Imagine you just checked your weight this morning and you are happy with it. Then you go to a restaurant wearing your favorite dress that fits you very well.  There, you eat everything you like without portion control. After you come out of the restaurant you will feel that the dress has suddenly become tight.

Now you would have decided that you have gained weight. There is a chance you may be bloating, right? But will it cause weight gain?

Keeping your gut health happy is important and most of them neglect it. Now, what is the relationship between gut health and bloating? Bloating is due to poor gut health. You can say that you have a happy gut when your body is perfect in these three processes.

First, your body properly digests all the food you eat and you have a good digestive system. Second, your body properly absorbs all the ingredients, nutrients, vitamins, and calcium in the food and sends it to appropriate body parts. Third, you eliminate the toxins and waste from your body properly at the correct time.

If these three are good, you have happy health.

1. Symptoms of Bloating

1.1 Feeling of Fullness

Most of the time, you will feel that your stomach is full after eating and feel heavy. Your dress becomes tight and you feel some changes in your stomach.

1.2 Stomach Pain

Sometimes you feel pain in your stomach after eating. This pain will start from the stomach and touch your heart. The small and large intestine starts to stretch after you eat a lot and this stretch causes abdominal pain. This can be due to stomach bloating.

1.3 Breathing Problems

After you eat heavily, there will be no space in your abdomen and less gap in the lungs. Due to this, you find it difficult to breathe after eating. These can be some physical symptoms of bloating.

1.4 Hiccups

You get hiccups during eating and also after eating. Sometimes you may get heavy hiccups after eating. This is because after eating a lot, the intestine expands and touches the diaphragm. This irritates the diaphragm and you get hiccups.

1.5 Burp

While burping you are releasing the air in the stomach through the mouth. The heavy burps are due to the excessive air accumulated in the stomach. This burping can also be a symptom of bloating.

1.6 Gas Problems

If you have gastric problems after eating and face irritation, it can be due to bloating. Certain foods create too much gas in your stomach and irritate you.

2. Why Are You Bloating?

2.1. No Limit for Eating

Sometimes, it is not necessary to eat less, but it is necessary to eat correctly. Imagine you like pancakes, and your stomach can accept 4-5 pieces, but what happens when you eat 10-11 pieces? This means you did not keep a limit on eating. There should be a limit to eating. Eating a lot of food on the go will make you full and heavy. This is the main cause of bloating.

2.2 Swallowing Air

Some people have a habit of eating slowly, watching TV, or using their mobile while eating. While you do this, you are swallowing air along with your food. You are keeping your mouth open for a long time and air has a space to enter. This can form gas in your digestive tract and you start bloating.

2.3 Fiber and Root Vegetables

Our body has good bacteria and bad bacteria. These good bacteria inside our stomach break the food eaten into pieces and promote digestion. The root vegetables such as lentils, onions, and potatoes and fibrous vegetables such as beans, broccoli, and so on should not be taken excessively. When taken excessively, the bacteria inside our stomach release gas and cause bloating.

2.4 Food Allergies

You may have allergies to certain foods. It will not be the same for everyone, and it depends on your taste. If you eat that particular food, you may start bloating.

2.5 Menstruation

Menstruation is sometimes a major cause of severe bloating in women. If suddenly your stomach bulges, you can identify that your menstrual cycle is going to start. This is a common thing that every woman faces. Water retention is also a cause of bloating due to hormonal changes during this period.

2.6 Medications

If you are taking certain long-term medications, you may be allergic to your stomach. Due to this, you may start bloating.

3. When Do You Gain Weight?

3.1 Mindless Eating

Sometimes you don’t have portion control while eating. The reason for this can vary from person to person. Few people eat a lot due to stress; few people eat a lot when they are happy. Due to this your weight increases.

3.2 No Movement

Do you know what happens when you eat a lot and sit in a place for a long time without movement? The excess fat in your body never burns and your weight increases. You should develop a habit of walking, jogging, or doing workouts to lead a healthy life.

3.3 Stress

You may have personal issues or work-related issues. This can develop stress in you. This stress not only results in mental fatigue, it can also result in obesity.  When you get too much stress, a hormone called cortisol increases in your body which results in weight gain. So always relax when you feel stressed to avoid weight gain.

3.4 Improper Sleep

We face a lot of hurdles in our lives – and we may punish ourselves by eating less or not sleeping properly. Sleeping is the most important thing a human body needs. You may be able to fast for two days, but you cannot be awake for 24 hours continuously. When you don’t get enough sleep, your body doesn’t function properly, and you get abdominal fat gain. 

