The Naturopathic Co.
Persistent bloating, abdominal distension and bloating after eating are some of the most common digestive symptoms we see in our gut health clinic.
You may wake up with a relatively flat stomach but become increasingly bloated throughout the day. Your stomach may feel tight, swollen, gassy or uncomfortable after eating, or you may feel as though almost everything you eat causes bloating.
Occasional bloating after a particularly large meal can be completely normal. However, constant bloating, excessive gas, abdominal distension or bloating after every meal can indicate that something within the digestive system needs closer attention.
There are many possible causes of bloating, including gut microbiome imbalance, gut dysbiosis, constipation, IBS, SIBO, food intolerances, altered fermentation, stress, nervous system dysregulation, hormonal changes and dietary factors.
The goal isn’t simply to find more foods to remove. It’s to understand why you’re bloated in the first place.
What Is Bloating?
Bloating generally describes a feeling of abdominal fullness, pressure, tightness or swelling.
Some people feel extremely bloated without a significant visible change in their abdomen. Others experience obvious abdominal distension, where their stomach physically expands throughout the day.
Common descriptions include:
- Constant bloating
- Bloating after eating
- Bloating after every meal
- Excessive gas and bloating
- A swollen or distended stomach
- Feeling full after small meals
- Abdominal pressure
- Bloating and constipation
- Bloating and diarrhea
- Bloating with IBS
- Feeling flat in the morning and bloated at night
Bloating isn’t a diagnosis. It is a symptom, and identifying the factors contributing to it is an important part of effective gut-health treatment.
1. Gut Microbiome Imbalance and Gut Dysbiosis
One of the areas we consider when someone has persistent digestive symptoms is the gut microbiome.
Your gastrointestinal tract contains trillions of microorganisms, including many different species of bacteria. Collectively, this ecosystem is known as the gut microbiome.
These microorganisms aren’t simply sitting passively inside the bowel. They interact with the foods you eat, particularly dietary fibres and carbohydrates, and produce a wide range of metabolic compounds.
A healthy gut microbiome is a complex ecosystem.
Problems may arise when the balance and function of this ecosystem become disrupted — commonly referred to as gut dysbiosis or microbiome imbalance. This imbalance can also show up as overgrowths such as candida and yeast overgrowth, or as increased intestinal permeability, sometimes called leaky gut.
How Can Gut Dysbiosis Cause Bloating?
One of the important functions of intestinal bacteria is fermentation.
When bacteria ferment certain carbohydrates and fibres, gases are naturally produced.
Some gas production is completely normal.
However, differences in which microorganisms are present, where they’re located, what they’re fermenting and the metabolic products they’re producing may influence how much gas is generated and how the gastrointestinal system responds to it.
In someone experiencing gut dysbiosis, altered fermentation patterns may occur alongside symptoms such as:
- Persistent bloating
- Excessive gas
- Abdominal distension
- Changes in stool
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Food intolerances
- Abdominal discomfort
- IBS-type symptoms
This is one reason two people can eat exactly the same meal and have completely different digestive responses.
One person eats lentils, onion and vegetables without thinking twice.
Another eats the same meal and looks six months pregnant two hours later.
The food itself isn’t necessarily unhealthy.
The difference may partly involve how that person’s digestive system and gut microbiome are processing it.
What Causes Gut Microbiome Imbalance?
The gut microbiome can be influenced by numerous factors over time, including:
- Diet
- Dietary diversity
- Fibre intake
- Antibiotic exposure
- Gastrointestinal infections
- Medications
- Illness
- Stress
- Lifestyle
- Age
- Changes in bowel motility
This doesn’t mean every person with bloating has gut dysbiosis.
But when someone experiences chronic bloating alongside constipation, diarrhea, IBS, excessive gas or significant food reactions, looking at the broader microbiome picture can sometimes be useful.
Depending on the individual, gut microbiome testing may be considered where the results are likely to influence treatment. Read more about our approach to functional testing.
2. Constipation and Bloating
Constipation is one of the most common — and sometimes overlooked — causes of persistent bloating.
Importantly, you can have a bowel movement every day and still be constipated.
Constipation can also involve:
- Hard stools
- Small stools
- Straining
- Incomplete bowel movements
- Difficulty passing stool
- Going several times without feeling properly emptied
- A feeling of heaviness in the lower abdomen
When bowel contents aren’t moving efficiently, abdominal fullness and distension can become increasingly noticeable.
If you’re experiencing constipation and bloating, improving bowel function may make a significant difference to the bloating itself.
3. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Bloating is extremely common in people with irritable bowel syndrome or IBS.
IBS can involve:
- Bloating
- Abdominal pain
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Alternating constipation and diarrhea
- Excessive gas
- Changes in bowel frequency
- Changes in stool consistency
- Increased gastrointestinal sensitivity
IBS is considered a disorder of gut-brain interaction, meaning the relationship between the digestive system and nervous system is particularly relevant.
This is why stress and anxiety can worsen IBS and bloating in some people — read more about the gut-brain axis and IBS and anxiety.
4. SIBO and Bloating
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO, is another possible cause of significant bloating in some individuals.
SIBO involves excessive numbers or altered populations of microorganisms within the small intestine.
Fermentation occurring within the small intestine can contribute to symptoms including:
- Severe bloating after eating
- Abdominal distension
- Excessive gas
- Abdominal discomfort
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
However, not everyone who experiences bloating has SIBO.
SIBO has become a popular explanation for almost every gut symptom online, but proper assessment is important.
Where clinically appropriate, SIBO breath testing may be considered as part of our functional testing options.
