Feeling Bloated? Even after Eating Healthy.

Do you make an effort to eat healthily and then go out to eat, ordering something not even that bad but come home and feel like your stomach has to pay for the next few days? You might have tried various diets hoping one of them might heal your gut and you can return back to a more normal lifestyle, only to feel like you have been more and more sensitive to foods. It feels like the list of foods you can handle has shrunk. You’ve even tried some supplements like probiotics but it doesn’t seem like there is much improvement. The medical tests you’ve done do not give much information and there is not anything too abnormal. So what do you do?

The good news is that you don’t need to settle and just live with this. I’ve seen many patients like you and  usually there is something going on that is not right. Most of the tests that traditional medicine runs don’t catch anything unless it has usually already become a diagnosable disease. But it often takes years of an unhealthy or imbalanced state to get to that point.

We can test for things like the distribution of normal flora bacteria in your intestinal tract. Sometimes  the proportion of these bacteria when out of balance can give rise to symptoms such as bloating or oversensitivity to foods. Normal flora bacteria imbalances will not show up in a traditional stool test at your doctors office, because those tests will look for bacteria like C. diff (Clostridioides difficile) or giardia which usually cause acute diarrhea and abdominal pain. The tests I run with my patients will also test for presence of candida, yeasts, amoebas, parasites and other un-belonging bacteria.

We can also test for a few molecules that can indicate intestinal inflammation, poor digestion of fats or proteins, and intestinal permeability or “leaky gut”. These issues can also make you more sensitive to what you eat and bloated. Many stomach conditions can often be remedied by natural supplements, Chinese herbal formulas and for increased effectiveness, combined with energy work. 

Sometimes giving your digestive system a rest by eating things that are easier to digest and lighter for a week or so can help you feel better. Do consult a doctor if any diets, or supplements are appropriate for you.

Some examples include:

-chicken or turkey broth with easy to digest vegetables like zucchini, butternut squash, carrots, ginger, parsley, cilantro etc. Even better you can make bone broth. Add 1-2 teaspoons of apple cidar vinegar to the soup. (These soups are anti-inflammatory, and great for your immune system and easy to digest).

-fresh ginger tea. (Cut up 4-5 inches of fresh ginger. Boil in 4-6 cups of water. Strain and add some honey to taste). This is anti-inflammatory and helps decrease nausea, abdominal pain and bloating.

-Lemon balm, chamomile, ginger, lavender, peppermint teas are all helpful for the stomach and some of these teas help to calm down the nervous system. You may have noticed that stress makes your symptoms worse.

If you are wanting to get to the bottom of what is going on with your gastrointestinal issues, please contact me and I will be very happy to help you have a healthier GI system so that you don’t need to resort to avoiding more and more foods until it feels like your life is so restricted.