Guide to Beating the Bloat

It's Friday night and you slip on your favorite jeans – just to find out you can barely button them up. Sound familiar? Abdominal bloating affects millions of people – both men and women – every day. Fortunately, there's a whole bunch of tips that can help you reduce that bloated belly feeling naturally, and many of these tips can provide surprisingly quick relief.

Abdominal bloating is a common but annoying condition. It has several possible causes such as a high dietary intake of salt or the body's reaction to hot weather. In women, also hormonal fluctuations associated with different phases of a woman's menstrual cycle can cause distension and water retention. Many women report that they feel particularly puffy right before or during a menstrual period, and indeed, abdominal bloating is listed as one of the most common symptoms of pre-menstrual syndrome (for more information on this topic, see PMS and Diet).

While a bloated stomach caused by natural hormonal fluctuations or changes in the weather is rarely a cause of concern, unusual and/or persistant abdominal distension should be checked by a qualified medical professional. Abdominal bloating may be a sign of an underlying disease or condition, such as kidney disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), partial bowel obstruction, polycystic ovary syndrome, intestinal parasites, gastric dumping syndrome, splenic-flexure syndrome, diverticulosis, or chronic lung disease. If you are a sexually active woman, a bloated feeling around your midriff may also be a sign of early pregnancy, which is often hard to distinguish from pre-period bloat.

Once your doctor has ruled out any serious medical condition, you can start treating your body with the best natural remedies for abdominal distension. Here, we have compiled a handy online guide full of nutrition-related advice on how to reduce a bloated belly naturally by changing the way you eat. Whether you are looking for diet tips on how to deflate that belly with food, or whether you are on a quest for healthy recipes with bloating-fighting ingredients, you will find the information you need in one of the main sections of this guide:

The Anti-Bloat Diet: Tips for Reducing Bloating

In this section, you will learn how small changes to your diet can have a tremendous effect on how puffy and swollen you feel in your stomach area. You will get to know the best dietary remedies for a bloated belly, from stepping up your potassium and vitamin B6 intake to reduce the amount of salt and potential allergens in your diet.

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8 Best Foods to Eat to Reduce Bloating

Here you will learn how certain foods – such papaya, pineapple, celery, probiotic yogurt and peppermint – can help you deflate a bloated belly by reducing water retention and intestinal gas. And the best thing is, these natural remedies are available at every supermarket!

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Recipes for Preventing and Reducing Bloating

How about a bowl of Beet and Carrot Soup loaded with potassium, a mineral that helps reduce water retention caused by an overabundance of salt in the diet? Or perhaps a refreshing smoothie that features pineapple and bananas, two of the best anti-bloat foods? To view the recipes for these and other bloating-reducing dishes, click on the link below.

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