Bloating after eating during menopause

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Today's topic

Hello, and welcome to my weekly video blog. And today on A.Vogel Talks Menopause, I'm going to be talking about bloating after eating. This is such a common menopause symptom, and it's a very uncomfortable one, both in terms of just feeling bloated and very uncomfortable, but it can be uncomfortable with our clothes.  

It can affect the way we see ourselves as well. A lot of women contact me and say "Oh, you know, I look really awful. My tummy's getting bigger and bigger." So it can give us a big dent to our confidence, as well as just feeling very physically uncomfortable.

Hormonal changes & bloating

Now, what can cause this? Main culprit at this particular time is falling oestrogen, and what that does is it slows our digestive process down, so it can take longer for the food to leave the stomach.  

So for a lot of women they're getting indigestion, they're getting gastric reflux as part of the problem. But it slows our transit time down, and that's the time between eating and then emptying your bowels when you go to the toilet. For the majority of people, a healthy time limit for this is maybe 24-36 hours, but a lot of women find that going through the menopause, it's taking maybe two or three days.  

And in that process, if everything is slowing down, the food waste, if you like, starts to ferment in the digestive tract, and that's what causes the bloating. And a lot of women find that as well as the bloating, they get an awful lot more wind as well, and that can be very embarrassing if you happen to pass wind in public, so not a nice situation to be in. 

There are other things that can be a factor as well.

Other things that can cause bloating after eating

A high-carb diet

Falling oestrogen can affect the way that we digest our carbs, so if you tend to have a high-carb diet, with lots of food such as bread, pasta, white rice, those kind of foods, they can take a lot longer to digest as well, and that can cause bloating, too. 

So it could be a combination of both of these situations that are causing the bloating after you're eating.

Eating too much

It can also be the fact that we just eat too much, you know, I think, sometimes, our natural sort of instinct for eating the right amount of food tends to go out the window, and we eat more than what we really need.  

That can cause bloating as well. It can put extra stress and pressure on our digestive tract.

Eating too fast

It could be that we're eating too fast, and this, I'm sure most of us are guilty of. We're busy, you know, you might not have a lot of time at work to have your lunch. There's lots of things going on, you might be eating on the run which is another really, really bad thing to do.  

I tried it once, and I can't understand how people can do that, because I felt so terribly uncomfortable afterwards, so it's certainly not a nice symptom, that one.

Eating when stressed

It can be stress, and we know that if you are really stressed, if you get into that flight-or-fight mode, which in the menopause you tend to be in quite a lot, that will switch your digestion off, so you could be eating something, and basically, your whole digestive system will grind to a halt.  

Everything in there will start to ferment, and it will start to bubble, and start to produce gas, and that will give you the bloating as well. And a really common scenario for a lot of women, the majority of people tend to empty their bowels first thing in the morning, so, you know, you'll get up, you will put your clothes on and find that your tummy might be reasonably flat.  

But as the day goes on, very often, it will expand, then it will be in the evening especially when you might feel that the bloating's at its worst, and all your clothes seem really, really tight, so this tends to be a sort of common situation here.

Tips to help beat the bloat after meals

Now, what can you do to ease this, if you like? There's a number of things that you can certainly try.  

Eat smaller portions

Eat smaller meals, if you can, or eat little and often. Some women do find that to keep their blood sugar stable, that little and often seems to work better for them, and that can sometimes be better for your digestion, too.

Chew, chew, chew

Chew your food really well. This is a fabulous tip because it makes you eat your meal a lot slower, and that's very important for good digestion.  

If you take each mouthful, chew it maybe 20, 25 times, swallow before you take the next mouthful, and the great thing about that is very often, it takes so long that you get fed up eating, and you don't clear your plate. And that's a great one, too, if you're wanting to just count the calories as well. 

Drink less with meals

Don't drink too much when you eat. Your digestive system is already under pressure because of the menopause itself. If you drink a lot when you eat, you are diluting all your digestive stomach juices, and that can lead to indigestion. So if you must drink when you have something to eat, just maybe a small amount of plain water in a glass, and that's enough.  

Try to get out of the habit of drinking a big cup of coffee or a big cup of tea during or after your meal, because this can be part of the problem. But remember, in between meals, keep up with loads of water.

Bitter herbs before meals

The other thing you can do is to take what's called a bitter. Bitter herbs are herbs that yes, they're very, very bitter, but they help to stimulate your digestion. And you would take them, maybe about 15 minutes before you sit down to eat, maybe something like our Digestisan could be very helpful for you, or you can have a little bitter starter.

Some of the salad leaves, if you look at the packets of salad leaves as you do your shopping, some of them will say bitter. These are the great ones to have, maybe it's just a little starter, leave 10 minutes or so, and then take your main course and very often, that can make a big difference to your whole digestive process.

Food and drinks that can cause bloating

High-salt & high-sugar foods

Watch that you don't eat too many high-salt and sugar foods. These are really bad, these are some of the main culprits for causing the bloating, so your processed foods, high-salt, and high-sugar foods, really try to cut them down and apart from anything, these foods can trigger hot flushes and night sweats, so they really are best avoided if you can manage that.  

Fried foods

Try and stay clear of fried foods. These can be really bad for causing indigestion, but also bloating, and they stress the liver. And for those of you who tend to get a bit of nausea, then things like fried foods can make that even worse.

Beans and pulses

Be careful about foods such as beans and pulses. These are really good for you, but for some women, they can really bloat you up, and I know for me, I just really avoid them like anything because they don't sit easy with me at all.

Foods that contain gluten

Watch your gluten foods, so that's things like bread, and pasta, and biscuits, and cakes. These can be really bloating foods as well.

Gas-producing vegetables

And some vegetables, healthy ones, unfortunately, can for some people cause a little bit of bloating, so that could be things like broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflowers, onions, and leeks, so just be careful of those.  

Fizzy drinks

And the other thing is fizzy drinks, they are going to bloat you, and fizzy water, too, as well. Unfortunately, I know some of you have said that you really like fizzy water, but too much can cause part of the bloating problem as well. Now, what else can you do to help yourself here?

Food tips to help beat the bloat  

Try a low-FODMAP diet

You could try what's called the low FODMAP diet. And this is a diet that's cutting out a lot of the foods that cause the bloating, and some people find this really very, very helpful. All you need to do is Google FODMAP diet, and you will get plenty of information there as well.

Eat pre and probiotic-rich foods

Eat plenty of pre and probiotic foods.  So this can be things like your plain organic live yoghurt, it can be things like Kefir, it can be Kimchi, and we do a nice prebiotic called Molkosan that you can take on a daily basis,and a lot of people find that that can be very useful for easing bloating symptoms.

Take a probiotic daily

You can take a daily probiotic, a company called OptiBac do a whole range of daily, one a day or two a day probiotics, and I know some women have come back and said that they found the probiotics really good for easing all that bloating.

Keep a food diary

And the other thing, one of my favourites is a diary, is to maybe do a food diary and again, be completely honest with what you've been eating, and maybe do one for a couple of weeks, and you might find there's a little theme that runs through them, that certain foods seem to make your bloating worse than others.  

So hopefully this has given you a few tips, you know, let me know how you get on, see if any of them help. The only one thing I would say here, if your bloating has been going on for a long time, if nothing you do eases it, if you get the bloating constantly, that's day in, day out without it easing off, and if you're getting any pain or discomfort with this, then please do go and see your doctor.  

There could be other issues involved and not necessarily your diet or digestion, so it's really important to get that checked out. So hopefully have a lovely week. And I will see you next week for another edition of A.Vogel Talks Menopause.