168 | 3 Reasons You’re Still Bloated, and It’s Not Just Food

Bloating doesn't always stem from what we eat. Despite cutting out dairy, wheat, or fibrous vegetables, there are three surprisingly simple factors you might be overlooking that could make a big difference without further dietary restrictions.

• Hydration matters – aim for about 64 ounces daily, sipping consistently throughout the day
• Include electrolytes by adding citrus and sea salt to water to prevent water retention
• Avoid drinking large amounts before or during meals to maintain stomach acid levels
• Pay attention to posture – hunching compresses digestive organs and tightens fascia
• Imagine being pulled up by a string from the crown of your head for better alignment
• Movement throughout the day provides a gentle massage for intestinal organs
• Take short walks after meals or do gentle stretches even while seated
• Combine hydration, posture, and movement for maximum relief from bloating
• Proper breathing techniques also aid digestion and reduce bloating

Visit movingthroughmidlife.com for free guides on breathing for better digestion and the Midlife Core Reset program that blends posture, core strength, movement, and daily habits into a manageable process.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Bloating Beyond Diet
• 1:04 Hydration and Electrolyte Balance
• 5:37 Posture and Alignment for Digestion
• 9:24 Movement for Digestive Health
• 11:23 Solutions and Program Recommendations

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Welcome back to Moving Through Midlife. Today we're talking about something so many of us deal with and that is bloating. And if you have been dealing with bloating, you probably have tried changing what you eat. I mean, many times I'll hear stop eating dairy, stop eating wheat, stop eating fibrous vegetables and beans and things like that. They're leading to your bloat. But here's the thing it's not always about what we eat. In fact, there are some surprisingly simple things you might be overlooking that could make a big difference in how your belly feels without you feeling like you're restricting even more in your diet.

Speaker 1: 0:55

So today we are diving into three reasons you might still be bloated and what you can do about it, starting now. The first one has to do with hydration. Now I know you've been told you need to make sure that you're drinking water. Here's the thing. There's a couple of things when it comes to water and I know if you've listened to me and my podcast over the years, you've probably heard me preach certain things with water and unfortunately, or fortunately as time goes on, we tend to learn more and things change, information changes, and this is one area that I have noticed a change, and it may be because, as a midlife woman and it may be because, as a midlife woman, I'm not moving quite as much as I used to, so therefore I may not need as much water as I used to. The other thing is is I don't spend as much time outside as I used to. You know, when you have little kids you tend to spend more time running around outside, playing, going to parks and things like that, so you may not need quite as much water as you used to. I have noticed for myself about 60, that eight glasses, eight ounces a day works really nicely. If I drink about 64 ounces a day, I feel really good. My answer always to you is test it out on yourself, see what feels right.

Speaker 1: 2:31

Make sure that you have electrolytes. So we want to make sure that you are not just drinking too much fluids, because if your electrolyte balance is off, so that's your sodium, potassium, magnesium which can happen. If you're doing all of your consumption of fluid intake through water rather than like fruits and vegetables, if your electrolyte balance is off, your body may hold onto water, especially around the abdomen. So we want to make sure that we have the electrolyte balance and this is one of those things where you're making sure that you squirt like lemon juice I always do like a lemon, grapefruit or orange. Just squeeze a little bit of that into a glass and a little bit of sea salt. I like Redmond's real salt. That would be my recommendation. So that is what you can do to help ensure that your electrolytes are not off.

Speaker 1: 3:45

When we think about this, the other thing that we want to think about is making sure that we're sipping consistently throughout the day, because if not, your digestion will slow down right. So the less water in your system, in your body, the slower your digestion will be. So just, it doesn't mean chugging water. It just means drinking a little bit throughout the day. When you feel thirsty, just have a little bit of water. Sometimes, even if you feel hungry and you're like, well, I just ate like two hours ago, I shouldn't be feeling hungry. That's kind of like a key sign to drink some water. We tend to not understand our body signals and a lot of times when you feel hungry, it is actually a thirst signal. Note, you know, it's a key to yourself that you're thirsty. So first drink some water to see if that helps. The other thing is is we don't want to be drinking a big glass right before or during a meal, because this is going to dilute stomach acid and make digestion less efficient. One thing that you can do is try to sip water throughout the day small amounts, consistently Room temperature water is the easiest for your body to absorb and it helps to keep things moving throughout your system and then pair it with mindful pauses during your day. It's an easy habit that supports digestion in a way most people overlook. That supports digestion in a way most people overlook. And this whole mindful pause throughout the day is one thing that I am really trying to take into account more. Because we rush so much, it's nice to just calm down, take a deep breath and then grab a little bit of water.

