Join Now | Sign in

Four Ways To Deflate Belly Bl... Health Article

Media Gallery

Videos (6)

	What You Need to Know About Intestinal Gas play video read transcript
	Constipation: Why Does It Happen? play video read transcript
	When Are Bowel Symptoms A Sign Of IBS? play video read transcript
	Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Coping with GI Symptoms play video read transcript
	Bowel Symptoms and Bloating: Could it Be IBS? play video read transcript
	How to Manage Vague Bowel Irregularities of IBS play video read transcript

Marketplace

Article from

Four Ways To Deflate Belly Bloat

Get your jeans buttoned in no time...flat.

Eat one chimichanga, and you're floating away like the Goodyear blimp? It may be antisocial, but women pass two soda cans' worth of gas per day—the by-product of bacteria breaking down food in the large intestine. We also retain water around our periods. To minimize bloating...

RUB YOUR TUMMY. Massaging your abdomen in a circular motion releases gas, says Brian Lacy, M.D., author of Making Sense of IBS (Johns Hopkins University Press). Press three fingers near the right hip; slide toward the ribs, across and down.

HIT THE GYM. Moving the area where your legs and hips meet activates your intestines, relieves constipation and eases gas. Good bets: the StairMaster, elliptical trainer and aerobics.

BE PICKY. Healthy, fiber-rich foods like beans and vegetables can pooch your tummy, so add them to your diet gradually. It may help to use over-the-counter Beano, which contains galactosidase, an enzyme that breaks up gas bubbles and helps move food through, Dr. Lacy says. If milk gives you belly bloat, you may be intolerant of lactose, the main sugar in dairy. Switch to Lactaid milk. It has the digestive enzyme your body lacks.

DRINK H ₂O. Before your period, the progesterone rise may cause water retention, leading to swelling in your stomach, breasts, face, hands and feet. Down six to eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily and go easy on salt to keep water moving through your body. Soon, that early pregnancy look will be history.