Anti Bloating Meal Plan

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Post-Workout Bloating – Precautions and Meal Plans

In the health-conscious era of today, working out in gyms is a major fad. Different people have different health goals, and therefore each person’s workout is different from the other. Some people exercise to gain muscles, while others want to lose weight. Some are into athletics, while some are just fitness and health freaks. But a common experience to everyone after their respective workout is the problem of bloating. Are you too an athlete and want to know what to eat post-workout? The athlete’s diet plan from our dieticians at VMeals is the best option.

Bloating is the condition when lots of air and gas gets accumulated in the digestive tract. It makes a person feel full, gives a tight or swollen abdomen. Bloating occurs mainly due to swallowing large quantities of air while eating, drinking, smoking, chewing gums, or exercising. In addition, abdominal pain, flatulence, burping, and abdominal roars happen when you are bloated. Bloating hinders work and other social and recreational activities.

Amongst all other reasons, swallowing air while eating and drinking can be reduced by keeping in mind the following:

Eat and drink slowly.
Take the time to swallow food.
Swallow with a relaxed body and mind, and not in stress.
Avoid carbonated soft drinks as they contain carbon dioxide gas.
Avoid sucking drinks from straw or chewing hard candies or gums.
Reduce smoking.
If you wear dentures, then check their position, as poorly fit dentures allow more air to pass while eating or drinking.
Avoid eating different gas-producing foods together. Eat one per meal.
Have lactose-free dairy products if you’re lactose intolerant.
Consume fewer fatty foods that take more time to digest and thus ferment and produce gas.
Cut on high-fibre foods occasionally, as they are gas-producing.

Our health experts at VMeals offer customized wellness diet plans for your unique body needs if you want suggestions on your diet.

Bloating is often confused with water retention. Bloating happens when lots of solid, liquid, and gas fills in your digestive tract. On the other hand, water retention occurs when your intake of sugars and salts is excessive. People with bloating have sensitive abdominal health. It is due to dietary patterns and sometimes due to medical conditions too.

So here are a few ways why we feel bloated and how to reduce it after exercising:

1. Don’t binge-eat

Binge-eating is one of the reasons to feel bloated. Exercising on a full stomach disorients the body, and then it starts focusing more on the muscles rather than on digestion. Hence, food will take lots of time to digest. This will make you puffy after your session. So, always maintain a gap of at least two hours between your meals and your workouts.

2. Eliminate food allergies and intolerances

Certain food allergies and intolerances are also responsible for bloating. Lactose and fructose intolerance, egg, and gluten/wheat allergy, etc., all constitute bloating issues. For people with such intolerances, VMeals offers a dairy and gluten-free diet plan at affordable rates.

3. Avoid swallowing too much air

We heavily breathe and inhale more oxygen than required during a workout. In the process, some of this oxygen passes through the esophagus and goes down to our stomach, intestine and ends up in the colons, making us feel overblown. This generally happens during running. On top of that, consuming carbonated drinks like soda or cold fizz too produces gas and carbon dioxide in the stomach. Other reasons include swallowing gas, are talking while eating, and eating in a hurry.

4. Overhydration

Drinking lots of water during and after a workout fills up the tummy with excessive quantities of water and dilutes the sodium. Sweating, on the other hand, reduces the water balance, and we again drink water. Thus, the body cells fill with large amounts of water, making us feel bloated.

5. Dehydration

Bloating is the water retention of the body to the lack of water. Thus, keeping the water level optimal is very important to reduce bloating and its ill effects. The optimal hydration level before the workout reduces the chances of bloating later.

6. Heat

Heat is another reason for bloating. Working out in hot indoors without proper ventilation or wearing tight unbreathable gym clothes creates heat and sweating. Thus, heat causes the release of sodium and water in the body, which leads to water retention and bloating.

7. Inflammation

Exercises cause wear and tear of the muscles and tissues. Therefore, the body repairs itself by sending fluids to them. These sometimes lead to excess fluids in the body that causes bloating.

8. Still adapting to new activities

If you start exercising after a long gap or change your workout regime or style, it leads to the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which impacts the fluid levels in the body, leaving you bloated. It goes away once the body adapts to the new workout regime. If your workout goals have transformed from losing weight to gaining muscles, try our muscle gain meal plan, and eat the right body-building foods for your muscle growth.

9. Avoid gas-producing foods

Many foods like certain vegetables, legumes, and beans are gas-producing. Fibre-rich and protein-rich foods that help us stay fuller longer are recipes for disaster if taken before a workout. Keeping a diet journal will help in knowing which foods produce more gas and bloating in your body.

10. Try a Low-FODMAP diet

FODMAP’s are indigestible carbohydrates. These include wheat, onions, garlic, cabbage, cauliflower, artichokes, beans, apples, pears, and watermelon. FODMAPs are one of the biggest reasons for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Patients with IBS complain of bloating, constipation, diarrhea, stomach pain, and discomfort. So, if you are suffering from either of these diseases, then remember to avoid them as pre or post-workout food items.

11. Be aware of sugar alcohols

Sugar alcohols are present in sugar-free foods and chewing gums that give a sweet taste. They are a good substitute for sugar but produce lots of gas when digested by the large intestines. Sugar alcohols are also among FODMAP foods.

12. Take digestive enzyme supplements

The intake of supplements to reduce bloating is a quick and easy solution. For instance, lactase is an enzyme that breaks down lactose and is helpful for people who are lactose intolerant. Moreover, beano is a supplement that contains the enzyme alpha-galactosidase, which breaks down FODMAPs from many foods.

13. Taking Probiotics

Having probiotics on an empty stomach is widely known to strengthen gut health and boost immunity. Our digestive tract has many gas-producing bacteria that are a reason for bloating most of the time. So, having probiotics reduce the amount of gas production by those bacteria and helps relieve the pains and discomfort. Probiotics take time to work, and their pace depends on your body’s framework.

14. Peppermint Oil

Peppermint oil is known to reduce bloating. Sometimes, bloating is also caused by changes in the muscle function of the intestines due to your exercise. This peppermint oil is an easy natural remedy that improves the health of patients suffering from bloating.

15. See a doctor if the problem gets serious

If the bloating persists even after making simple dietary adjustments and following your gym instructions, consulting a doctor is the only wise solution.

A general feeling after an intensive workout session is experiencing bloated or puffy. Hence, the above-mentioned reasons are responsible for one to feel bloated after an exercise, and the following are some anti-bloat meal options that we offer to our clients.