut. He explains and shows this, too.
Even if you have a lot of fluff over your abdomen, you can find the air pockets or dense matter and get it moving along.
I’ve had many of these symptoms for decades…so it could be this or a combination of things.
Add to that all the decades of diets and with four years of severe anorexia.
There are still many foods that trigger, but I’ve learned to deal with it as there are too many. Restriction would change little as even not eating doesn’t help…and sometimes especially doesn’t help.
I might also add, I had a third bout of something intestinal in seven months but this time it wasn’t gone in 24 hours or a week, it stayed on and I struggled with it for over two weeks and lost 25 pounds. But I finally insisted to be admitted to the hospital after the second ER visit in as many days. First week antibiotics and IV potassium and still no appetite for food, and ureter tubes as they were also inflamed to not be able to pee and non invasive testing. Then shipped to another hospital 100 miles from home for a colonoscopy and finally surgery for appendix removal and complete hysterectomy.
I’ve always known my uterus was tipped the wrong direction and it’s removal seemed to help. But I think the colonoscopy may have done some damage as I’ve had an intermittent pain or discomfort in one area ever since…and the surgery didn’t get into that area….unless in their search for a cause for my illness, they didn’t get my intestines back in the correctly.
I was on morphine up until after the surgery, so I no longer had gut pain as I’d had before hospitalization so it was only noticeable after I was home (two days after surgery). This was 7.5 years ago at age 52 and I am now 59.5 years.
Sorry for the length, but a fuller history helps me more than to be skimpy on personal information…so perhaps this will help in your search for relief.
Oh, and one of the latest changes I’ve made is to inclined my mattress. See inclined bed therapy at Facebook or dot com. Most people will incline the entire bed to first experiment with the theory before rebuilding their side rails.
I purchased a metal adjustable incline bed system (bedsup) as I have an odd size antique metal bed and inclining the bed would dig even deeper into our very densely padded Berber carpet. I have no affiliation with the company from whom I purchased the frame. Takes two people to put it together or a man. The parts are heavy and you also need a rubber mallet (from dollar store).
And I think inclining a bed frame with risers at the head of the bed feet creates too much stress on a wood framed bed, but people seem to do it anyway.
Hi Matt,
I get bloated with water retention due to Aleve use for an injury I have had since college. I guess the effects are here as I have used it for 4 years. By night ,I am deflated pretty much.
Your site always has great stuff.
Take care,
Dr. Razzi LOL!
Matt, I ate some crackers when I was feeling cold, and HOLY CRAP, my after a few minutes im feeling even colder, and after a few hours im numb, then i had painful bloating and camps. What do you think is the cause? What are your suggestions?
Eat a half pizza next time, lol.
Exactly, one needs to eat enough to give the body/digestive system something to actually work with and not be giving it “I live in famine country” signals such as the few crackers.
This is indeed an interesting concept, and when you think about it it’s actually one of the simplest approaches. While it may work for some people, this is kind of a two-edged knife. The body type, certain foods intolerance, overall daily food choices, and physical activity are all parts of the equation. Things are not only black or white, there’s a grey zone. Sport practice at least 4,5 times a week, combined with a well-balanced diet should do the trick for people who don’t have a specific medical problem like messed up hormones, food intolerance, too much stress etc.
Everybody else, they do need their carbs and calories, which should however come from fruits, black chocolate, oats, baked potatoes and rice for example, rather than from a fat cheeseburger, Twix, Lays chips etc. You also need fats, but ?good? ones like polyunsaturated (omega fatty acids) and monounsaturated fats, instead of trans-fats. That’s why you can use extra virgin olive oil for your salads, eat an avocado, some coconut or roasted fish, instead of choosing fast food. The point here is that perhaps mostly it comes down to the food choices we make, rather than cutting an entire food group off our diet.
Also, with many people the problem with body bloat is the retention of excess water between the cells and in the circulatory system. There are few ways to reduce that naturally. First, you have to drink a lot of water to release the water retention in between the body cells (it sounds strange, but that’s the way it is). Second, there are a few foods that can help with the reduction of body retention. Such foods are: elderberry, matcha tea, dandelion, artichoke, asparagus, cabbage, cranberry juice, oats, parsley and overall foods rich in potassium. There is also a specific one week diet involving only fresh water, vegetable and fruit fresh pressed juices, and boiled rice (without even oil and salt). I’ve spoken to several people who had been on this diet and claim to have lost excessive amounts of water pretty fast on it, but it is kind of a little harsh I guess. Anyway, that’s what I think on the subject, of course I don’t belittle anybody’s view on things, as everybody’s entitled to their opinion. Stay healthy!
Great points Matt and great advice. In our and our client’s experience: The key is to eat foods that digest well for the individual in question. To eat according to their own digestive capacity in their current situation. The lower the metabolism the lower likelihood of many, if any, foods digesting well. But simply excluding foods is a short term approach to a more complex issue. Eating to increase the metabolic rate, with easy to digest foods, is helpful and can ultimately lead to an increase in digestive capacity for previously difficult to digest foods. As digestive capacity increases, so does the likelihood of the bloat diminishing.