<aside> <img src="/icons/light-bulb_blue.svg" alt="/icons/light-bulb_blue.svg" width="40px" /> The only way to stop bloating... get to the cause.

When poorly digested foods arrive in the small intestine, they are fed on and fermented by bacteria producing gas, leading to bloating.

That's it.

Once you understand this, you can structure an approach to get to this cause.

Let's lay it out like a math equation:

Poorly digested foods + how long they are available to be fed on + how much bacteria feeds on them = amount of gas produced

Meaning there are 3 key ways to reduce bloating:

1) Ensure foods arrive in your small intestine fully digested (i.e. improve digestive function)

Removing foods that your body struggles to digest for a period of time, as discussed above, can also lead to less poorly digested foods.

2) Ensure that your gut motility is optimal

Gut motility refers to how quickly foods pass through your intestines.

Intestinal motility plays a role in or is affected by many gut issues such as IBS, SIBO, constipation (a slow transit time), and diarrhoea (a fast transit time).

It isn't possible to discuss gut motility fully now, so I'll cover it next week.

3) Reduce the amount of bacteria feeding on them

We discussed this fully in How to Remove Less Beneficial Gut Bacteria.

Control these variables, and you control the "amount of gas produced" side of the equation, i.e. bloating.

</aside>