8 Common Reasons We Feel Bloated All the Time
Many people know the struggle with a bloated stomach. Luckily, when they find out the cause, in most of the cases, bloating is treatable. Often, bloating is uncomfortable, and it makes people lose self-confidence because of the way their body looks.
Below is a list of the most usual reasons behind bloating.
- Insulin resistance
- Intestinal yeast overgrowth
- Irregular meals
- Food Intolerances
- Deficiency of digestive enzymes
- Gluten sensitivity/celiac disease
- Poor food combining
- Parasites or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth
Sometimes, patients can be tested for some of these causes such as celiac, food intolerance, insulin resistance, gluten sensitivity, and sometimes the treatment is based on history and symptoms. (1)
Get Rid of Bloated Stomach
Furthermore, we are going to talk about and explain each of the reasons mentioned above and how you can treat them to get rid of bloating.
1. Insulin Resistance
The pancreas releases the hormone insulin as a response to sugar in the blood. When we eat, insulin levels increase. When it is released in a healthy person, insulin causes the cells in the body to use fats and glucose from the blood.
But, when the cells respond weakly or do not respond at all, that is called insulin resistance. So, the body starts releasing more insulin, and it creates toxic levels of glucose which is popular as high blood sugar.
The usual symptoms of insulin resistance are cravings for sweets and carbs, weight gain (happens in just two or three years), tiredness, bloating, and increase appetite.
These symptoms as well as having a family member with diabetes indicate that you may have insulin resistance. Fortunately, this can be treated and reversed with changes in diet as well as physical activity.
The most important thing is to lower the consumption of sugar and carbs, and consume more proteins, veggies, healthy fats, and fiber.
2. Intestinal Yeast Overgrowth
This is a common reason, and usually, it is a result of often or long-term use of antibiotics. For instance, one of the most usual cases is taking a lot of antibiotics as a kid for tonsil or ear infections, for acne, or for urinary tract infections.
Antibiotics are bad because they cause changes in your digestive flora, so yeast is allowed to take over. If you have too much yeast in your body results in bloating and gasses. The gasses occur because of yeast ferment foods.
Also, some may experience carb or sugar cravings, fatigue, vaginal yeast infections, uncontrolled eating, fungal skin infections, and brain fog. You can treat this condition by cleansing your flora, and you can do that by taking probiotics, consuming sugarless foods, and supplements to kill the yeast.
3. Irregular Meals
When you eat at irregular times of the day, you are at risk of bloating. Eating a lot before bed or going without food for a long time, makes your digestion suffer.
For instance, if you do not have breakfast, and then have a huge lunch, you will have to bloat. This is shocking to your digestive system, and you get an increased blood sugar as well as insulin.
It will make you feel bloated and exhausted, so you may want to drink coffee to get energy. We need to eat regularly because our digestive system functions well with consistency.
You should eat breakfast for about one hour after waking up, have a regular mid-day lunch, and make sure to have dinner before 7 pm. Also, you can have snacks between breakfast and lunch, and between lunch and dinner.
4. Food Intolerance
This is different from a food allergy because the symptoms occur later instead of immediately like anaphylaxis, itching, and swelling. Inflammation and immune stress are the results of food intolerances, and this may cause irritation of the intestinal tract which leads to bloating.
Some of the most common food intolerances are eggs dairy, fruits like banana, pineapple, citrus, nuts like peanuts and almonds, corn, gluten, wheat, etc.
People can do a blood test to test their food intolerance. Those who have a history of eczema, allergies, asthma, or family history of autoimmune illnesses, may have food intolerances.
Also, it can be related to other skin issues, low energy, and digestive issues. When you remove any food that causes problems, you will notice the bloating improving in just four or six weeks.
5. Deficiency of Digestive Enzymes
These are produced by the pancreas in order to help the breakdown of food into forms that your body can absorb. Enzymes break down carbs, lactose, fats, and proteins.
Sometimes, the body may not produce enough enzymes which result in irregular bowel movements, indigestion, bloating, and pain.
This deficiency can be a result of aging, overgrowth of bacteria, parasites, yeast, food intolerances, chronic stress, and low stomach acid.
One form of enzyme deficiency is lactose intolerance. In fact, there is not enough lactase enzyme to break down lactose which results in poor digestion of dairies.
A breath test is one way to find out if you are lactose intolerant. Another way is to go for two weeks without dairies, and then eating dairies to see what will happen.
If you have lactose intolerance, as a temporary solution is taking digestive enzymes and avoiding dairies. Anyway, it is very important to find out the main cause of the issue and treat imbalances to stimulate your body to make enough enzymes.
6. Gluten Sensitivity/Celiac Disease
Celiac disease is a more severe form of gluten sensitivity, and because of big changes in the wheat during the past half a century and eating grains, there are many people with this problem. (2)
People who are gluten sensitivity experience bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and sometimes gassiness. There are tests that can show whether someone is gluten intolerant, but sometimes even people whose results were negative felt better without gluten. (3)
Also, one more indication of gluten intolerance is a person who has a lack of vitamin-B12 without being a vegetarian or a vegan.
If you think you are gluten intolerant, you should do a test, or try going without gluten for five weeks, and then consume gluten to see what happens. As an alternative to gluten, you can consume miller, sweet potato, rice, quinoa, and squash.
7. Poor Food Combinations
Combining foods can affect their digestion. Some are more sensitive, and some are less. Poor food combinations result in slow digestion, indigestion, and bloating. The first rule is to consume fruits alone, and do not combine them with something else like proteins.
Or, you should never consume fruit salad or a melon after eating a fish for dinner. Some other rules are not to combine proteins and carbs.
This may be hard for vegans and vegetarians, but people who fish, meat, and poultry should try separating the proteins from carbs and see if there is a difference.
For instance, you may have fruit juice as a breakfast, nuts as a snack, meat, fish, or poultry with veggies for lunch, and carbs for dinner like a baked sweet potato with grilled veggies.
8. Parasites or Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth
Many people experience an imbalance in the intestinal tract, and many may have extra pathogenic bacteria and parasites. This usually happens if you have traveled to South America, Africa, or Asia.
So, this type of imbalance may cause fatigue, diarrhea, or weight loss. With a stool analysis, you can find out if you have bacterial overgrowth as well as parasites. When you know what is going on, the treatment is much easier.
Bloating can be caused by many causes, and usually, it can be treated. However, you should know that it is okay to feel bloated after dinner or to be too bloated to socialize at the end of the day. For any serious symptoms, you should consult your doctor.
