The best foods and food habits to get rid of bloat fast
In this post I’m sharing my favorite foods and food habits to help you get rid of bloat, fast.
Intestinal gas, digestive issues (if it happens after you eat), eating too fast or too often, combining foods that don’t digest well together, an intolerance to kinds of food, or hormones fluctuating, are all very common issues that often lead to looking and feeling bloated and puffy - especially in the tummy region.
In today’s article, I’m sharing the the food habits I lean on to get rid of bloat as fast as possible. I swear by every last one of them - this is literally my go-to list of things whether I’ve got an event or celebration to attend, or just feel heavy and blah and want to look and feel better, or raise my vibration in general.
Proper food combining
If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s simply the idea that combining certain food groups improperly - for example, meat and potatoes - can cause negative health effects and digestive issues. As soon as I start feeling bloated or like my digestion is sluggish or aggravated, proper and simple food combinations is one of the first places I will start to try to improve how I feel. Eating fruits alone on an empty stomach, not mixing protein and starches, etc. helps me turn things around quickly and offers a powerful reminder that how we eat matters as much as what we eat.
Plan your meals
When I’m feeling bloated or like my digestion is sluggish, I like to go back to the drawing board and plan my meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner - around the idea of solving the problem. I think about what kinds of foods are particularly good for reducing bloat, nurturing the digestive tract and gastric emptying (papaya, coconut yogurt with probiotics, fennel, beets, fresh ginger, and other warming or high fiber foods), and then I will dream up ways to get a lot of these foods or spices into my meals throughout the day. I also think about timing my meals - making sure I leave at least a 12 hour fasting window between dinner and breakfast, and about 4 hours between each meal or snack during the day. A little extra mindfulness in these areas goes a long way.
Avoid snacking between meals
While many advocate for enjoying a snack between major meals as a means to rev up metabolism, doing so when you’re experiencing bloat, constipation or other kinds of digestive distress isn’t always helpful. In fact, when your digestive system is sluggish or aggravated, it often helps to eat less, not more.
When you snack between meals, you’re not allowing your digestive powers do their job in processing what you just previously ate, which leads your GI tract to become crowded, congested and clogged. Whereas avoiding snacks helps your digestive system to do its job properly and reach its full potential.
Stick to plant-based whole foods
Packaged foods (even plant-based ones), are riddled with things like salt, oil and sugar - all of which can wreak havoc on your tummy and digestive tract. Whereas whole foods (think: fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes or anything that’s been processed or refined as little as possible and is free from additives or other artificial substances), tend to do the opposite: they provide the fiber needed needed to build good bacteria and guard gut health. So by sticking with just whole foods, you’re consuming only things that will promote healthy digestion, regular elimination and as a result, less bloating.
Cook with digestive herbs and spices in mind
Spices don’t just enhance the flavor of your meals, they offer some pretty amazing health and healing benefits too - especially when it comes to digestion. As I plan my meals, I think about digestive spices I can add whenever possible. Cinnamon, cumin, fennel, peppermint, coriander and ginger are some of my favorites and most frequently used.
Small sips of warm water during meals, and more in between
While I love a tall glass of ice water (like LOVE), small sips of warm water during meals and then some more in between meals, is one of the best, easiest and most accessible ways to eliminate bloat. It gently cleanses the bowels, encourages sweating and flushes out the urinary tract, all of which helps to reduce bloat big time.
1, 2 or 3 day kitchari cleanse.
For those who don’t know, kitchari is a soothing ancient Ayurvedic meal made from yellow mung dal, jasmine or basmati rice, ghee, aromatic spices, and optional easy-to-digest vegetables. During a kitchari cleanse, kitchari is eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and according to Ayurvedic practitioners, the purpose of a kitchari cleanse is to eat a mono diet of easy-to-digest foods to give your body and digestive system time to rest and restore. A mono diet effectively limits the diversity of food in the body, and in doing so, is believed to help decrease inflammation, support digestive enzymes and improve the entire digestive process. As a result, you’ll often see a significant reduction in bloat (like, totally gone) - even if cleansing only for a day. You can read more about kitchari cleansing here, and why I love to do it regularly, here.
As I said, I swear by this list of dependable food habits to eliminate bloat and feel lighter and more energetic, fast.
You can wait until the next time you’re struggling with bloat or heaviness in the body to give one or all of them a try, or you can do what I do (and what I preach to my clients), which is why wait til there’s a problem to try and feel good? You can just as easily integrate these habits into your every day to prevent bloat or a sluggish digestive system from happening in the first place.
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