5. Food Intolerances and Fermentable Carbohydrates
Certain carbohydrates are readily fermented by intestinal bacteria.
You may have heard of FODMAPs, which are groups of fermentable carbohydrates naturally present in many foods.
For some people with IBS or sensitive digestive systems, these foods can significantly increase gas, bloating and abdominal distension. Read more about food sensitivities and gut inflammation.
However, FODMAP-containing foods aren’t inherently bad for gut health.
Many are nutritious, fibre-rich plant foods.
The long-term goal shouldn’t necessarily be to remove as many foods as possible. It should be to understand individual tolerance while maintaining as broad and nutritionally adequate a diet as possible.
6. Why Am I Bloated Even Though I Eat Healthy?
This is something we hear constantly.
A person may be eating salads, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and enormous quantities of fibre — and still be incredibly bloated.
A food can be nutritious and still be difficult for a sensitive digestive system to tolerate at that particular point in time.
Large amounts of:
- Raw vegetables
- Legumes
- Cruciferous vegetables
- Onion
- Garlic
- Whole grains
- Fibre supplements
may substantially increase fermentation in some people.
That doesn’t make these foods unhealthy.
Sometimes temporarily changing food preparation, texture, quantity and carbohydrate load can make meals considerably easier to tolerate while the underlying gut issue is addressed.
7. Eating Too Quickly
How you eat matters too.
Eating quickly, barely chewing, eating while driving or working and consuming large meals when highly stressed can contribute to digestive discomfort.
Where possible, sit down to eat, slow down, chew properly and allow enough time for your meal. This is part of why we often discuss the vagus nerve and the rest-and-digest state with our patients.
It sounds simple, but digestive health isn’t only about supplements and microbiome testing.
8. Stress, Anxiety and the Gut-Brain Axis
The gut and nervous system are closely connected through the gut-brain axis.
Stress and anxiety can influence gastrointestinal motility, appetite and digestive sensations.
Some people notice:
- Stress-related bloating
- Anxiety and diarrhea
- Anxiety and constipation
- Nausea during stressful periods
- IBS flares during stress
- Loss of appetite
- Increased abdominal discomfort
This doesn’t mean your bloating is “just stress”.
Instead, the nervous system can be another factor contributing to digestive symptoms — something we explore in more detail in nervous system dysregulation and gut health.
For someone experiencing IBS, anxiety and bloating together, considering both gut health and nervous-system health may be particularly important. Read more about our naturopathic approach to healing anxiety.
9. Hormonal Bloating
Women may also notice changes in bloating throughout the menstrual cycle.
Hormonal changes can influence fluid retention and gastrointestinal function, meaning bloating may become more noticeable before a period. Read more about stress, the nervous system and hormonal imbalance, and how this overlaps with conditions such as PCOS.
Perimenopause and menopause can also coincide with changes in digestion, bowel habits, appetite, body composition and stress tolerance.
If your bloating is strongly cyclical, this is useful information when investigating the underlying pattern.
10. Overly Restrictive Diets
By the time some patients see us, they’ve removed almost everything.
Gluten.
Dairy.
Sugar.
FODMAPs.
Histamine.
Lectins.
Nightshades.
And they’re still bloated.
Elimination diets can be useful when clinically appropriate, but continuously removing foods without addressing the reason for the symptoms isn’t necessarily the answer.
In the longer term, dietary diversity is important for nutrition and the gut microbiome.
Our aim is generally to help people expand their diet, rather than leave them afraid of food.
Should I Get Gut Testing for Bloating?
Not everybody experiencing bloating requires functional gut testing.
However, persistent bloating, IBS, excessive gas, constipation, diarrhea and significant food reactions may sometimes warrant further investigation.
Depending on your symptoms and history, options may include:
- Gut microbiome testing
- SIBO breath testing
- Conventional pathology through your GP
- Further medical investigation
The purpose of testing should be to answer a clinical question and help guide treatment. Read more about our approach to functional testing.
When Should Constant Bloating Be Investigated Medically?
Persistent or unexplained bloating shouldn’t automatically be assumed to be a microbiome problem.
Please speak with your GP about persistent or concerning symptoms, particularly if bloating occurs alongside unexplained weight loss, blood in the stool, significant abdominal pain, vomiting, anaemia, fever or a substantial unexplained change in bowel habits.
How Do You Get Rid of Persistent Bloating?
There isn’t one universal bloating treatment because the underlying causes differ.
Depending on the individual, we may need to address:
- Constipation
- Gut dysbiosis
- Gut microbiome imbalance
- IBS
- SIBO
- Food intolerances
- Diet
- Fermentation
- Meal composition
- Stress
- Nervous-system regulation
- Hormonal factors
The goal isn’t simply to find a supplement that temporarily reduces gas.
It’s to understand why you’re bloated every day and what is contributing to it.
Bloating & Gut Health Naturopath Melbourne
At The Naturopathic Co., gut health and digestive health are major areas of clinical focus.
Our gut health naturopaths regularly work with patients experiencing persistent bloating, bloating after eating, abdominal distension, excessive gas, IBS, constipation, diarrhea, gut dysbiosis, microbiome imbalance, food intolerances and other digestive symptoms.
We offer in-person gut health naturopath Melbourne consultations in South Yarra, together with online naturopath consultations throughout Australia, including Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Tasmania.
If you’re constantly wondering “Why am I bloated every day?”, rather than simply removing another food, it may be time to look more closely at what is happening within your digestive system.
Book a consultation with The Naturopathic Co. to start investigating what may be contributing to your symptoms.
