First of all, I’m not a doctor, so don’t listen to anything I have to say.
Consult your physician, spiritual advisor, or parent/guardian before taking anything I say seriously i.e. please don’t sue me.
Also, what I’m advising may not be what’s right for your situation because everyone is different.
Experiment with some of my recommendations and use common sense.
Alright, with that out of the way, let’s get started.
When I say bloat, I’m talking about that gassy stomach feeling you sometimes get after eating.
I’m not talking about the bloat where you get puffiness due to water retention, which is typically from dehydration, or an imbalance of sodium to potassium in your diet.
What Is Bloating?
According to the people in white lab coats, bloating is the result of excess gas production, or disturbances in the movement of the muscles of the digestive system (1)
The only problem with this explanation is that it doesn’t tell you what causes said ‘gas production,’ or ‘disturbances’ so that’s where I hope to provide you with some insight.
But, first, let me make an analogy.
I like to think of bloat as a sewage backup.
When raw sewage backs up into your toilet and bathtub, it eventually spills out onto your floor, creating a literal shitty situation, but the source of the problem is usually a blocked waste pipe.
When I had a backup in the apartment complex where I used to live, the super told me it was because the person who lived in the unit above me was flushing kitty litter and used tampons down the toilet, but I digress.
We also have ‘waste pipes’ don’t we?
They transport fecal matter out of our bodies.
But, what happens if these pathways get blocked, or compromised in some way?
This may cause a serious backup (i.e. vomiting), but most of the time, we tend to get mild backups that slow the flow of our digestion and give us that bloated, stuffed sausage-like feeling.
That’s why these ‘backups’ tend to be accompanied by gassiness. Our bodies are trying to digest and shunt away the waste through our digestive tract, but whatever blockage is there is preventing that from happening and air is getting trapped in the process.
What Causes Bloating?
Is It Certain Foods?
Doctors and nutritionists sometimes advocate a low FODMAP diet in order to alleviate certain types of gastric distress like irritable bowl syndrome and bloating.
According to advocates of the low FODMAP diet, there are certain foods that cause bloating like beans, apples, whey protein, broccoli, breads and pastas, just to name a few, because we lack the enzymes necessary to break down these foods, so fermentation and gas build-up results. (2)
I, for one, don’t have any problems eating broccoli, apples or anything else on the high FODMAP list. In fact, those foods help make it easier for me to empty my bowels; they keep me regular and I suspect this may be the case for others as well.
This is why I don’t think bloating has to do with eating certain foods, generally speaking.
Bloating can be the result of eating too much food, regardless of what kind (which is why I say, get your hands on a good digestive enzyme supplement), although some people may have food allergies that cause bloating.
Is It Environmental Toxins?
In my experience, bloat is the result of environmental toxins and chemical preservatives in the foods we eat.
If I’m around cleaning products, for example, and I breathe in a bunch of Lysol, or Febreze, I instantly feel bloated. It’s almost like my body’s digestive abilities are compromised when I’m around the stuff.
Maybe the same thing happens to you.
There’s a name for it.
It’s called, ‘Multiple Chemical Sensitivity’ and it manifests in different ways, such as “headache, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, congestion, itching, sneezing, sore throat, chest pain, changes in heart rhythm, breathing problems, muscle pain, skin rash, diarrhea, bloating, gas, confusion, trouble concentrating, memory problems, and mood changes.” (3)
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), which is not a disease, or illness, but rather a reaction to exposure to certain environmental toxins, is said to be triggered by, “tobacco smoke, auto exhaust, perfume, insecticide, new carpet, chlorine, and more.”
I have a hunch that MCS may be behind the generational decline in testosterone levels since the 1980’s, but that’s for another post.
How To Not Feel So Bloated
Detoxing your body of the buildup of these environmental toxins and chemical preservatives is going to help you to feel less bloated overall.
A cheap, easy way to do this is to drink more lemon water, take chlorella/spirulina tablets, and incorporate intermittent fasting into your program.
For some odd reason, there are articles from ‘authority sites’ like Healthline.com that say lemon water doesn’t detox you blah blah blah, no scientific basis etc. etc. etc. but they’re full of it.
I’ve been drinking lemon water regularly for over twenty years and I swear by it.
I recommend drinking a lot of lemon water throughout the day. Maybe get a water bottle and tote it around with you, so you have access to it wherever you go.
You just have to try it for yourself. Lemon water isn’t going to hurt you. Give it a shot. Seeing is believing.
As for chlorella/spirulina tabs, there are tons of articles out there that support the detox effects of chlorella and spirulina, so I would incorporate a good supplement for sure, especially because it’s so cheap and easy to get.
Start with the recommended dose and go up from there, although if you take a lot more than the recommended dose, nothing bad is going to happen to you (take it from me–I usually pop five, six at a time).
At the end of the day, though, you have to listen to your body and use some common sense.
As for intermittent fasting, I could write an entire article on the many benefits of intermittent fasting, but for now, let’s focus on the detoxification effects.
Skipping breakfast and not eating until say, noon, which is what ‘intermittent fasting’ is in a few words, allows the digestive tract to “rest” while simultaneously kicking the body into ‘detox mode.’ I recommend doing this at least two or three times a week in order to see good results (although you should see results the first day that you do it).
I know it sounds weird, but you just have to try it. It really does work and plenty of research has been done on the positive effects of fasting already. (4)
There you have it!
If you feel like I helped give you an easy, actionable detox plan and you have an open mind to get a good supplement or two to really reap the full benefits of said plan, please use my affiliate link.
Sure, you can start doing intermittent fasting as soon as today and that alone will start the detox process for you, but I’ve found that the combination of all three: the lemon water plus the chlorella/spirulina tabs plus the intermittent fasting has the greatest detox effect.
Trust me. It ‘aint gonna’ hurt ya’!
Call in the show at 917-267-8590 and leave me a voicemail to let me know how it goes.
Your bro,
Sources:
- A. Agrawal and P.J. Whorwell, “Review article: abdominal bloating and distention in functional gastrointestinal disorders – epidemiology and exploration of possible mechanisms,” Alimentary Pharmacology And Therapeutics, October 11th, 2007 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2036.2007.03549.x
- PhD, RD, Rossi, Megan, “A Beginner’s Guide To The Low-FODMAP Diet,” Healthline.com, March 15, 2017, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/low-fodmap-diet
- “Multiple Chemical Sensitivity,” WebMD, https://www.webmd.com/allergies/multiple-chemical-sensitivity
- Arnason, T. et al. Effects of intermittent fasting on health markers in those with type 2 diabetes: A pilot study. (2017, Apr) World Journal of Diabetes.