How Men Over 40 Can Reduce Belly Bloat – Our Guide

Almost everyone will experience bloating at some point in their lives, including men over 40. If your stomach feels full and tight, it could be that you’re experiencing bloating. Bloating occurs when there is excess gas somewhere along your digestive tract. The symptoms can be extremely annoying and uncomfortable. This article will provide a few tips to relieve your belly bloat. But first, let’s get deeper into the causes of bloating.

Eating Behavior

When you eat a large amount of food, your stomach stretches, which causes your upper abdomen to feel full. Foods that are high in fat are difficult to digest, which worsens your symptoms for a longer period of time. Moreover, the habits of eating food too quickly, drinking carbonated drinks, and chewing gum can all make you swallow an excessive amount of air. This causes your stomach to bloat.

 

Certain Carbs

Certain types of carbohydrates can cause excessive intestinal gas, such as beans, grains, and some varieties of fruits and vegetables. The fermentation that occurs in your stomach brings more fluid into your intestines, which leads to gas, bloating, cramping, and diarrhea. People who have more sensitive guts than others are more prone to bloating when digesting certain carbohydrates. That is because the muscles and nerves of their gastrointestinal tract don’t function properly when they encounter certain things.

Gluten

People who are gluten-intolerant are more likely to get belly bloat than others when eating foods that contain gluten, including wheat, barley, rye, among others. That is because they are unable to absorb nutrients from these foods properly, which resulting in symptoms that include bloating.

 

Now that you know what causes bloating. Here is a list of things that you should do and shouldn’t do to get rid of belly bloat:

 

Avoid Gas-Forming Foods

Some people have difficulties digesting certain foods that contain sugars, such as legumes. Other gas-inducing foods are dairy products and some types of vegetables and fruits, such as cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, apples, pears, and peaches. If these foods make you feel gassy, you might also want to take it easy on the beer as it is known to produce a lot of gas in your gut.

 

Avoid Fatty Foods

Fried foods that have high levels of fat are slow to digest, causing the feeling of fullness and tightness in the stomach to last longer.

 

Don’t Eat Too Much

Overeating is one of the main causes of bloating. Thus, you should watch the amount of food you put on your plate and make sure that you aren’t eating too much.

 

Eat Slowly

When you eat too quickly, you’re more likely to swallow a lot of air, which becomes trapped and results in belly bloat.

 

Workout the Right Way

As you try to get fit by working out, you may put pressure on your stomach, which in turn causes stomach acids to rush back into your esophagus, leading to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).  We help with fitness for men over 40 – take a look at our guide.

Exercise Regularly

One of the best ways to get rid of belly bloat is to exercise regularly. This can help you lose weight, thus improving bloating and GERD. Exercising regularly can also help to lower your stress levels, which is known to be the culprit of irritable bowel syndrome – another condition that causes bloating.

 

Avoid Chewing Gum

Chewing gum also causes you to swallow excessive air, which contributes to increased intestinal gas.

 

Conclusion

If you’ve done all that you can to improve your bloating but your symptoms still persist, you might want to consider consulting your doctor to help identify the root of the problem. It could be that your bloating is a result of an underlying medical condition. Your doctor may prescribe you medications that can help you with intestinal gas.