Everyone knows the heavy, uncomfortable feeling of being bloated. In fact, it has become so common that many people consider it a regular everyday occurrence and just part of their normal digestion process. However, the truth is that bloating, gassiness, and abdominal discomfort, are not “normal” whatsoever, rather they are a sign of digestive distress. While reasons for digestive upset can vary from person to person based on diet, lifestyle, stress, or environmental factors, and although it can seem difficult to identify the culprit, it is possible, you just need to know what to look for. So here are six of the most common causes of bloating and what to do about them.

Common Causes of Bloating

1. Not Chewing Enough

The digestive process operates like a chain reaction, working from the top down. Taking the time to chew your food and eat slowly is the first vital step in supporting good digestion and reducing digestive issues further in the process. Although most people think digestion occurs in the stomach, very little digestion occurs in the stomach, as digestion actually begins in the mouth. The action of chewing helps to pre-digest food by mechanically breaking it down, and by chemically breaking it down with the help of an enzyme found in your saliva called salivary amylase. The action of chewing helps to signal to the rest of the body and triggers your stomach to begin producing stomach acid to further break down your food and continue the digestive process. If you don’t fully chew your food, or you eat too quickly, you are essentially putting a big wet log on your digestive fire; you are going to put it out.

Solution: Take the time to fully chew your food when you eat. When you eat, sit down, slow down, and put down your fork between bites. The more mindful you can be when you eat, the more it will support digestion and reduce potential bloating.

2. Low Stomach Acid

Low stomach acid, also known as hypochlorhydria, is a commonly overlooked problem that can lead to digestive issues such as bloating, gas, acid reflux, and heartburn. Although many people assume that these issues are caused by excess acid in the digestive tract, they are actually caused by not enough. Stomach acid is essential for helping us produce the enzymes that break down our food, and low levels of stomach acid can lead to inadequate digestion of proteins, nutrient malabsorption, imbalanced gut flora, and potentially the overgrowth of harmful bacteria, yeast, or parasites in the stomach and small intestine. The production of stomach acid levels will naturally decline as people age, however, they can also be suppressed by a poor diet, consumption of additives and preservatives, stress, smoking, and many other poor lifestyle factors.

Solution: If you suspect you have low stomach acid, consider supporting it by drinking a natural digestive aid such as lemon juice or apple cider vinegar before meals, this will help to stimulate stomach acid and help you break down your food. Alternatively, you can use various supplements to support your digestive fire such as digestive enzymes, digestive bitters, or betaine HCL.

3. Unbalanced Gut Flora

The health of our digestive system is deeply influenced by the bacteria that call our body home. Your microbiome, or our gut flora, is a beneficial colony of one hundred trillion bacterial cells residing in your large intestine which directly impacts our health. However, when the number of beneficial bacteria is outweighed by unfavorable bacteria, be it from low stomach acid, poor diet, or a combination of both, dysbiosis of the microbiome occurs. Unbalanced gut flora is one of the major common causes of bloating, gas, constipation, and inflammation of the digestive tract. One of the easiest and quickest ways to boost the beneficial bacteria in your gut, is to eat probiotic-rich food, most often made via fermentation. Fermentation not only helps to increase beneficial bacteria but can help to remove anti-nutrients, ensuring that food is more easily digested.

Solution: Fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, pickled vegetables, tempeh, miso, kombucha, and cultured dairy all contain probiotic bacteria that can help to reduce bloating. Additionally, you can also use probiotic supplements to help rebalance your microbiome.

4. Food Intolerances

Although probiotic-rich foods contain beneficial bacteria that can help to alleviate bloating, it is important to understand that not all foods affect people the same way. Although cultured dairy might be rich in beneficial bacteria, if you do not tolerate dairy well, it will only lead to more bloating and digestive distress. Food intolerances are one of the most common causes of bloating, and one that can easily be avoided if you know what foods negatively affect your digestion. Not every body is created equal and therefore not everyone will react the same way to the same foods. Paying attention to your body’s reactions to foods is the single best way to identify food intolerances. After you eat are you bloated? Gassy? Uncomfortable? The more you can pay attention to how your body reacts to certain foods the easier it will be to identify the foods that are causing your bloating. There are dozens of different foods people can be sensitive to, however, some of the most common include dairy, gluten, eggs, peanuts, soy, and shellfish.

