Feeling Bloated? Here’s What Your Gut Might Be Trying to Tell You
Feeling bloated can feel frustrating, embarrassing, and painful.
If you've ever unbuttoned your jeans mid-day or ended a “healthy” meal feeling like a balloon, you're not alone. Bloating is one of the most common complaints I hear from clients—and it’s often your gut waving a red flag.
Whether it’s a once-in-a-while discomfort or a daily battle, understanding what’s behind the bloat is the first step toward real relief.
What Causes Bloating?
Bloating happens when your digestive system isn’t moving food, gas, or waste through efficiently. Some common causes include:
Food intolerances (like gluten or dairy)
Imbalanced gut bacteria (a.k.a. dysbiosis)
Constipation or sluggish motility
SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth)
Stress and poor eating habits
Low stomach acid or enzyme insufficiency
What’s tricky? These symptoms often overlap. You might eat a perfectly healthy salad and still feel five months pregnant.
Quick Tips to Reduce Bloat
If you're feeling bloated right now, here are some functional strategies to ease the pressure:
1. Pause and chew
Chewing your food thoroughly can help your body digest more efficiently and reduce fermentation (a big bloat culprit).
2. Take a short walk
Movement stimulates digestion. A 10–15 minute walk after meals can help gas and food move through the GI tract.
3. Avoid carbonated drinks
Bubbles = extra gas in the GI tract. Swap sodas for still water or herbal teas like peppermint or ginger.
4. Try a low-FODMAP experiment
Temporarily removing high-FODMAP foods (like garlic, onion, apples, and legumes) may reduce bloating—but it's not meant to be long-term. It’s just a tool to identify triggers.
5. Tune into your stress
The gut-brain connection is real. If you’re eating while anxious, distracted, or in a rush, your body’s not in "rest and digest" mode. Try a few deep breaths before meals.
When Bloating Becomes a Pattern
If bloating becomes consistent, or you feel like you’ve “tried everything,” it’s time to look deeper.
Sometimes the root cause isn’t obvious. That’s where functional medicine stool testing comes in. This type of advanced gut testing goes far beyond what’s offered in standard labs. It can uncover hidden infections, imbalances in gut bacteria, enzyme issues, inflammation, and more.
Using these insights, I help clients build personalized protocols that actually work—because you deserve to feel comfortable in your body again.
Ready to Get to the Root of Your Bloating?
If you're tired of guessing and want a clear, customized path to gut healing, I’d love to help. I offer functional stool testing as part of my work with clients to get real answers and lasting results.
✨ Book a free call with me here to explore if we’re a good fit. Together, we’ll figure out what your gut is trying to tell you—and how to support it naturally.