Who doesn’t agree that bloating is a nuisance, hands up?
Bloating is such an uncomfortable sensation – causing fullness, tightness, and distension at your abdominal area. It makes you feel like your abdomen is excessively filled or stretched beyond its normal capacity – making it appears larger and pouting on additional inches to your waist. *gasp*
We cannot deny that bloating significantly impacts our quality of life in terms of our self consciousness, discomfort and even appetite. It’s Pieority crew strongly believes that it’s essential to delve into the root causes of bloating and what should be done to fix our disquietude.
Are You Gluten Intolerance?
As much as we all love bread, pizza and pasta, we can’t help but to loathe the bloating sensation after these gluten fiesta.
Gluten intolerance, or also known as gluten sensitivity is a condition when – after consuming gluten-containing food – such as wheat, barley and rye, such individuals experience adverse symptoms such as:
- Bloating
- Abdominal Pain
- Diarrhoea
- Constipation
- Fatigue
- Nausea
- Skin Problems
How Gluten Affects Your Body?
Are You Lactose Intolerance?
Lactose is a sugar found in dairy products such as milk, cheese, yoghurt and ice cream.
Lactose intolerance is a digestive disorder when your body faces difficulties in digesting lactose due to deficiency of the lactase enzyme.
Lactase enzyme is responsible for breaking down lactose into simpler sugars, to be readily absorbed in your small intestine. The insufficient lactase activities lead to undigested lactose remaining in your gut.
When undigested lactose reaches your large intestine, the gut bacteria ferments the lactose, thus producing gases such as hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide and leads to symptoms such as: –
- Bloating
- Flatulence (passing gas)
- Abdominal Pain
- Diarrhoea
If you suspect lactose intolerance, it’s advisable to keep a food diary to track your symptoms related to lactose consumption and try to swipe dairy alternatives to see if your symptoms improve.
Are You Experiencing Hormonal Change?
Let’s face it ladies – our hormones – Estrogen and progesterone, never cease to ‘amaze’ us with its continuous meddling with our life. Not only does it contributes to menstrual cramps, acne breakouts and mood swing, it also affects our gut well-being.
How Hormone Fluctuations Trigger Bloating？
The fluctuations in hormones create havoc in our body – the hormonal shifts slow down movement of food passing through the digestive system, causing buildup of gas due to gut bacteria fermentation and leading to feeling of abdominal fullness and bloating.
Managing bloating associated with hormonal changes involve a few committed lifestyle modification – such as stress reduction, regular exercise and a balanced diet to support your gut health.
If you believe that you are experiencing severe or persistent bloating, we highly advise that you seek healthcare professionals such as certified dieticians, gastroenterologist or gynaecologists for advice. They will conduct an accurate diagnosis on your condition and carry out appropriate test so that they can recommend a personalised dietary strategies and lifestyle recommendations to maintain good gut health for you.
Always remember, when your gut is healthy, you are happy!
