Blown after dinner? This is what your feeling tells you

Your intestines always talk to you, through every symptom and every nuance of how you feel on a certain day. But understanding what it actually tells you can take some time and practice.

Because of my work as a functional drug practitioner, I learned a ton about decoding messages from the gut. Everyone is different, but there are some important signs and signals that we can all use to help us find out what is going on with our digestion.

That brings me to today’s subject. What is really going on when you are blown up after dinner? I will really concentrate on chronically bloated feeling after the meal is not only the incidental episode after a heavy dinner or at a specific point in your hormonal cycle, but a bloated head What You eat, or that doesn’t seem to follow a logical pattern.

If you already eat well, and even a healthy meal makes you swollen, this is for you. Let’s break down what’s really going on, and how we can find lighting that lingers.

After being blown up: what’s going on?

When a bloated feeling pops up after eating (including healthier or lighter meals), something is wrong with your digestive process. You may have trouble processing a specific but surprising part of your meal, or there can be a deeper problem with how your body breaks down food.

One thing I know is frustrating that often people who are health -conscious and make positive, deliberate food choices, perhaps more likely to develop a bloated feeling. If your intestinal microbioma is unbalanced (which you may not be aware of), the things we consider to be intestinal -friendly foods such as fiber -rich vegetables and fermented foods can actually activate.

But the good news is that once we look further at what’s going on with your digestive tract, we can almost always solve the problem.

Here are some of the most common reasons why you feel blown up or “see pregnant” (believe me, I hear this all the time) after dinner.

You have Sibo and/or a FODMAP intolerance

One of the most common causes of a bloated feeling that I see in my functional medicine -telehealth practice relates to SIBO (bacterial overgrowth of small intestine) and related disorders, including the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Those with one overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine Can be activated by foods that are high in a category of carbohydrates known as FODMAPS: fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols. (1)

These types of sugars, found in many generally healthy foods, including apples, garlic and cabbage, resist digestion and are fermented by intestinal bacteria instead. This is normal, but if you have one overgrowth You feed the problem of bacteria.

If you have ever noticed that you actually seem to be blown up less or you feel better if you eat something like fast food, this is probably the reason why. The good news is that it has been shown that a low FODMAP -diet has been shown symptoms. (2) Sibo can also be treated and resolved, and in most cases people can again enjoy healthy FODMAP food.

This can be you as: You experience other symptoms such as constipation or diarrhea, stomach pain, fatigue or brain fog, and you often feel worse Instead of better if you eat healthier.

You have to breathe

Your body has a digestion mode: it is usually called the rest and the digest status. When you are in this state, your body releases the stomach acid, the digestive enzymes and the saliva you need to properly digest food and absorb nutrients.

But there is a competitive mode nervous system, and this is your fighting or flight mode. When you are stressed, your body goes into this mode to protect you against danger. And to concentrate his agents on protecting you, your body essentially draws up a break for all systems that are not necessary to combat the danger. This includes digestion.

In our modern world we have so much stress all the time that it is really common to eat when we are in fighting or flight mode instead of the rest or digest mode. This means insufficient production and release of stomach acid and digestive enzymes, which leads to symptoms such as a bloated feeling.

Although it is not a complete remedy for chronic stress, a surprisingly effective tip is to take a minute or two to concentrate on your breath and to turn into a state of mindfulness and calm before you eat.

This can be you as: You live a quick lifestyle, you have experienced chronic stress and/or you tend to eat on the road or almost.

The rhythm of your gut is not synchronous

Your intestinal microbioma actually has its own Circadian RhythmWith different types of bacteria that come internally and at night at internally programmed times. (3) This is based on the understanding of your body of when you are awake and eat, and when you sleep.

If you always eat at different times or snack late in the evening, the circadian rhythm of your intestine cannot run synchronously with your eating habits, so that the team of bacteria pops up to help with the less effective of digestion.

This can be you as: You are on a different food and sleep schedule every day, or you often eat late at night.

You have a hidden food sensitivity

Flowers is a common symptom of food sensitities. The challenge is that many people do not know that they have a food intolerance (or what it is). The absolute best way to find this out is to follow an elimination diet.

Some of the most common perpetrators are gluten and dairy products, but sometimes the trigger is more difficult to find. Eggs, night damage, vegetables, lentils and other legumes, high histamine food and foods with a lot of salicylate are a few other possible sensitivities that may be behind your bloated feeling (and probably other symptoms).

This can be you as: You eat a generally healthy diet and only certain meals seem to activate you bloated and other symptoms, but you have not been able to find the common thread.

You have hit a tolerance threshold without realizing it

This relates to food sensitivities. But sometimes you do not respond to one specific food, but your body must process on the total load. This tolerance threshold or “bucket” concept applies to many different types of sensitivities, with one clear example histamine.

Perhaps you can often tolerate high histamine foods. But if you have had a stressful day and you have too many fermented foods on your plate that night, this can cause your bucket to overflow and cause symptoms such as a bloated feeling or expansion.

This can be you as: You cannot find a clear pattern that is related to what you eat, not even after trying an elimination diet.

Functional solutions for medicine for bloating after meals

Although the best plan is individualized, there are various things that you can now do to support digestion and to reduce a bloated feeling.

Start the digestive process before you eat

This is an incredibly important and underestimated place to start. The digestion starts in your head. When you see food, smell or think of food, your body starts to respond by separating digestive enzymes, stomach acid and other substances that we need for digestion. And don’t forget, if you are in a state of stress, this process will in principle be closed.

So before you eat, pause and get 3-5 slow, deep breath. Maybe you also want to record a gratitude practice for the food you are going to eat. In short, you give your nervous system a signal to go into the rest and the digestion mode.

Support for natural stomach acid and enzyme production

In some cases you may need some extra help to make your digestive juices flow. There are various natural strategies and supplements that can help stimulate the production of stomach acid and enzymes when your system is on the slow side.

Try: A dash of apple cider vinegar mixed with water before eating, absorb bitter greens in your meal (such as arugula or dandelion) herbal bitters, including ginger, dandelion or bardockwort

Probiotics can also help support the production of stomach acid and digestive enzyme production and to support overall intestinal and digestive health.

Try intermittent fasting

Your digestive system needs space and time between meals to clean up and function well. Working in a consistent and moderately sober window helps to reset your gastrointestinal system and can reduce the chance of a bloated feeling.

Read more: A guide for intermittent fasting to cure your intestines

Follow an elimination diet

I have touched it above, but this is the best way to find out if there are specifically healthy food (or categories of foods) that cause your symptoms.

The basic process is to eliminate potentially problematic food, all together for a certain period. Start to re -introduce them one by one and follow whether or not you will be blown up.

If you think you have Sibo and/or a FODMAP intolerance, you can follow a Low FODMAP diet as an elimination diet.

You can read my full guide for following an elimination diet here.

Follow wider patterns

In addition to an elimination diet, you may want to follow other dietary and lifestyle factors that can contribute to a bloated feeling due to stress or the bucket concept. This can include logging in your sleeping habits or if you have had a particularly stressful day. Try not to observe about every detail (and remember that we all be bloated sometimes), but a simple journal practice can help you identify patterns that you might have missed otherwise.

Don’t forget bio-individualism

There are other possible causes of bloated after eating, including hormonal imbalances and other intestinal conditions, but these must offer you a good starting point. In order to really get to the bottom of your individual case, I would recommend drawing up a consultation with a functional medicine expert who can perform intestinal microbioma and other specialized tests, and really look at all the pieces of your puzzle together.

As one of the first telehealth clinics for functional medicine in the world, we offer webcam Health consultation For people around the world.