Understanding Digestive Bloating from a Nutritional Therapy Perspective
Digestive bloating, the uncomfortable sensation of fullness, and feeling like you have eaten a brick, is a common ailment that affects millions worldwide. While occasional bloating is a normal part of digestion, chronic bloating can significantly impact one's quality of life and overall well-being.
Functional medicine is a holistic approach that looks for the underlying causes of digestive bloating by considering how different systems in the body are connected.
What Causes Digestive Bloating?
Nutritional Therapists trained in Functional Medicine recognise that digestive bloating is not a standalone condition but rather a symptom of underlying imbalances.
Potential culprits include:
Food sensitivities and intolerances: The gut’s inability to properly digest or process certain foods can lead to gas production and bloating.
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO): An excess of bacteria in the small intestine can disrupt normal digestive processes, causing bloating, gas, and other symptoms.
Gut dysbiosis: an imbalance in the gut microbiome, the community of bacteria residing in the gut, can impair digestion and cause bloating.
Stress -that feeling when you can’t eat something when you are in a stressed state, as there will be heartburn, indigestion, bloating, diarrhoea, or constipation.
There are some other reasons for bloating in females which could be hormone-related so is best to get checked with the GP.
Don't let bloating happen often!
Nutritional Therapists take a personalised approach to addressing digestive bloating, considering each individual's unique circumstances, health history, and stress levels. This often involves:
Identifying and eliminating food sensitivities or intolerances can significantly reduce bloating. FODMAPs, those fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols, are notorious for causing bloating in some folks. These sneaky sugars, found in a lot of healthy foods, like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, garlic, beans, lentils, and processed foods, can get cozy with your gut bacteria and produce a gas party that'll make your stomach rumble like a volcano.
Addressing SIBO: If SIBO is suspected, specific treatments may include antimicrobial herbs, probiotics, or dietary modifications to reduce bacterial overgrowth. Seek out a Nutritional Therapist as it is a complex thing to resolve.
Restoring gut microbiome balance: Nutritional Therapists may recommend targeted probiotics or prebiotics to support the growth of beneficial gut bacteria and restore gut microbiome balance.
Addressing gut-brain axis dysfunction: Stress management techniques, mindfulness practices, and dietary interventions can help regulate the gut-brain axis and improve digestive function.
By addressing the underlying imbalances contributing to bloating, functional medicine can help individuals achieve long-term relief from digestive bloating and reclaim their overall well-being.