Bloating After Eating: Causes And Solutions For Digestive Discomfort

Last Updated: 27th September 2024 · Written by Donna Mastriani

Bloating occurs when your belly feels full, uncomfortable, and sometimes even painful. You’ll feel tightness and pressure in your gut when you’re bloated. Sometimes this can be accompanied by a visibly distended belly. Some people experience stomach bloating after eating very little, and it must be managed if it’s a regular problem.

The feeling of bloating can range from mildly uncomfortable to intensely painful. Usually, a bloated stomach goes away after a short while. Most people experience bloating from time to time. However, when you experience it often, there’s something wrong with your health or diet, and you may need help.

Bloating can result from digestive issues and hormone fluctuations, among other issues. If bloating is a common issue, it’s essential to seek your doctor’s advice. Sometimes one gets very tired after eating, especially if they’ve overeaten.

Why am I bloated after every meal?

The leading cause of stomach pain and bloating is often excessive intestinal gas. If every time you eat, you experience bloating; it could be due to digestive issues. Digestive issues can be caused by underlying illnesses or reactions to the food you’re eating. Other causes of bloating include:

Eating too much fibre

Fibre is present in all plant-based foods and is a carbohydrate that the body can’t digest. However, it helps regulate blood sugar, add bulk to stool, and manage appetite. The drawback is that high-fibre foods can cause some people to produce excessive gas. According to studies, reducing fibre consumption in those suffering from constipation can reduce bloating.

High-fibre foods include beans, lentils, whole-grain oats, fruits, split peas, brussel sprouts, and broccoli.

Food intolerances

When you have a food intolerance, it means that you lack enough enzymes to break down that specific food. Usually, when food reaches the small intestines, enzymes are released to break it down into molecules which can quickly go past the digestive walls into the bloodstream.

When you have a food intolerance, food isn’t broken down in the small intestines due to a lack of specific enzymes or other reasons, and this often leads to this food being pushed down into the large intestines. When in the large intestines, it needs a lot of water to pass it along. The large intestines contain gut bacteria that ferment that food causing gas.

Since the food also extracts a lot of water from the colon, the combination of water and gas in the belly often causes bloating and sometimes pain. An Intolerance Test can help you know which food intolerances you’re suffering from so you can eliminate the trigger food from your diet.

Carbonated drinks

Such drinks contain carbon dioxide. Usually, when you drink a carbonated beverage, you belch to get it out of your body. However, you can’t get all of it out, and if it ends up in your intestines, it causes bloating. If you notice you get bloated after taking fizzy drinks, you must avoid them and only take still water and other non-fizzy drinks.

High-fat foods

Any balanced diet requires you to indulge in healthy fats as they’re an essential energy source. Usually, the body digests fat slowly. Hence it takes longer for fats to get through the digestive tract. This can delay your stomach from emptying, and in some people, it results in bloating.

People whose gastrointestinal tract takes long to empty need to avoid high-fat foods. Studies show that for people with stomach emptying problems, high-fat solid foods aren’t the solution. However, cutting down on such meals prevents bloating.

Heartburn

Heartburn results from the stomach acid travelling back up the throat. When this happens, it can cause uncomfortable burning sensations. It’s common for heartburn to cause bloating. When you treat heartburn, it can help reduce bloating for some people. It will also prevent you from suffering from those uncomfortable sensations when acid goes up the throat.

When suffering from heartburn, you can use over-the-counter antacids to treat heartburn. Antacids can treat heartburn, and if heartburn causes bloating, you’ll kill two birds with one stone.

Eating fast and chewing gum

When you drink or eat quickly, it increases the amount of gas you consume. When gas accumulates in your intestinal tract, it causes bloating. However, if you eat slowly or mindfully, you won’t have excess gas in your gut.

Chewing gum can also cause gas to accumulate in the intestinal tract. When chewing gum, you’ll often also swallow lots of air. This gas can build up in the gastrointestinal tract, which can cause bloating in some people.

How to get rid of bloating after eating

If the bloating you’re experiencing is due to something you ate or drank or hormonal fluctuations, it should begin within a few hours or days. Constipation usually doesn’t go away until you poop. So, there are ways you can help harden the process to relieve your body.

These include:

• Exercise: A light exercise after meals, like gentle yoga, can relieve your stomach of gas, especially if you’ve been consuming fast food or had many carbonated drinks. Also, regularly doing strengthening exercises, especially for the core, can help combat bloating.
• Herbal teas: Teas such as peppermint, ginger, fennel, turmeric, and chamomile help digestion and also reduce gas in the belly. If you have water retention, dandelion tea can help you relieve that too.
• Supplements: You can also consume a supplement like magnesium which relaxes intestinal muscles and neutralises stomach acid. It’s also a natural laxative, and you should use it sparingly.
• Peppermint oil: You can take them in the form of capsules. Peppermint oil naturally relaxes your stomach muscles, which helps you pass poop easily, especially if you’ve been suffering from motility issues.
• Probiotics: These help balance the gut bacteria. While some probiotics can help you digest food better, others can help absorb excess gas. For you to notice a difference, you need to take probiotics frequently for a few days or weeks.
• Psyllium husks: This popular fibre supplement can help you poo more often. When introducing fibre supplements, do so gradually with lots of water.

Final thoughts

Bloating is quite common, but when it’s persistent, you should be more attentive since there could be an underlying problem. Food sensitivities, hormonal imbalance and lifestyle factors often contribute to bloating. Managing these factors and taking an Intolerance Test can push you one step closer to realising the root cause of your bloating and combating it.

If you get persistent bloating that won’t go away after a week and after all the remedies, then you need to talk to a specialist so they can help you figure out what the problem could be. It can quickly get exhausting dealing with bloating after eating, but with some lifestyle changes, you can manage it.