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Topics: Health
Tom Earnshaw
A doctor has revealed his top five tips to combat stomach boating and relieve what can be very painful symptoms.
Feeling bloated can be due to a number of things. For women, it could be due to your menstrual cycle. It could also be a byproduct of irritable bowel syndrome, commonly known as IBS.
On the flip side, simply eating bad food could trigger it. After all, that Chinese takeaway always seems like a good idea until it doesn't a few hours later.
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Dr Anthony Youn is behind the tips on how you can target bloating, explaining his best advice in a video to his five million YouTube followers.
According to Dr Youn, fermented foods like sauerkraut, miso, kombucha, cheese, olives, and yoghurts can be really good at calming your guts down.
In these kinds of food you have bacteria that is really good for your digestive system.
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This bacteria kills harmful bacteria and fungi in your guts, stopping them from producing excess gas that feels trapped.
Opening a fizzy drink can leave you feeling like it is just what the doctor ordered but in reality, they can cause a lot of issues.
After all, who hasn't had a can of Pepsi or a bottle of lager with a meal? Well, the fizziness of the drinks can be a a big issue itself, alongside other nasties inside the drinks.
"Having a lot of unhealthy gut bacteria can cause you medical problems. Excessive amounts of sugar can actually help feed the unhealthy gut bacteria and cause you to have an unhealthy microbiome," Dr Youn said.
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"So drinking a lot of sugary drinks like soda pop can increase the amount of unhealthy gut bacteria that you have and then can worsen belly bloat.
"This is in addition to the carbonation in these drinks that can also increase gassiness and bloating."
Dr Youn says that you might well not know you're allergic to dairy or gluten products, explaining that seven percent of people have a sensitivity to gluten in the food that they eat.
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It might be worth trying to cut them out, or cut out specific forms of them that you think cause bloating, to see if you feel any better.
He said: "If you have a bloating issue, I would encourage just trying going off dairy and gluten for a few weeks and see how your bloating may improve."
If you don't have an intolerance, there is no benefit to cutting them out permanently, according to the Harvard Medical School.
No, we are not talking about Yorkshire Tea or Tetley.
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Instead of the traditional English cuppa, try an alternative. Specifically, peppermint.
"It relaxes the muscles of your digestive tract and allows gas to move through the digestive tract more freely," the doctor said.
"If you've got bloating issues, I would recommend aiming for one to two cups each day."
A solid alternative to fermented foods, probiotics can be bought in most shops and from various online retailers.
You can get them in yoghurt form or food supplements, so there's plenty of ways to get them in your system.
Dr Youn explained: "Technically, this should not take the place of eating good fermented foods, but a daily probiotic with at least three to five billion colony-forming units can be helpful to your gut, your gut microbiome, and your bloating problems."