Dr. Alison shares her top tips to reduce bloating from supporting the nervous system, what supplements you may need, how to know what foods may be causing this, and other tips.
Vagus nerve exercises: https://bit.ly/3x7YeDR
Supplements: https://doterra.me/0RmVOyw8
Schedule a consult: www.LittleBlackBagMedicine.com
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Read the transcript:
You are listening to Functional Wellness with Dr. Alison and I am so glad you are here today. Today we are talking about how to reduce bloating. Bloating is something that almost everyone deals with. Some experience daily, chronic, and painful bloating. Others might have it just occasionally. Either way, bloating is a sign that your digestion and nervous system are struggling and need more support.
My first suggestion is Vagus Nerve work. Why start with the Vagus nerve and not food? That’s because the Vagus controls your migrating motor complex in your small intestine and this complex is a nerve web that helps increase or decrease movement of your food and stool through your intestines. If your nervous system is stressed out or frozen, this complex will shut down or slow down. You might find that you have SIBO or other digestive issues and no amount of supplements or diet changes are helping. This is where the Vagus nerve work comes in. When you reengage this nerve the complex will restart and help move food forward through your gut and reduce bloating.
Vagus nerve exercises include gargling, gagging, and specific eye and head movements. You can grab that info in the link in the comments.
My next recommendation is to start using digestive enzymes. These will help break down your food farther so your stomach and intestines don’t have as much difficulty absorbing the nutrition from your food. If you are having gas throughout the day, that is usually a sign that your body is not breaking down food enough and the bacteria in your gut can’t handle it. Gas within an hour of eating is usually an issue with carbs and gas 3 hours or later after eating is usually an issue with fat and protein. Taking digestive enzymes as a supplement can help reduce bloating and gas overall. But you have to take them with food. Many people are taking them as a regular supplement, without food, thinking if they take 2 a day that will help.
You actually need to take the digestive enzymes with food. I recommend starting with 1-2 per meal. With light meals you may only need 1 capsule. If it is a heavy meal, like pizza night, you might need 3-4. This is something you can definitely play around with and see what is best for you.
My next recommendation is to try a probiotic. Now, if you find a probiotic makes the bloating worse or you have issues with fiber, that is a good sign that you have SIBO and need to have some testing done and for the moment you can avoid probiotics or fiber. But if you don’t have the reaction, you can keep taking probiotics. I do recommend the PB assist from doTERRA as a great probiotic that works really well for my patients.
My last quick tip would be to avoid caffeine, especially coffee and especially creamer. Caffeine and coffee to tend to cause a lot of bloating, stomach distress, and can mess with that migrating motor complex. Try cutting out coffee for two weeks and see how much better your gut feels.
Of course there are concerns about food, what foods cause bloating and why. But I do find that this is a really personalized topic. Yes, gluten, dairy, soy, and corn are the biggest offenders for causing bloating. (hence why cutting out coffee creamer is a great idea). But also seed oils and vegetable oils (which again why cutting out coffee creamer is a good idea). I would recommend that you do an elimination style diet and start to rule out foods that make you feel sick and bloated.
Then of course, you can do testing like the GI map to see if there are any infections or bacterial issues causing bloating.
There are a lot of options when it comes to supporting your gut health, but start simple and slow and you will learn how to best take care of your body!
Thank you for being here, make sure to like and subscribe so you stay up to date on all my weekly podcasts and we will see you next time!