3.5 More Junk

Junk or processed foods have a lot of bad fats and sugar. This increases the calorie level in your body and ultimately increases your weight. Even a small portion of junk contains a lot of salt and makes you suffer. This not only causes bad physical health but also disturbs mental health. It is better to avoid junk food or eat it rarely when you have cravings.

4. Does Bloating Cause Weight Gain?

Your body contains a fat called subcutaneous fat, which is formed inside your stomach and directly found under your skin. This type of fat is less harmful. If you have subcutaneous fat in your stomach, while you touch your stomach you can feel a soft substance inside your stomach. 

You already know what bloating is. In simple terms, bloating is having a swollen stomach, fluid retention, or feeling of fullness that specifically occurs in the stomach area due to the above reasons. Bloating may be related to weight gain but bloating does not cause weight gain. It is a common misconception many have. Then you will think how do I find out whether I am bloating or if I am fat? There are three ways to find it. Look at your stomach in the mirror. If your whole body is thin and your stomach alone looks bigger, you may be bloating.

Touch your stomach and if you feel something soft, then you have gained weight. If it feels hard, tight then you are bloating. Due to bloating, you may increase a few pounds but you will lose it once you follow the remedies I am going to say. But reducing weight or fat is not easy and you need to have dedication to lose weight. When you find out you are bloating, follow these remedies. But if you feel you have gained weight, you can reduce it by doing proper exercise and eating mindfully.

5. Remedies to Reduce Bloating

5.1 Eating Mindfully

When you don’t chew the food properly and don’t care about the quantity you eat, the food particles will stay in your stomach. These big lumps will not digest and you get digestion problems. So when you eat, give some work to your mouth and chew properly, breaking down the food particles into smaller pieces. First, eat a spoon and then take the next spoon, don’t eat in a hurry. If you finish most of the work properly through your mouth, you are making digestion tasks easy for your body.

5.2 Keep Your Gut Health Happy

The last meal you eat in a day is your dinner. There is almost a 9–10-hour gap between your dinner and breakfast and your stomach is empty for many hours. So, to clean your gut, the first food you introduce to your gut should not be sensitive. Highly acidic foods can irritate you if you introduce them as your first meal. The best option is to have plain water and overnight-soaked almonds as your first meal. 

Take a few cumin seeds and add them to boiling water, then drink it when it becomes warm. Cumin seeds help you to reduce stubborn fat and improve digestion. Another good option is aloe vera. Take an aloe vera leaf, clean it, and add water and you can eat it or make it as a juice and drink it. This increases your body metabolism which is inversely proportional to fat. If your metabolism increases, you reduce fat as well as bloating.

5.3 Belly Breathing

Belly breathing is a great way to keep your gut organic. Sit down, place one hand on your chest and another on your belly, and slowly inhale through your nose. When you inhale the belly should expand and when you exhale through the nose or mouth the belly should go in. Do this 10 times every day and gradually increase the count. As I already mentioned, difficulty in breathing can be a symptom of bloating. When you do belly breathing, your lungs get enough air, you get relief from breathing problems and your bloating reduces. Stress and anxiety can also be handled with this exercise.

5.4 Gut-Friendly Exercise

You do exercise to reduce arm fat, thigh fat, and even face fat, but there is also exercise to keep your gut healthy. The exercises include cat and cow, thread the needle, and so on. In cat and cow, you inhale and come into a cow pose. Then you exhale and come into a cat pose. This helps in reducing stress, flexibility, and even menstrual cramps. This will eventually reduce your bloating. Follow these exercises regularly in the morning to relieve bloating.

5.5 Walking

If you don’t have enough time to do workouts, at least try to walk regularly. Go for a walk at least 20 minutes a day after eating. You are moving your body and this will reduce the bloating in your belly and you will feel light. Brisk walking can reduce calories and keep your gut healthy.

5.6 Elimination

The elimination part is where most of them fail. Proper elimination of waste products is important to keep the body healthy. The toxins and bad bacteria in our body should be removed to promote good health. If your body has a large number of bad bacteria, eat probiotic-rich foods such as curd, cabbage, and so on. But be in a limit and eat mindfully. When you eliminate the waste products from your body properly, your bloating will also reduce.

6. Final Words

In short, keeping your gut health happy is the ultimate key to getting rid of bloating. Bloating will not cause weight gain and if not treated, it can lead to other health-related problems. Your belly bloating will disappear when digestion, absorption, and elimination happen in your body properly. If you face heavy pain due to bloating, it is better to consult a doctor.

Last Updated on December 23, 2023 by riyaspeaks