Speaker 1: 5:37

So the next one is your posture and alignment. This is one that you will always hear me talk about, because it is imperative to so much more than the way you look. So think about how often we're hunched over our phones or slouching at our desks. That compression can actually slow digestion because it puts pressure on the organs in your belly, so our fascia, which is the connective tissue that surrounds the muscles and organs I believe I have a whole episode on fascia in this podcast, but that is very sensitive to posture as well. That is very sensitive to posture as well. When your fascia is tight or pulled, it can contribute to that bloated, uncomfortable feeling. So you want to make sure that you are one drinking water, because your fascia should glide along your muscles and water helps keep that fascial system moving and gliding.

Speaker 1: 6:44

But then also paying attention to your posture throughout the day, making sure that you're not in that rounded forward posture where you're compressing down on your organs. A simple check-in for you is think about this is one that I always recommend. I feel like this helps me a lot and it makes sure that you're not like pulling your shoulders back, because when you pull your shoulders back, you can create a different change within the shoulder blade. But what we're going to do instead sorry, I seem to go down these rabbit holes what we're going to do instead is I want you just to imagine someone pulling a string from the crown of your head. So the crown of your head is slightly back in the back, where if you were to do a high ponytail on your head, that's exactly where it would be. So you want to imagine someone pulling a string from that area and just lengthening you up to help you sit really tall. Your shoulders should feel relaxed. You're going to want to take a few deep breaths. These small adjustments throughout the day can make a difference.

Speaker 1: 7:53

And if you're honestly, if you're struggling with your posture and alignment, jump over into movingthroughmidlifecom. You will see. I have the midlife core reset. I just updated it to include central nervous system stuff as well. So it's all about calming your body down. But this is going to help with posture and alignment and it won't be overwhelming. But if you start to work on this, this will start to. So once you start working on your posture and alignment, you are naturally starting to work your core. Our core is not meant to do 500 crunches a day. Just think about like in your day-to-day life, are you laying on the bed and crunching up? No, you're standing up, you're moving around. So we want to work on functional movements that help build core strength, and a lot of it is just standing, balancing, sometimes lifting heavy things, but not always but just learning how to use those deep core muscles to help you sit tall, sit tall, stand tall and move in better alignment. Okay, yes, we're still talking about bloating. I know it seems like we're not, but it does affect all the intestinal organs, the bladder, the colon all of that is affected due to our posture. And then the last one is movement and core engagement. So movement always does not mean intense workouts. I know people cringe when I say movement, but movement, please understand that.

Speaker 1: 9:37

My goal is to help you move more throughout the day. My goal is not to help you exercise, okay, I want to help you find ways to move more throughout the day. These little nudges that you feel in everyday life, that are kind of like I'm feeling uncomfortable, are your opportunities to listen to what your body needs and move into a different position. So these gentle, intentional movements can help stimulate digestion and get things moving in your belly. You can do the short walks after meals, but you can even do a few twists or stretches in your seat if you've sat down to go back to work or something. These twists and stretches can help get the almost like the massaging of the intestines by creating these little movements, and it will also help you to engage your core during daily activities. These things can make a big impact to how your belly feels throughout the day. So think about if you are moving like the stretching that I mentioned. Every time you stretch or you sit up tall, how that creates like this dynamic movement within that midsection. We want to think about these movements in a way that are massaging your abdomen and your intestines, and all of these things are going to help keep all of those, keep everything, moving through your system.

Speaker 1: 11:16

When you focus on weaving these things together, these three things together the movement, the posture and the hydration you'll likely notice a big shift in bloating and overall comfort. There is also breathing, which also aids in digestion as well, which I actually have a free guide. If you're interested, just go to movingthroughmidlifecom. You're going to click on freebies and it's going to be there. I'll put that in there. I'm not going to go into detail, because I do have I believe I have a whole podcast on that as well Breathing for Better Digestion. So you can grab that or you can grab the free guide. Either way, both of those will provide you some information about how that can also affect your bloating.

Speaker 1: 12:08

So, to recap, bloating is not always about the food you eat. Yes, sometimes it is, but if you've tried all of that stuff and you still are dealing with bloating, gassiness, all of that stuff and you still are dealing with bloating, gassiness, all the rest. Pay attention to your hydration, check your posture and make sure you are moving intentionally throughout the day. These three tools. They're simple but when done consistently they will, I promise you, make a difference.

Speaker 1: 12:37

If you are looking for a more structured way to put all of these types of things into practice, I do want to remind you that I do have the Midlife Core Recept program that's going to take you through eight phases that blend posture, core strength, movement and daily habits all into a manageable step-by-step process. Let me know if you have any questions. You can join me over in my Moving Through Midlife community over on Facebook. Again, everything is at my website. If you go to the website, click on podcast, you'll get to the community. You can see the freebies, you can see the programs. All of that is there and just make sure to practice these three things and let me know in the community if this tends to make a difference for that bloat.