Simple Ways to Stop Bloating

You know the feeling: tight, full, and uncomfortable in your midsection. It begs you to loosen your belt a couple of notches or change into a comfy pair of stretchy sweatpants, and not because you ate too much. Your distended belly is the result of something amiss in your gastrointestinal (GI) tract, or so you suspect.

It could just be air swallowed while eating, drinking (especially carbonated beverages), chewing gum, smoking, sucking on hard candy, or wearing ill-fitting dental appliances (retainers, dentures, etc.). Or it might be thanks to undigested food passing into the large intestine, where friendly bacteria break it down, releasing gas in the process. The top gas producers in the diet: soluble fiber, artificial sweeteners, and certain sugars found in fruit, vegetables, legumes, and dairy products.

But you don't have to live with it. Keeping the sweatpants away may be as simple as making these minor modifications in what you eat -- and even easier, in how you eat and what you swallow:

• Eat smaller meals more frequently throughout the day.
• Chew food thoroughly to aid digestion.
• Sit up straight while eating.
• Avoid drinking carbonated beverages.
• Avoid high-fat meals; they slow digestion. As a result, food lingers longer in the colon and intestinal bacteria produce more gas.
• Remove any foods you think make you produce more gas than a Saudi oil field.
• Add a daily probiotic supplement to help reduce gas.
• Exercise every day to help maintain healthy bowel function.