If you continuously complain about that belly fat and an annoying large stomach, chances are that you may be suffering from bloating. And the alarming thing about it is that you may not even know about it.
Causes For Stomach Bloating
Stomach Bloating can be a troublesome issue to deal with. And though there are several ways you can treat the issue, understanding the causes for the same can help you deal with it better. Accordingly, here are some of the more common causes for stomach bloating in women.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
IBS is one of the most common causes for bloating in individuals. And sadly, most of the time it gets mistaken for either indigestion or gas. More prominent in women, IBS can cause bloating in addition to causing other conditions like abdominal pain, extreme discomfort, gas and irregular bowel movements etc.
Eating Fatty Foods
Fatty foods do much more than just adding fat cells to your body. Accordingly, fatty foods can prolong digestion and just stay in the stomach for long periods without moving out. This can then cause severe bloating.
Drinking Less Water
In addition to ridding your body off impurities and other toxins, water helps to regulate digestion and takes care of gastrointestinal disorders as well. So if you are not drinking enough water on a daily basis, you may experience indigestion problems and severe bloating as a result of the same.
Increased Intake Of Dairy Products
Dairy products can take time to digest and so can cause severe bloating when consumed in large quantities. The trouble increases for individuals who are lactose intolerant and so cannot digest milk and its related products.If you are lactose intolerant and still prefer to eat dairy foods, including milk, curd, ice cream etc., you would most probably experience bloating soon after having a meal that includes these foods.
Chewing Gum
In some cases, chewing gum constantly can cause stomach bloating. The reason for this is attributed to the fact that when an individual chews gum, he/she would be swallowing large amounts of saliva and air that would reach the stomach and cause it to bloat. Some gums also contain artificial sweeteners that can be hard to digest and so can cause bloating.
Healthy Foods
Who would have thought that the healthy foods that we opt for could also potentially cause bloating? But it’s true! Some foods that are otherwise very healthy can cause bloating.These include high fiber foods like beans, oats, cereals, wheat bread, pulses and bran; foods like nuts, fresh fruits, edamame beans, and seeds etc. These foods when taken in large quantities can ferment in the gut and cause bloating in the process.Some regularly followed healthy diets may not be as healthy as you think and can cause conditions like bloating. These include high protein diets like Duka or Atkins and diets that are low in fiber or carbohydrates.
Eating Foods That Are Reheated
If you experience bloating every time you eat out or prefer to eat some leftovers, then chances are your body is not acting favorably to foods that are reheated. Most of the foods in restaurants are reheated at times. The same goes for leftovers that are often heated and eaten later.The problem in this is when foods are reheated; they become more resistant to digestion and so directly pass into the intestine from the stomach. The intestine on its part would try to digest these foods and produce excess gas in the process which results in bloating.
Hormonal Imbalances
Some women tend to experience bloating during menstruation and right before menopause. The reason for this happens to be the fluctuating hormone levels during these periods which make the body more vulnerable to conditions like bloating.
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Menstruation also causes the muscles in the body to relax (an effect produced by progesterone), including those present in the gut and abdomen. When this happens, the stomach takes longer time to digest the food and pass it to the intestine. And this would naturally cause bloating. On the other hand, the relaxed muscles themselves would make the body look bloated during menstruation or menopause.
Stress
There is no direct evidence to back the point, but many researchers believe that conditions like bloating could be aggravated by issues like stress or depression. So if you feel your stomach acting up after a really stressful day, chances are your brain may be sending appropriate signals to the gut to bloat.
Antibiotics
Bloating also occurs when the amount of good bacteria (responsible for quick and healthy digestion) present in the gut decreases. And most of the time, the reason for the same would be the intake of antibiotics which can potentially the balance between the good and bad bacteria present in the gut.When this happens, conditions for the growth of bad bacteria improve considerably. This in turn would make you more sensitive to foods that take time to digest or ferment in the gut. This again would cause excessive bloating.
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