How to Beat Stomach Bloating Naturally

If you’ve ever experienced stomach bloating, you know how uncomfortable it can be.  Maybe it feels like there’s a balloon about to burst in your belly, or you get painful gas. Your stomach may even bulge out so much that you need to unbutton your pants just to breathe.

Bloating can be caused by a number of things. Maybe you overate, consumed foods high in sodium that resulted in your body retaining water, or are experiencing excess gas in your the abdomen. Some bloating can be the result of slow gastric stomach emptying. This is when food gets stuck or moves too slowly through your stomach and then into your small intestine, where it can stagnate and cause digestive upset.

No matter what the cause, here are some natural remedies to ease your stomach bloating and abdominal discomfort.

• Eat Smaller Meals and Slow Down. Large meals and eating too quickly may cause the upper section of the stomach to fill quickly. When all this food moves in a mass through the digestive system, you can feel bloated.
• Follow a No-Bloat Diet. Follow a diet that encourages your body to expel excess fluids and helps promote good digestive health. This includes:

Foods rich in potassium

Potassium helps your body flush out excess sodium, a leading cause of bloating. Good food sources of potassium include bananas, cantaloupe, papaya, and tomatoes.

Water packed foods

It seems counterintuitive that you should eat foods with a lot of water if your body is retaining water, but that’s just was nutritional experts recommend. You see, retaining water is your body’s way of fighting dehydration. So, if you eat foods that contain a large amount of water, your body will naturally start to flush out the liquids it has retained that caused bloating. Water packed foods include celery, cucumbers, and watermelon.

Fermented foods

Fermented foods are loaded with gut flora (probiotics) and digestive enzymes that promote good digestive health. These healthy bacteria and enzymes help breakdown the components of your food—the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins—so they don’t stagnate in your stomach and cause bloating. Examples of fermented foods include yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kim chee, and miso.

• Drink Water with Lemon. Lemons are a natural diuretic and a gentle laxative when added to warm water. Drinking warm lemon water can help reduce the amount of salt retained in the body, and thus ease stomach bloating.
• Take Targeted Supplements for Bloating. Certain nutrients have been shown to help ease stomach bloating quickly. An extract of Perilla frutescens called Benegut was shown to reduce bloating within 1-2 hours. And, a supplement with a full spectrum of digestive enzymes can aid in reducing bloating and promoting overall digestive health, particularly if you’re not getting enough enzymes from your diet.

Source This article was republished with permission from from Nutri-Health.