Today, we’ll look at 5 major causes of stomach bloating, and what you can do to stop bloating fast.
Bloating happens when your gastrointestinal tract gets filled with gas or air. This makes your stomach distended, swollen, painful, and tight. Now, you might not think twice about bloating, if it only happens once in a while. But if you regularly have a bloated stomach, this could be a sign that your gut has an overgrowth of bacteria or yeast.
Abdominal bloating can lead to digestive disorders, allergies, autoimmune dysfunction, and in some rare cases, cancer. Some of the common triggers of bloating include a poor diet, increased stress, exposure to toxins, and certain prescription drugs.
Watch this video till the end, because we’ll reveal the #1 way to get immediate relief from bloating.
Now, to get rid of bloating forever, you’ll have to target the root cause of bloating and eliminate it. Let’s get into the 5 major causes of bloating and their natural solutions.
We start with root cause Number 5. “Low stomach acid levels”.
Having a bloated stomach may be a warning sign that you have low stomach acid levels. Now, when your stomach doesn’t make enough hydrochloric acid, the food can stay undigested in your stomach for too long.
This allows bacteria to grow. And bad bacteria like H. pylori can cause cramping, belching, heartburn, and bloating. As bacteria overgrows, it further prevents your stomach from making acid.
Now, bad bacteria have been found to release toxins that can damage the stomach lining and cause ulcers. And increase gastric inflammation that can lead to stomach cancer.
If you have low stomach acid, you will experience other symptoms such as iron-deficiency anemia, nausea, being tired a lot, not liking certain foods, smelling bad, and having undigested food in your stool.
So, what causes low stomach acid? The causes include a poor diet, eating too quickly, antibiotic use, H. pylori infection, and stress.
So, how can you tell if you have low stomach acid? One way is to test with baking soda.
Mix 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda with 4 to 6 ounces of cold water.
As soon as you wake up in the morning, drink this mix.
Do not eat or drink anything else before you drink it.
Time how long it takes you to burp or belch after drinking the baking soda.
If it takes longer than 5 minutes, your stomach probably isn’t making enough acid.
To stop your bloating, you can use Betaine HCL to improve stomach acid. The exact way to do this is explained in our video, “3 ways to stop acid reflux“.
Next, root cause number 4 is “Poor gallbladder health”.
The gallbladder is a pear-shaped organ that is located in the upper-right abdominal area, just below the liver. This tiny organ’s main job is to release enzymes that help break down dietary fat. To assist the enzymes in digesting fat, the gallbladder releases bile.
Bile is a greenish-brown liquid. It is made in the liver and stored in the gallbladder until you eat. It acts as an “emulsifier”. This means it helps to mix fat and water so your small intestine can absorb fat-soluble vitamins like vitamins A, D, E, and K.
Bile also helps your body to break down sugar and get rid of waste products from the liver. If the tube that carries bile from the gallbladder to the small intestine is blocked, you may experience upper abdominal pain, nausea, gas, and bloating after eating a high-fat meal.
High-fat foods include coconut oil, butter, avocado, eggs, fatty meat, and nuts. If your bloating is caused by poor gallbladder health, you can try adding bitter herbs to your diet.
Bitter herbs help to cleanse the liver and improve gallbladder function. These include ginger, arugula, endive, cilantro, turmeric, dandelion, cumin, fennel, mint, milk thistle, yarrow, leeks, and parsley.
Next, root cause Number 3. “Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth”.
Normally, your small intestine doesn’t have a lot of bacteria. When you have too many bacteria in your small intestine that shouldn’t be there, this is called Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth or SIBO.
Bad bacteria in the small intestine produce methane gas and sulfur. This can lead to abdominal bloating, cramping, gas, diarrhea, heartburn, food sensitivities, leaky gut syndrome, and body-wide inflammation.
Many things can cause an imbalance in gut bacteria. Common causes of SIBO include taking antibiotics, steroids, or acid-blocking drugs (PPIs). Or damage and blockages in your gut, such as scarring or diverticula.