Solution: If you suspect that you might be sensitive to a certain food the easiest thing to do is to remove it entirely from your diet until you see improvement and reintroduce it to see how your body reacts. You can begin by simply testing foods out at home, or use an elimination diet protocol, however, if you are still not seeing an improvement you can speak to a healthcare practitioner to help identify food intolerances through testing.

5. Artificial Sweeteners

Although artificial sweeteners might seem like a safe bet for someone trying to be diet conscious, they are a very common cause of bloating and digestive upset. Because artificial sweeteners are just that, artificial, many of them are not broken down by the digestive tract. Artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, and sugar alcohols such as xylitol, sorbitol, and mannitol are passed whole into the small intestine which easily ferments in the gut. These types of sweeteners are commonly found in “health” foods such as protein bars, protein shakes, and chewing gums, so it is essential to read labels.

Solution: In order to reduce bloating, it is best to avoid these forms of sweeteners altogether, and simply opt for a limited amount of natural sweeteners from time to time when you need to satisfy your sweet tooth.

6. Lack of Movement

Exercise helps to stimulate the peristalsis, the rhythmical, muscular contraction that propels food through the intestinal tract, which aids in stimulating good digestion. Ideally, bowel movements should occur naturally every 18-24 hours and be easily passed. A slow bowel, much like a sedentary lifestyle, can lead to constipation which is one of the leading common causes of bloating. Adequate movement, be it low or high intensity, along with adequate fiber and hydration can help to stimulate the natural digestive process. Additionally, movement can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and given many digestive issues are impacted by our mental state, movement can help to reduce the impact of our lifestyle and mental health on our digestive system.

Solution: Any form of activity, light or intense, will help to stimulate the digestive process. Something as simple as a light walk after a meal can help to reduce bloating and stimulate digestion.

The Bottom Line

As common and annoying as bloating might be, it doesn’t need to be. There are many common causes of bloating, so identifying what is affecting an individual can take time, as causes can work in conjunction with one another. Be patient and be open to trying different interventions to help determine what is affecting you specifically.

The buy local movement has grown tremendously in recent years and with good reason, the benefits of eating local food are plenty. From nutrition to environmental and community reasons, now more than ever it is important to support your local farmer. Here are 8 benefits of eating local food.

If you follow me on Instagram, follow me on Facebook, or have ever seen me at my local farmer’s market, you know how important shopping and eating local are to me. As a nutritionist, I get a ton of questions on different topics, be it supplements, post-workout snacks, nutrient timing, or the latest fad diet, and although all of this might be informative, when it comes to eating well nothing is more important than the quality of the food we eat. The foundation of any good diet, no matter what the goal is, is determined by the food you eat. Whether you are trying to lose weight, increase energy, train for a marathon, or simply looking to eat a little better, nothing will have more impact on your goal than the quality of the food you consume.

Although I wasn’t always one for shopping local and visiting the farmers market, the more I learned about nutrition and the more I understood how the food I eat impacts my body, the more I truly cared about where it came from and how it got to my plate. Eating whole foods is wonderful, and I will never knock anyone for doing so, but there is a big difference between the apple grown down the street and the orange flown in from across the world. To me, the benefits of eating local food will trump any powder, supplement, or organic ingredient you will ever use, and here are the reasons why.

The Benefits of Eating Local

Here are 8 reasons why eating local benefits you, your health, and your community.

1. Local food is fresher.

Local food is fresher, tastes better, and is likely more nutritious. At a farmer’s market, most local produce has been picked within the last 24 hours, ensuring it is ripe and at its peak nutrient density. In contrast, most supermarket produce was picked days or weeks prior to reaching the grocery store shelf. As soon as a food is harvested its nutrient content begins to deteriorate, specifically vitamins C, E, A, and some B. Of course, produce that has traveled still has nutritional value, but the fresher the fruit or vegetable the more nutrient-dense it will be. So although the apples flown in from Argentina might look great on the grocery store shelf, the ones from the local farm are far fresher and better for you.

2. Supports your seasonal needs.

When you eat locally, you eat with the seasons, and the cycle of seasonal produce is perfectly designed to support your health. If you get back to basics and consider how we ate before the modern grocery store, we simply ate what was available to us at that time of year. Eating seasonally is the most natural way to eat, and one of the most beneficial to our bodies. In the peak of summer, our bodies require cooling foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, and berries to help us handle the elements, while in the dark and cold days of winter we need rich and warming high-fat foods, root vegetables, and fermented foods. Eating seasonally also helps to avoid eating the same thing all year round, which is less than ideal for your health. Our local seasons provide the ideal foods for our body’s natural needs based on our geographic location.

