Transcript
Hi everyone and welcome to The Ask Doctor Cris Show. The next episode is about bloating and what causes bloating. It is really common about 1 in 5 women and about 1 in 6 men will struggle with bloating symptoms throughout their life on a consistent basis, and often we label those individuals with having irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). IBS really is a clustered disease or syndrome where we are not actually sure what is causing the symptoms but we just know that stress will worsen it and certain foods will worsen it.
It will become worse for some women throughout their cycle and it can come and go throughout your life. Unfortunately often times we cannot pin point the exactly what has caused it for you. Whether the trigger has been hormonal, or stress, or a change in your diet or lifestyle we just don’t know. Sometimes it is about food intolerance and that you are reacting to something that you are consistently eating. It is hard to diagnosed food intolerance on a blood test or other testing because often they are missed and the testing is not 100% accurate.
Often times you have to do an elimination diet. You have to try and identify exactly what has caused your symptoms. The FODMAP diet has been touted as the best for IBS and that is about removing some of those fermentable short change carbohydrates from your diet whether it be things like apples, pears, onion, garlic they are the big ones. Things like lactose or wheat, other big FODMAP substances that can cause irritable bowel syndrome symptoms. So have a look FODMAP diet if you are struggling with lots of bloating and just discomfort. Others say it is an imbalance of good and bad bacteria in your gut and the bad have been allowed to overgrow. Certainly we believe that may be the case but unfortunately the understating of that it is infancy and the treatment therefore is also in its infancy. I think though for some people a probiotic may be a great solution and can relieve symptoms, and that may help to top up those good bacteria levels.
So it is something that is worth trailing and they can be purchased from a health food store or your local chemist. If you are struggling with IBS or bloating symptoms do go speak to your local doctor and do start doing some investigation on some of the possible food triggers that may be setting off your symptoms. So thanks you for your question and if you have any further questions please ask them below.
#healthyhabits #healthyliver
Dr Cris
Holistic Medical Doctor, Author ‘Healthy Habits, 52 Ways to Better Health‘ and Healthy Liver
