Beat belly bloat

5/26/10 Posted in Cover Story Lisa Marie Meltzer  |  0 Comments

It’s just a few days off from your class reunion. You decide to try on your new, sexy, little black dress that will have the former head cheerleader jealous. After slipping it on  you notice a little something protruding from your middle. It looked great in the fitting room but now you’ve got a paunch! Don’t cancel your reservations just yet. Your body can be retaining fluids for a myriad of reasons. We’ll look at the less serious ones and help you deflate the bloat before your big night. If you do notice persistent bloating, consult your doctor.

Toss the Salt
Water molecules are attracted to sodium so you’ll retain fluids if you consume too much. The National Academy of Sciences’ Institute recommends1,500 mg to 2,400 mg of sodium per day for healthy adults. Aim to stay on the lower side. Though you may not reach for the salt shaker, sodium looms in other places. Condiments, pickles, salad dressings, meat pizza, processed cheese, macaroni and cheese mixes, hot dogs, soy sauce, spaghetti sauce, frozen dinners and white bread are a few that top the list. Taste isn’t a reliable tool to determine if a food is high in salt. For instance, a plain bagel can contain around 450 mg. of salt. Decoding what salt really is on a food label isn’t always easy. The following are your code words to determine if salt or sodium-containing compounds are in your foods:
Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
Baking soda
Baking powder
Disodium phosphate
Sodium alginate
Sodium nitrate or nitrite

Skip the Soda and Booze
Any drinks that contain carbon dioxide will create bubbles in the tummy and may result in belly pooch. Pass on the cocktail hour until your party. The sugar alcohol’s content in booze can add instant bloat too.

Keep Your Trap Shut
Mom was right. Don’t chew with your mouth open. Besides being gross, it causes you to swallow excess air that can get trapped in the GI tract and cause pressure, bloating and belly expansion. Any habits like chewing gum, eating hard candy, drinking through a straw or smoking can cause the pooch.

Natural Gas
We’ve heard it a gajillion times…eat your veggies! But some of the veggies contain sugars that are difficult to digest which results in gas. One of the more familiar “tooting” veggies; beans, contain oligosaccharide, a sugar not normally digestible by our bodies. When it reaches the large intestine, the bacteria go to town and start eating it up and gas is the unwanted by-product. Other gassy offenders include cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, onions, peppers and citrus fruits. Don’t permanently pass up on these nutritional fruits and veggies but if you’re looking to loose your temporary pooch limit them before the big event.

Frenemy Foods
Some foods are great for you caloric bottom line but an enemy for your belly. A lot of sugar-free candy, cookies, gum, ice cream, energy bars or anything labeled, “sugar-free” can contain sugar alcohols such as sorbitol, xylitol, and maltitol. They taste like sugar but are actually considered a carbohydrate as they have a chemical structure that resembles sugar and alcohol. The problem with these tasty, lower calories treats is they aren’t completely absorbed in your body and can ferment in your intestines causing bloating, gas or diarrhea.

Bloat Busters
Now that we know what can cause belly bloat, let’s see what foods can help reduce it.
Asparagus helps release excess fluid from the body.
Celery, which is 70% water helps flush out excess water.
Bananas and Cantaloupe are high in potassium and help regulate fluid balance in your body which can counteract bloating.
Parsley is a mild diuretic. Add it to salads or steamed veggies.

For Those Other Times of the Month
If you tend to swell up before or even during that time of the month, it’s not just in your head. An increase in progesterone, estrogen and prostaglandins can slow digestion and cause water retention. Make sure you are getting enough calcium (1,200 mg a day) and magnesium (200-400 mg daily) in your diet. Dandelion, peppermint capsules, taurine and Ginkgo biloba are other options that can all help with monthly bloat.

Keep drinking plenty of water and get moving! Exercise will help move things along and give you the body confidence to shine in that little black dress!

written by Lisa Marie Metzler