Is your belly bulging after yesterday’s holiday feast? Follow these 10 bloat-busting tips and you’ll fit back into those skinny jeans again...
1. Hydrate
Drinking water is probably the last thing you want to do when you feel like your belly is about to explode.
But downing several glasses a day will restore the sodium balance so your body will give up fluids. Water also flushes your system and keeps your digestive tract moving so you don’t become constipated.
Ditch the sodas and other carbonated beverages. You may think they’ll make you feel better by inducing burping, but all they do is add gas to your system and increase bloating.
Instead, quench your thirst with water – the perfect, all-natural drink.
If you have to dress it up, add lemon or lime slices or an instant low-calorie flavor pack, like Crystal Light, Propel, Water Sensations or any store brand. Stash them in your purse or gym bag.
If you love the taste of fresh lemon and lime, try crystallized True Lemon and True Lime (TrueLemon.com) in individual packets with no sweeteners or calories.
Many water-filled fruits and veggies can help hydrate you. Grab in-season, juicy fruits like tangerines and kiwis for a healthy snack. Or dine on a fruit salad or a plate piled with hydrating vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers.
2. Cut Down on Salt
Salt makes your body retain water. But cutting back on it isn’t easy – nearly 80% of the sodium in our diets comes from packaged or canned foods and restaurant meals. And 9 in 10 Americans are eating too much salt, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Think fresh and unprocessed. Prepare more meals at home and buy low-sodium convenience foods.
You’ll win by eating plain fruits and vegetables, but be careful about the dipping sauces or salad dressings. Their salt content can bring on the bloat.
You can’t judge a food’s saltiness by its taste, so study the nutritional information on food labels whenever possible: a 6-inch tuna sub sandwich has more than 1,000 milligrams (mg) of sodium, but an ounce (1/4 cup) of salty peanuts has only 160 mg, about the same as a cup of fruit-flavored yogurt.
At home, hide the saltshaker.
Add flavor to your dishes with lemon, garlic, basil, rosemary, cilantro, parsley, jalapeños, or any of favorite herbs and spices.
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3. Skip Sugar Alcohols
These sugar substitutes – sorbitol, xylitol, maltitol, isomalt, lactitol, mannitol, erythritol and hydrogenated starch hydrolysates (HSH) – could be lurking in any food marked “sugar-free.”
Sugarless products may save a few calories, but they linger in your gut, where normal bacteria make a meal of them. The result? A lot of gas.
4. Be Wise About Dairy
A great source of calcium, protein and other nutrients, dairy also contains lactose, a natural sugar.
Nearly 50 million Americans are lactose-intolerant, meaning they lack enough of the enzyme lactase to completely digest lactose. Undigested lactose causes gas and cramping.
Some lactose-intolerant people can eat cheese and yogurt without discomfort, because much of the lactose breaks down during processing. They may even drink small amounts of milk.
If dairy bothers you, start drinking about one-fourth to one-half cup milk twice a day and work up to about two cups daily.
You can also try lactose-reduced milk or Lactaid, an over-the counter lactase supplement. Take it each time you eat or drink dairy foods.
Read more about lactose intolerance.
If you avoid dairy or eat very little of it, you’ll have to work extra hard to meet your calcium needs of about 1,000 mg to 1,300 mg per day. Try calcium-fortified soy milk or orange juice instead.
5. Eat Potassium-Rich Foods
This mineral triggers the kidneys to excrete more sodium.
Most fruits and veggies are loaded with potassium, but some are extra packed: bananas, mangos, melons, papayas, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes and nuts. OJ is another great source – but watch out.
Fruit juice is a concentrated source of natural sugars, which means the calories can add up fast.
6. Eat Small
Feel stuffed? Eat smaller portions to give your digestive tract a chance to work.
If small meals leave you hungry and low on energy, perk up with a healthful snack. Or divide your meal into two and eat them 2-3 hours apart.
If a typical lunch includes a sandwich, broccoli and apple salad, and yogurt, switch to two mini-meals:
Mini meal #1: 1/2 sandwich, broccoli and apple salad
Mini meal #2: 1/2 sandwich, yogurt
7. Savor Every Bite
Don’t gobble. Slow down and enjoy your food. You swallow more air when you race through a meal. More air in your belly means more bloating.
8. Take Beano
Plenty of disease-fighting foods – like beans, broccoli and beets – cause gas. But don’t skip them.
Instead, try Beano, an over-the-counter digestive supplement, breaks down their complex sugars into simple sugars before your gut’s bacteria can chow down and leave you with a gas crisis.
Also check out the 10 Best & Worst Foods for Your Tummy.
9. Move It
Get off the couch. Feeling bloated and sluggish is no reason to skip your workout.
You can move gas quickly through your system with a little huffing and puffing. Turn on some loud music and dance the bloat away. Take a walk. Or play tag with the kids.
10. For Chronic Bloat, See a Doctor
Most bloating is no cause for concern.
But if it’s chronic, visit your health care provider to rule out something more serious, like bowel obstruction or celiac disease, a digestive disease triggered by intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.
Got a nutrition question? Ask Jill Weisenberger.com
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