3. Helps you discover new foods.

Eating well can get boring if you stick to the basics; there are only so many times you can eat oatmeal for breakfast and chicken with broccoli for dinner. For instance, how many varieties of tomatoes can you find at your local grocery store? Maybe 3? Local farmers are keeping nearly 300 varieties of tomatoes alive every single year, leaving little room for boredom. How often do you eat garlic scapes, kohlrabi or kabocha squash? Whether you chose to visit your local farmers market or join a CSA, eating seasonally forces you to try to foods and be more creative in the kitchen.

4. Helps you eat mindfully.

It’s easy to scarf down a microwavable meal when you know nothing about where it came from, who produced it, and how it got to your plate. However, when you shop locally you are more connected to the food you eat; knowing who produced it, what farm it came from, and exactly how it got from farm to fork. It’s the same way mom’s homemade tomato sauce evokes a very different feeling and connection than the stuff you grab at the drug store while buying your toothpaste. When it comes to eating mindfully, there are many more components than just what we are eating, the who, where, when, how, and why are just as important, if not more. Shopping and eating locally make you more connected to your food and the impacts it has on your body.

 

If you choose not to personally grow, harvest, or raise your own food, you vote with your dollar every single time you buy your groceries or shop for food.

 

 5. Produces less waste.

Because buying local shortens the distribution chain, forcing food directly from the farm to fork, less waste is produced in the process. Not only does buying local mean less packaging via transportation and shipping, but it also means less environmental waste from pollution and less food waste in the process as well. Buying a CSA from a local farm or shopping at the weekly farmer’s market means next to no food packaging at all, ensuring food was moved directly from a local farm to you, minimizing emissions and food waste in the process.

6. Supports local businesses.

When you buy food in the grocery store most of the cost you incur goes to the transportation, processing, packaging, refrigeration, and marketing of that food, and not necessarily to the farmers themselves. When you buy from a local farmer, farmers market, or local shop you are supporting your local community, and your money goes back into producing more local food for you.

7. Supports sustainable agriculture.

Eating locally encourages the diversification of local agriculture and crop variety. This, in turn, reduces the reliance on monoculture; single crops grown over a wide area to the detriment of soils. The reality is that our food is only as nutrient-dense as the soil in which it is grown; although strawberries are known to contain high levels of vitamin C, these levels are heavily dependent on the quality of the soil in which they are grown, and their level of freshness.

8.  Gives power to the consumer.

People have very strong opinions about the state of our food and agriculture systems, be it positive or negative, but the reality is that as a consumer you have a choice. If you choose not to grow, harvest, and raise your own food, you vote with your dollar every single time you buy food. So, if you buy processed foods or imported foods you are creating more demand for these products. In contrast, if you buy local and demand local foods at your local grocery store, you are creating a very different and important demand. Every time you buy from a local farmer you have an opportunity to ask questions, learn about their farming practices and gain a better understanding of your food.

The Bottom Line

The benefits of eating local food are endless, the greatest being the connection it gives you to your food. It’s scary to think how far removed we have become from our food; many of us eat foods never knowing if they grew from a plant, tree, shrub, or bush. The more you eat locally the more you are able to reconnect with food and recognize the importance of real food and how it impacts your body. By supporting local farmers today, you are ensuring that there will be local farms in your community tomorrow, and that is something that we can all agree is important.

For those days when you are in a pinch and life is just too hectic to meal prep, here are 5 easy and healthy no-cook lunch ideas for work that you can take to the office to help keep your healthy eating on track.

No-Cook Lunch Ideas

Whether you are single, a mother of two, or a broke student trying to make ends meet, lunches seem to be the last thing on everyone’s mind. Of course, there are lots of great meal prep ideas you can do to ensure that you have healthy meals ready for the week, but sometimes life just gets the best of you so the simpler you can keep things the better.

