- Ali
Have you ever chosen clothes knowing that if you’re having an off day and your tummy is bloated they’ll never fit? Or put a beautiful dress back on the shelf knowing that it’s destined to be one of these items that will languish at the back of your wardrobe because you’ll never know if your tummy is going to show up as a bloated mess or not. This used to be me. I had a wardrobe full of clothes that only ever fit on ‘good day’. Days when my tummy wasn’t distended and cramping! Since changing the way I eat and understanding what was causing my symptoms, plus studying nutrition, gut heath and the microbiome I’m confident in sharing these tips for helping you feel your best, from the inside out.
We’re all different and what works for one individual may not work for another, but there are some common themes to tummy bloat worth exploring. Here’s my top tips for prepping your body to feel your best from the inside out thus minimising tummy bloat and ensuring you feel comfortable all day long.
1. Choose the right foods.
Taking a probiotic and eating healthy foods containing probiotics, like yogurt, during the day can increase the amount of gut-healthy bacteria in our digestive tracts. This helps to facilitates efficient digestion and can, in turn, prevent tummy bloat. My favourite is an Arbonne GutHealth product which I recommend as a daily food supplement. It’s a complex blend of pre and probiotics, plus digestive enzymes so is working on many levels. It comes in a spore format, which means it is stable in its single sachet serving, or in your purse or suitcase when you are traveling.
Using a spore format rather than the readily available supermarket drinks means that the probiotic makes it further into your digestive tract, without being destroyed by the acidity of the stomach. In fact, taken in this way the probiotics are actually activated by the low pH levels in the stomach and the spore technology allows the probiotic to make it through to the duodenum of the small intestine, where they begin to colonize and support digestive health.
2. Reduce your Sugar
One of the areas I’m constantly talking about is reducing the amount of high-fructose or sugar containing foods in our diets. These together with trans fats, saturated fat, and omega-6 fats are hard on the digestive system and can also cause inflammation in your digestive system.
My big message is to cut out the CRAP: Carbonated drinks; Refined Sugar; Additives and Artificial sweeteners and Processed foods. Sip water between meals and avoid processed, high sugar fruit juices.
3. Hydrate throughout the day.
We often mistake thirst for hunger and eat when they’re actually supposed to drink! Keep yourself hydrated with a consistent amount of water throughout the day. I find water at room temperature is more hydrating than ice cold water so drink this where possible. Drinking large amounts of water all at once can shock the system and cause swelling, so drink slowly. The increased intake of fluids will help move food along the digestive system, hydrate your bowels, and flush out waste, ultimately preventing bloating.
I’ve found that having my water bottle with me at all times makes it much easier to stay hydrated. I always try to avoid plastic bottles containing potentially harmful BPA too. Choose glass or look for one like this that has a super wide neck so you can add herbs, lemons and berries to give your water some added flavour.
Eating fruits such as watermelon, pineapple, strawberries and cantaloupe melon, all of which have high water content and potassium levels, can help too. Potassium is an essential nutrient used to maintain fluid and electrolyte balance in the body. A deficiency in potassium can cause fatigue, irritability, and hypertension (high blood pressure).
4. Develop a morning sun salutation routine.
Having a morning routine can really change the outcome of your day. I love to do a morning meditation, some writing or journaling, reading and exercise. Just taking the time to do a few stretches can benefit your morning but for a real kick start take the time to do some yoga sun salutations. This simple yoga routine is an excellent full-body workout and provides a great burst of cardio too. Start first thing in the morning with a set of sun salutations, doing even 2 or 3 may be a struggle at first but work up to doing 10 to 15 as a regular routine. There are lots of variations but you can find a link to teach you the sequence here.
For toned arms and a strong core, spend a little extra time in your chaturanga. Stretch weary legs by going deeper into downward dog. If you sit for long periods and feel you have back troubles spend extra time in cobra to strengthen your back muscles. Want to break a sweat? See how many sets you can do in five minutes. Like I said it’s an all round workout for the whole body!
5. Eat right to fuel your day
It’s easy to feel like you don’t want to eat a proper meal when you’ve snacked on sweet sugary foods that fill you up without good nutrition and this is a recipe for tummy bloat. Getting good nutrition is important to fuelling your day and maintaining a flat tummy.
- Eat more green leafy vegetables to increase your fibre intake and magnesium levels, which are all essential to rejuvenating gut muscle function so that gut contractions function properly.
- Switch your white rice to brown rice.
- Replace wheat based noodles with courgetti spaghetti or find buckwheat noodles at the heath shop.
- Sip on a ginger or peppermint tea to superpower digestion and metabolism. I also love this herbal infusion blend in this CleanTox tea. It’s a mild caffeine free blend of six botanicals to sooth and refresh while it supports the liver and kidneys- some of the body’s largest organs of detoxification.
6. Combine dry skin brushing with essential oils.
Dry skin brushing is a great technique to help detox the lymphatic system and recharge the skin. This ritual causes microscopic scratches on the skin’s surface, which triggers blood to come to the rescue, improving circulation to the brushed area and in turn helping to create new skin cells.
How to do it? Using a natural-bristle dry brush, work from the feet upwards, gently brushing up and toward the heart in semi-circular motions. Brush only until the skin becomes slightly red. Shower immediately after skin brushing and pat skin dry rather than rubbing vigorously.
The way we supercharge it? Massage a small amount of this detox oil into your skin after brushing and feel it’s invigorating tingle. Packed with essential oils of orange, lavender, anise and bergamot and Vitamin E with antioxidant properties it helps the skin’s moisture barrier. Grape seed and sesame oils moisturise to support collagen and helps promote firmer looking skin. It also contains key botanicals of dandelion extract to help detoxify, turmeric extract to help promote radiant looking skin and ginger root to enhance the skin’s radiance. Applying this beautiful detox oil after skin brushing and a warm (not hot) shower will create a sense of harmony and vitality.
Overall keeping a flat tummy is down to a mixture of good digestion, eating right and exercise. If you regularly notice that you are bloated and uncomfortable it’s worth keeping a food diary so you can spot any foods which might be adversely affecting you. If you need help and support with this then message me, my passion is helping people to create healthy lifestyles one family at a time.
Other blogs you may find useful include:
How to choose a green superfood
