What causes bloating?

When your digestive system has difficulty breaking something down, it has ways to address the problem. Your digestive system may bring water into your intestinal tract to help move things along and move indigestible foods to the large intestine to ferment. The fermentation process produces excess gasses like methane and hydrogen as a byproduct of fermentation. For some, this can cause uncomfortable symptoms like bloating, gas, and disturbances in the regularity of your stool. This is particularly true if the rise in gases happens very quickly or if they build up over time.

A class of foods that may be difficult to break down for some people are FODMAPs. This acronym represents dietary components that are more likely to be fermented in the large intestine by gut bacteria rather than broken down in the small intestine like all other foods. Not everyone has sensitivities to FODMAPs, usually only those afflicted with a dysregulated gut microbiome.

What kinds of foods are FODMAPs?

– Fruits with more fruit sugars (fructose), like apples, mangos, peaches, and watermelon

– Vegetables with complex sugar chains (fructans), like asparagus, mushrooms, and onions

– Bread products with fructans, like wheat, pasta, cereals, and biscuits

– Dairy products with dairy sugars (lactose), like milk, ice cream, and yogurt

– Sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup, honey, and other “sugar-free” alternatives (sorbitol).

Is excessive exercise contributing to your gut problems?

Resistance training and moderate-intensity exercise, when performed fully hydrated and fed, help significantly with adverse gastrointestinal symptoms.

Endurance training, however, working at 60% or more of max effort for a duration of 2 hours or more, is not recommended. Gastrointestinal issues are actually very common in athletes, affecting 30-50% of endurance runners, and that’s without a preexisting gut sensitivity.

Exercise of long duration and high intensity causes the release of cortisol (your stress hormone) and epinephrine (adrenaline), which diverts blood and oxygen away from the gastrointestinal tract, decreasing its function. These negative effects can be reduced with proper pre- and post-workout nutrition strategies.

What can I eat before working out to prevent bloating?

Since many high-FODMAP foods are carbohydrates, it can be difficult to eat the recommended amount of carbs to provide your muscles with ample glucose (energy) to maintain proper function while exercising. Exercise without proper fuel has the potential to increase inflammation because the surface cells inside of your digestive tract require a lot of energy. Some low FODMAP simple carbohydrates to eat before working out are;

– Cantaloupe
– Citrus fruits
– Berries
– Pineapple
– Grapes

Water is a driver of movement through your digestive system. One way to prevent post-workout constipation is to be fully hydrated before you get your sweat on. Stay hydrated during your workout, but don’t drink water too fast. Though chugging your water may feel good when you’re thirsty and out of breath, it leads to more swallowed air, contributing to bloating and abdominal discomfort.

What foods should I avoid before working out?

– Dietary fiber from vegetables or beans
– High fat foods: Saturated fat in particular is linked to the overgrowth of damaging microbes

Making sure you are fueled and ready to go before exercise will give you the best performance. But for bloating, limiting your large meals to at least 2 hours before exercising is ideal. If you want some quick pre-workout food, your best bet is a low FODMAP carbohydrate (as mentioned above) and some water.

Post-workout nutrition

Proteins are an essential component of muscle repair. They’re broken down into amino acids and used as building blocks for repairing and growing muscle. For a gut-friendly approach, ensuring proper dietary fiber intake and reaching for proteins with lower FODMAPs like eggs, tofu, or whey/casein powder (avoid soy/pea protein).

Again, don’t forget about that hydration factor post-workout, as well as before and during exercise.

Other helpful interventions

A single dose of probiotics may have temporary positive effects for gut permeability, inflammation, and other digestive issues, but regular consumption has been shown to be superior for improvements in bacterial community composition, lessening gut inflammation and improving nutrient absorption.

Antioxidants and vitamins are good for your immune system, which is often compromised if you’re experiencing gut issues. Antioxidants such as vitamin E, C, and selenium support a diverse and functional community of bacteria. They also reduce oxidative stress, a process that has the potential to disrupt your intestinal barrier.

What effect does exercise have on bloating in the long term?

Acute bouts of exercise on an untrained body can stimulate a stress response, but slowly ramping up your athletic activity over time does may be a better option. Consistency leads to adaptation. So, though your first few workout sessions might not feel the best, it is significantly better for your long-term health to be active, just take it slow.

How can I tell if my body is adapting well?

There are ways to measure how well you’re digesting the different foods that you eat before and after working out. When eat a food, anything that isn’t digested, our gut microbes will digest it instead, producing gas. This gas travels to our lungs via the blood. This means, by measuring this gas with a digestive breath tester, you can monitor how well your body is digesting foods.

Armed with this information, you can proceed slowly through an adaptation protocol without experiencing negative effects. Most digestive breath testers are costly and only available to healthcare providers, but there is now a device available called the FoodMarble AIRE 2 that comes with a dedicated tracking app. This is a great option for evaluating your progress toward becoming symptom-free.