All of us experience bloating at some stage of our lives, for some it is a regular occurrence. Bloating makes you feel uncomfortable to say the least and, in many cases, it causes back pain, tummy pain and leads to other conditions.

There are few factors which contribute to bloating

  1. Eating and drinking while scrolling or eating in a hurry. This prevents you from properly chewing your food and eating quickly. All this creates more work for the digestive enzymes leading to poor digestion.
  2. Irregular sleep patterns play a havoc on the digestive system. Regular eating and sleeping habits are key to good gut health.
  3. Many alternative therapies suggest not to drink water or other drinks while eating. There is validity in this as the liquid dilutes the digestive enzymes causing poor digestion. Best to drink water before or after meals for optimum digestion.
  4. Irregular bowel movements are one of the key causes for bloating and discomfort.
  5. Lack of exercise or a very sedentary lifestyle also causes bloating and poor digestion.

Now let us see how we can improve bloating and gut health in general

  1. Increase fibre in your diet. Our diets are filled with protein, takeaway, fast foods and are seriously lacking in the fibre content. Adding fruits and vegetables to the regular diet is very important as the fibre in them contributes to good bowel moment amongst other benefits.
  2. Movement! This is very important especially if you are someone who does a desk job or generally have a sedentary lifestyle. Incorporating some walking and regular exercise like yoga or pilates will improve your gut health enormously.
  3. Taking probiotics either in the form of foods like yogurt, kimchi etc or probiotic supplements will also make a difference and will decrease bloating and aid digestion.
  4. Drink ginger teas or herbal teas which also are known to decrease bloating.
  5. Finally ensure you drink 2 litres of water per day to ensure there is enough hydration to assist the digestive processes.