Bloating

Bloating:

Bloating is a symptom of impaired digestion - it’s basically fermentation in the digestion tract, which leads to excessive wind, inefficient digestion and subsequently a distended abdomen.

The causes can be due to a number of factors ranging from - a disturbance in the natural gut flora, an inactive digestive system due to a depletion or disturbance of digestive enzymes, allergies, stress and so on.

Some key Naturopathic tips:

1. Don’t drink and eat at the same time. Drink either, 20-25 minutes before meals or an hour after meals.

2. Don’t eat too late at night. Our digestive processes slow down after 8pm hence best to have your main meal earlier in the day and to eat lighter in the evenings. Always eat 2-3 hours before bed.

3. Eat in a relaxed environment, this allows the digestive processes to take place. Don’t eat standing up, walking, in front of the TV or computer, reading a book – as your digestion will not be prepared for assimilation.

4. Eat slowly and chew your food well. Be mindful not to overeat, eat the portion size of two cupped handfuls of food per meal and take approximately 20 minutes to eat this amount.

5. Supplement a good pro-biotic to help restore the natural gut flora.

6. Drink herbal teas, like peppermint, fennel and fresh ginger tea.

7. Avoid sugar. Sugar aggravates the fermentation process in the gut, which

   can lead to bloating.

8. Avoid Allergens. Some of the common allergenic foods include wheat,

   cow’s diary, white flour, sugar, and alcohol. This is by no means a

   complete list yet these are some of the main offenders.

9. Be aware of good food combining. A quick summary of how good food

   combining works:
   Group 1: Proteins (meat, poultry, cheese, fish, eggs, milk, nuts) produce acid digestive juices and digest slowly.
   Group 2: Carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice, cereals, flour, biscuits, etc) and starchy vegetables such like potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, digest quickly and produce alkaline digestive juices.
   Group 3: Salads, non-starchy vegetables, seeds, herbs and spices and nut and seed oils.
   Group 4: Fruit – this is to be eaten on it’s own and holds the record for the fastest digestion rate.
   Solution: don’t eat Group 1 and 2 together in the same meal. Group 3 can be eaten with either, Group 1 and 2, and Group 4 is to be always eaten on it’s own.

   Hope this encourages and helps motivate you all to optimize your health in this area! Great health, Susan Nove. It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.