How to Get Rid of Bloating
Common Food Sensitivities and Bloating
The first place to look to get rid of bloating is with food sensitivities.
Our digestive systems are naturally built to break down the nutrients in the foods we eat (such as carbs, fats and proteins) with digestive enzymes. However, there are certain foods our body can have difficulty digesting based on the type of enzyme the food requires to be digested.
Bloating is one of the first signs the body gives us when it is having trouble digesting the foods we’re eating.
The two most common foods the body has difficulty breaking down are gluten (a protein found in wheat) and lactose (a protein found in dairy) (1) (2).
Why Are We Sensitive to Dairy?
When we’re infants, our bodies produce an enzyme called lactase, which helps digest the lactose in breast milk. As we get older and no longer have the need to breastfeed, our bodies produce less lactase.
However, cow’s milk still exists in our food supply, and many people continue to eat dairy products as a regular part of their diet. But without the proper enzymes to break down the protein in dairy, how can your body properly digest it?
Poorly digested food can lead to sluggish digestion which results in bloating.
The Truth About Gluten Sensitivities
You can have a gluten sensitivity without being diagnosed with celiac disease (an irritable bowel disease of the small intestine that’s triggered by eating gluten).
Gluten is a very common and particularly harmful offender to the gut because it promotes intestinal inflammation (3). The body also has a harder time breaking it down and recognizing it as a protein. This is because the structure of our wheat has changed over time.
Today, we’re not eating the same wheat our parents ate years ago. Instead, we’re eating a Frankenstein (or hybridized) version of wheat whose structure has been manipulated to withstand weather conditions, grow quicker and repel bugs.
By changing the structure of wheat, we’ve also changed the type of proteins found in wheat, which the body isn’t well equipped to digest.
If you’re stuck on how to get rid of bloating, but still have dairy products and wheat in your diet, removing both of these foods completely is a great place to start.
I recommend leaving them out of your diet for a minimum of three weeks to determine whether they’re linked to your digestive symptoms.