Three things that may cause bloating
Three things that may cause bloating
(and none of them are foods!)
You know the photos - so and so influencer posts a bathroom picture in sweatpants of their bloated, gassy belly, regaling you with tales of how they’re cutting gluten, dairy, nightshades, animal proteins, soy, and grains from their diet to help with symptoms that they just can’t figure out. Because, all of those food groups must be causing the problem, right?
Or here’s a more relatable story, in which a client comes to me with similar complaints of bloating, and confusion about what foods must be causing it. Should she do an elimination diet? Cut out the foods the influencer did? Take a food sensitivity test? This happens a lot. In many ways, our digestive systems are a sort of window into our overall health, and when consistent gas and bloating are happening, it’s often the body trying to tell us something. That’s sounds a little “woo woo,” but stick with me here while I go through the three most common causes of bloating I see in my practice.
You’re stressed and/or anxious
The most common cause of bloating in clients and patients with whom I’ve worked with isn’t a type of food or food category, it’s stress and anxiety. It is widely known that the gut and brain are closely tied together, and that stress and anxiety can impact gut bacteria and digestion no matter what you’re eating. I’m going to speak mostly to my work with clients today, but there is also a significant amount of literature on the topic as well. If a client comes to me with complaints of bloating, and notes a usual stress level of 11 out of 10, that’s a huge red flag. Same with anxiety! To me it means we need to bring in reinforcements like a therapist recommendation if they’re not already seeing one, as well as relaxing self care activities like meditation, journaling and sleeping enough. In most cases, a combination of these tools can ease bloating and gas pain without making many tweaks to the diet because we identified the root cause. To me, making dietary changes or trying an elimination diet without first addressing the mental and emotional health piece is like putting a bandaid on a deep wound. It may help for a little bit, but not for long.
You’re not eating enough
The second most common cause of bloating in clients and patients I see is also pretty simple - they’re not eating enough! I’ve talked about undereating as it relates to athletic performance a lot, which can be intentional or unintentional. But it can also have a huge impact on digestion. Dietary restriction can cause something called delayed gastric emptying, or gastroparesis, which is exactly how it sounds in that it is the slowed emptying of food from the stomach. Bloating, nausea, and early fullness are the most common symptoms of gastroparesis. The fix here of course is not to restrict more foods, but to gradually get to a place where you’re eating enough consistently. Doing so under the guidance of professionals is helpful here, especially if disordered eating or an eating disorder is present.
You’re eating a lot of diet or low sugar foods foods
I know I said these wouldn’t have much to do with foods, but hear me out because the culprit here is a specific food ingredient. A commonly used ingredient in certain diet foods marketed as “low carb”, “low sugar” or “sugar free” is sugar alcohols like erythritol, sorbitol, xylitol, and other ingredients ending in “ol.” Sugar alcohols are sweeter than sugar but lower in calories and not completely digested by the small intestine, hence their use to lower sugar and calorie content of foods. The problem here is that because they’re not completely digested, they are fermented in the large intestine by bacteria, which often causes gas and bloating. The more sugar alcohols or products with sugar alcohols you eat, the higher the likelihood of gas and bloating. Common examples here would be things like Halo Top “ice creams,” and some Quest products.
The bottom line when it comes to frequent bloating: taking a deeper look at your mental and emotional health, as well as your behaviors around food, is step number one before thinking about cutting any foods or food groups.
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