12 Tips to Calm a Bloated Belly

I’ve had more experiences than I care to remember of taking a one-way ticket to Bloatville.  I know how uncomfortable and frustrating it can be.  Read this article to learn more about the reasons why bloating may still be hanging around even when you feel you have been eating “all the right things”.

Thankfully, there are many diet and lifestyle strategies that can help to soothe and alleviate that uncomfortable bloated feeling.

As a gut health nutritionist, I’m here to guide you through 12 effective strategies that can help soothe a bloated belly, from sipping herbal teas to making supportive choices with your diet and taking up some relaxation techniques. 

Here are some of my favorite ways to soothe your stomach when it gets bloated:

1. Ginger Tea: Ginger helps to relax and calm the gastrointestinal tract. Ginger has a warming quality to it which helps to stimulate a sluggish digestive system, including symptoms of constipation and bloating. Steep some fresh ginger slices in hot water to make a soothing ginger tea.
2. Chamomile Tea: Is known as a digestive relaxant and is helpful with digestive issues.₁ It is helpfjul with gas and bloating, soothing for the stomach and can help with relaxing the muscles necessary for motility (the movement of food through the digestive tract).
3. Peppermint Tea: Helps improve digestion and soothe the stomach, helping with bloating. Studies have shown that peppermint can be relaxing to the GI tract.₂  Be cautious with it if you suffer from acid reflux, as it may trigger symptoms in some people due to its relaxing effects on the lower esophageal sphincter.
4. Reduce or Avoid Carbonated Drinks: Carbonated beverages can cause excess air to build up in your digestive system, leading to bloating. Reducing or eliminating them from your diet can be very helpfiul.
5. Get adequate hydration: Our digestive system suffers when we don’t get enough hydration. Drinking enough water helps keep bowel movements regular and prevents constipation, a common cause of bloating.
6. Digestive bitters help stimulate the production of digestive enzymes. Taking them before meals can optimize digestion and decrease bloating. Earthley Digest-Support is a great option. Chewing your food thoroughly also helps to stimulate digestive enzymes and prepare your body to digest.
7. Cook Your Veggies: Raw veggies have benefits but for some people they can cause more issues due to being difficult to digest. Cooking your vegetables can make them easier to digest, reducing bloating.
8. Movement daily: Getting light to moderate activity, such as a brisk walk after a meal, can help food move better through your digestive tract and decrease bloating, as well as decrease the risk of constipation.
9. Diaphragmatic breathing: Helps to encourage stress relief and decrease tension in the abdominal muscles, reducing bloating.
10. Quality sleep: Getting 7 to 8 hours of good quality sleep at night helps support digestive health and decrease stress hormones, helpful for keeping bloating at bay.
11. Drink bone broth or meat stock: Bone broth is believed to reduce inflammation in the digestive system, contains easily absorbed minerals, is rich in amino acids, contains collagen, and gelatin which is soothing to the gut. Meat stock is especially rich in gelatin and contains the amino acids proline and glycine. Not everyone can tolerate bone broth due to its high amounts of glutamic acid. If that’s the case for you, stick with meat stock for now, until your gut is more fully healed. Meat stock also supplies nutrients that are very helpful with healing and soothing the lining of the gut.
12. Gentle Abdominal Massage: Gently massaging your abdomen can help encourage blood flow and support muscular relaxation. You can also help to relieve symptoms of bloating by activating pressure points on the stomach with the Ease Acupressure Device.

These 12 strategies can be super helpful tools in your search for relief from bloating. Remember that everyone’s body is unique, so it’s important to pay attention to what works best for you. If your bloating persists or worsens, consult with a healthcare professional or a gut health nutritionist to identify and address any underlying issues. Your gut is the gateway to overall wellness so take care of it and your entire body will benefit!

References:

1. Srivastava, J. K., Shankar, E., & Gupta, S. (2010). Chamomile: A herbal medicine of the past with bright future. Molecular medicine reports, 3(6), 895–901.
2. McKay, D. L., & Blumberg, J. B. (2006). A review of the bioactivity and potential health benefits of peppermint tea (Mentha piperita L.). Phytotherapy research: PTR, 20(8), 619-633.