5 Reasons Why You're Always Bloated
I had a client tell me on our last call that she was so grateful that she has the same body everyday now. What does that mean? Well she struggled with a lot of bloat and never knew if she was going to wake up with it, get it after meals or feel great throughout the day. This meant that everyday her clothes fit differently, everyday was a guessing game of “is this food going to cause me bloat today or not” because she was never able to pin point what exactly was causing her bloat. Can you relate to this?
Or maybe you also struggle with bloat but it’s just a seemingly constant battle of feeling 6-months pregnant from bloat.
Bloating is something that is being talked about in the online world a lot more and with the body positivity movement I think has become somewhat normalized. In some aspects I love this as some bloat is 100% normal and nothing to be ashamed of. HOWEVER I’m here to tell you that while being bloated all the time may be common, it's not normal! Nor fun to deal with and can be really uncomfortable so I want to share 5 of the top reasons I see this happening with my clients.
1. A sluggish metabolism
Many people are surprised to learn that the years of dieting and their sluggish metabolism may be partly to blame for their bloat.
Your metabolism is all the chemical processes happening in your body to create energy. So when that is slowed down from hypothyroidism or even years of dieting that can slow down your digestive system causing bloat to happen more frequently. Things sit longer in the gut allowing them to ferment which can lead to gas production and bloat.
So whether your bloat is caused by dysbiosis or poor digestion (both of which we’ll talk about) supporting your metabolism is still the most important thing to start with.
2. Your minerals are depleted
There are several minerals that play a role in the production of stomach acid and other digestive enzymes. One really important one that most people are lacking in though is potassium. Research shows that most people are only consuming half, if that, of the recommended intake per day. On average people are consuming about 2300 mg/day but the recommended intake is 4,700mg of potassium per day. Yikes!!
So when we’re low on potassium and other minerals such as zinc and magnesium our digestive system doesn’t have the resources to make adequate stomach acid or enzymes to properly break down our food. This can lead to constipation, bloating and if not addressed increase risk of infection and dysbiosis.
3. You’re not eating enough
When you’re not eating enough to meet your needs, your metabolism will adapt and slow. This goes back to my first two points. If you’re not given your body the resources, both overall energy and specific nutrients, its not going to be able to do it’s job very well.
It’s kinda like hiring contractors to build a house that don’t have any tools. The contractors are your organs ready to get the job done, but if they don’t have any tools or building materials they’re not going to get very far on that house. So we need to make sure you’re fueling your body adequately to meet your energy and nutrients needs to keep that metabolism revved and your body has the resources it needs to breakdown your food.
4. Dysbiosis or infection
I’ve mentioned these a couple times already, but let’s talk about them a little more. Dysbiosis, what does that even mean? To but it simply it’s an imbalance in your gut microbiota. This could mean not enough good gut bugs, too many bad gut bugs or both. This can contribute to bloat but also metabolic issues, hormone imbalances, acne, weight loss resistance, constipation, diarrhea and more. Your gut environment affects a lot of things!
So how do you know if this is the issue? To truly know you have to do some testing. I recommend the GI map and use it quite often in my practice to get a better understanding of what is happening in the gut. Because it’s not always as straightforward as “just take a probiotic”, sometimes that actually makes things worse. This test also looks for infections such as parasites, fungal, yeast and bacterial like h. Pylori (the most common one I see) that all can impact digestion and potentially be contributing to bloat. If you’re wanting to dive deeper into your gut health I have a GI map mini package to help you do just that. Check it out here 👇
5. Your nervous system needs support
his is probably one of the hardest things to address for some people. We live in a fast paced society, our nervous system is getting stimulated from every direction and rarely gets a break. While there is still SO much to learn about the gut, one thing we do know is that it is tightly connected to our nervous system and there is basically a multilane highway connection between our gut and our brain.
When we are in fight or flight mode our sympathetic nervous system is stimulated and our parasympathetic (rest and digest) takes a back seat. This can trigger bloating because your body is no longer prioritizing breaking down your food. Being in fight or flight mode often can decrease gut motility, digestive enzyme production and the mucus that lines and protects our intestines while increasing intestinal permeability. All of this increases risk of nutrient deficiencies because your body isn't able to breakdown and absorb nutrients as well, increases inflammation, and metabolic mayhem. So basically can just keep you in this vicious cycle of stress and bloat. You can read more about how stress impacts your metabolism here
While there are so many things you can do to support your nervous system one super easy one that can have an almost immediate effect on digestion is to take 3-4 deep breaths prior to each meal. This helps your body switch from that fight or flight mode into the rest and digest mode.
So as you can see there are a lot of things that can be contributing to your bloat, but the good news is they are things that you can improve!! If you’re ready to get to the bottom of your bloat let’s chat! Book a discovery call here. 👇