Learn About Your Stomach

There are two causes for stomach bloating:

• eating too much food
• eating food the stomach has trouble digesting

Even if you’re good about eating reasonable amounts of food, you could still get a bloated stomach when you don’t expect it by eating food that,  as the saying goes, “doesn’t agree with you.”

Stomach

When this happens, you generally have a choice of three remedies: time, antacids, certain herbs. Time is usually the least favorite option. If you wait a couple of hours, your digestive system will cope with whatever food (or combination of foods) is causing your bloating.

Antacids

Antacids are often effective because they’re designed to undo some of the bad chemistry that’s causing the bloating. Antacids neutralize certain acids by using, in most cases, salts of calcium, magnesium, sodium or aluminum.

However, this amounts to tampering with the digestive process, and doing so can result in some side effects like constipation, diarrhea, stomach pains, headaches, dizziness,  and fatigue. There can also be long term side effects, including kidney and heart problems.

Herbs

Certain herbs are believed to be helpful in relieving stomach bloating and similar digestive discomforts. They include

• mint extracts, especially peppermint herbal tea (without sweeteners or sugar),
• camphor (in small doses),
• clove oil.

Some health food experts recommend a combination of 1 teaspoon of grated fresh ginger pulp and 1 teaspoon of lime juice. However, DO NOT try this remedy if you are allergic to ginger, limes, lemons, or cider vinegar. Peel the skin off fresh ginger root, grate the remaining to make a pulp. Then mix the pulp with lime juice. Take the mixture right after eating.

Prevention

Avoid sweets and fatty foods, which are major causes of stomach discomfort.
Avoid using a lot of salt. Be especially wary of processed and fast foods, which tend to contain a lot of salt. Salt, or sodium, is a major cause of bloating.

Eat foods containing potassium, which works to decrease the sodium level in the body. High potassium foods include asparagus, cabbage, cauliflower and mushrooms

If possible, avoid taking  antibiotics, which cause stomach bloating because they destroy harmless bacteria in the digestive system. These bacteria are good for digestion, and anything that’s good for digestion will help relieve bloating. Taking a B-complex vitamin at the same time you’re taking antibiotics will help.

Oral contraceptive pills also cause a bloated feeling in the abdomen.

Stomach bloating may be a symptom of a gall bladder problem. Check with your doctor of you ‘re experience stomach bloating several times a week. Your doctor may recommend a totally fat free diet.