When it comes to packing a healthy lunch, there are a few simple guidelines I like to suggest to ensure that your meal is well-balanced (while still being simple) to help keep you full and focused for a day of work. In order to create a well-balanced meal, the best thing to do is include all three macronutrients; a good source of protein, some healthy fats, and good quality carbohydrates in the form of vegetables and/or fruits. This is easier done when cooking, but it is actually still pretty easily done when you can’t cook at all. There are lots of easy-to-find foods and shortcuts that you can take at the grocery store, or in your own kitchen, to help you save on time while still keeping nutrition in mind. Although I don’t work in an office now, when I did I always kept a few super simple no-cook work lunch ideas in my back pocket so I could just grab and go in the morning, or pack lunch in five minutes when I got home after a long day of work. So here are my top 5 favorite no-cook work lunch ideas for those mornings when you just don’t have the time and need to get out the door.

 

 

No-Cook Lunch Idea #1

Can of Tuna + Leafy Greens + Tomatoes + Avocado

This is such a quick and easy lunch to toss together, and I personally ate this particular lunch all of the time when I was working in an office. The key to this no-cook lunch idea is that you really have to commit to doing as little work as possible, honestly. To make this super quick to put together simply keep a box or bag of pre-washed leafy greens and a pint of cherry tomatoes in the fridge, some avocados on the counter, and a can of tuna in the cupboard. In a big container combine a bunch of leafy greens and a handful of cherry tomatoes, and bring an avocado and a can of tuna to work with you. At the office, you can combine all of the ingredients to make a tasty tuna salad, just be sure to leave a bottle of salad dressing in the office fridge (so you don’t have to carry it back and forth), make sure the office kitchen has a can opener, and lunch will be ready in no time.

 

No-Cook Lunch Idea #2

Hummus + Vegetables + Nut Butter + Apple

Hummus is often considered more of a snack, but in reality, there is no reason why it can’t be used in a healthy lunch; made of chickpeas and tahini, it is loaded with complex carbohydrates, plant-based protein, and healthy fats. Plus there are tons of different flavors available at most grocery stores! To ensure this meal is filling enough, simply increase the serving size of hummus and add lots of sliced vegetables to create a deconstructed salad (if you will), and pair it with nut butter for added fat to help keep you going all afternoon. When it comes to types of nut butter the options are truly endless as you can buy everything from peanut butter to almond butter to pecan butter and combinations of all three and more. Just be sure to choose an all-natural nut butter to ensure that there are no added sugars or refined oils, so you are actually eating butter made of nuts, not sugar butter with some nuts in it.

 

No-Cook Lunch Idea #3

 Hard-Boiled Eggs + Olives + Vegetables + Berries

I know what you are thinking, “Red, you have to cook hard-boiled eggs, so this meal doesn’t count as one of your no-cook lunch ideas”. On the contrary, my friend, almost every grocery store now carries pre-cooked boiled eggs so you don’t even have to do it yourself! They often come in little packs of two and can be found in the cheese or take-out section, so just have a little browse at your local supermarket. Paired with olives, boiled eggs will give you a boost of protein and lots of healthy fats between the two to keep your blood sugar balanced, your mind sharp, and keep cravings at bay for the rest of the afternoon. Plus, the vegetables (buy them pre-cut if you need to) and fruit give you a little source of carbohydrates for a boost of energy, and if you are feeling extra hungry, just add an extra egg or two.

No-Cook Lunch Idea #4

Bean Salad + Vegetables + Cheese + Nuts

In addition to tuna salad, this was also one of my go-to no-cook work lunch ideas when I worked in an office. Canned beans are really easy and inexpensive to find, and although you can buy individually canned beans, it’s also really easy to find canned bean medleys. A lot of these options pair several types of beans together, marinated in a simple dressing with some herbs and spices to give them a little flavor. You can eat them right out of the can if you want, but I prefer to rinse the excess brine off a little bit. Beans serve as a good source of plant-based protein, and when paired with vegetables, cheese and nuts, you have a complete balanced. And packed in these DALCICI Stainless containers, it’s like a little cheese board to go.

 

No-Cook Lunch Idea #5

Deli Meat + Lettuce + Vegetables + Guacamole

Deli meats have a really bad reputation, and although many of them are less than ideal, some types can certainly be used from time to time. If you want to use a deli turkey, chicken, or roast beef, be sure to look for all-natural versions with limited added sodium and added sugar. They are convenient to have on hand for a simple source of protein, and you can eat them on their own or make little deli roll-ups with leaf lettuce and extra veggies. Pair them with a side of guacamole for added healthy fats, which you can buy pre-made in grocery stores or simply mash an avocado yourself, and this example of no-cook lunch ideas has got everything you need for your day ahead.