One simple way to test for SIBO is to eat a bowl of steamed broccoli and observe how you feel over the next 3 hours.
If you experience bloating, gas, cramping, acid reflux, or other digestive symptoms, it means there are too many bacteria and your pancreas is not producing the necessary enzymes to break down food in your gut.
The best treatment for bloating caused by SIBO is to eat a low-FODMAP diet. High FODMAP foods, such as wheat, lentils, beans, dairy, onions, garlic, artichokes, cabbage, and cauliflower tend to increase SIBO symptoms, including abdominal bloating.
Coming up, root cause number 2 is “Candida Overgrowth”.
If your bloated stomach is often accompanied by mood swings, cognitive impairment, sugar cravings, and fatigue, your bloating may be due to Candida overgrowth.
Candida is a type of yeast that lives in your gut flora alongside other microbes. Under normal circumstances, candida should only exist in small amounts to aid in digestion and nutrient absorption.
However, factors like too much sugar, an inflammatory diet, and toxic overload can cause yeast to multiply beyond what is deemed healthy.
When this happens, Candida can reach your bloodstream and secrete more than 70 different toxins into your entire body. This can lead to liver dysfunction, overactive immune response, and even cancer growth.
Common symptoms that warn of Candida overgrowth may include the following: Athlete’s foot, toenail fungus, skin rashes, mood swings, UTIs, brain fog, autoimmune diseases, seasonal allergies, and low energy.
To get rid of bloating caused by Candida, you need to first control the Candida population and then repair the gut lining.
Some of the anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory foods that are strong candida killers include coconut oil, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, ginger, garlic, cloves, cinnamon, lemon, wild-caught salmon, and cruciferous vegetables.
To repair your gut lining, see our video, “5 foods that cause gut inflammation“.
And, the number 1 root cause is “Food sensitivities”.
Abdominal bloating may be one of the first signs of food sensitivity or intolerance. Other symptoms associated with food sensitivities are often unique to each individual.
Keeping a journal of everything you eat, while you go on an elimination diet, can help you figure out your food sensitivities. The major food allergens that cause bloating are dairy, wheat, corn, eggs, gluten, soy, shellfish, and peanuts.
Each time you eat foods that cause you to bloat, you’re unknowingly contributing to inflammation in your gut, which can lead to skin rashes and autoimmune diseases. Eating inflammatory foods can cause an imbalance of bacteria like Candida, which can trigger leaky gut syndrome.
To start an elimination diet to figure out what is causing your bloating, take out the following foods from your diet for 2 weeks:
Vegetable oils, gluten, dairy, refined sugar, corn, soy, eggs, grains, shellfish, tree nuts, legumes, and nightshade vegetables.
After two weeks of not eating these foods, start to add them back into your diet one at a time.
Try a new food for two or three days. See if you have any symptoms. If you have symptoms, stop eating the new food.
In general, stop eating highly inflammatory foods like gluten, refined sugar, and vegetable oils.
Now, let’s talk about the #1 way to get immediate, short-term relief from bloating.
The best way to reduce gas and bloating is by ingesting something called “activated charcoal”.
“Activated” means the charcoal has been treated with oxygen at very high temperatures to make it more porous.The extra spaces in the charcoal trap gas molecules, which reduces the amount of gas that causes bloating.
Just like with gas, activated charcoal “locks away” heavy metals, chemicals, and other toxins in the tiny spaces, and passes them quickly through the digestive system.
That is why doctors use activated charcoal in poisoning or drug overdose emergencies to prevent the body from absorbing harmful substances.
Studies have found that activated charcoal can effectively reduce symptoms of stomach bloating, cramps, flatulence, and diarrhea.
So, when should you take activated charcoal? Activated charcoal should be taken on an empty stomach, with a large glass of water.
One suggestion is to take it 2 hours away from meals, supplements, and medications. That’s because activated charcoal also absorbs food nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
For gas and bloating, you can try 500 to 1,000 mg per day. Be aware, there may be side effects, such as a black tongue, black stools, and constipation.
Activated charcoal should be taken on an “as-needed” basis and is not a long-term solution.