Episode 363: 7 Sneaky Reasons You're Still Bloated (That Have Nothing to Do with Food)
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify
Have you tried probiotics, collagen, and cut out food groups but still feel bloated? Erin unpacks the 7 most overlooked (but common!) drivers behind chronic bloating that often go undetected in traditional care models. True digestive healing starts at the top, literally in your brain. And she’ll walk through how stress, poor digestion, and imbalances in the gut can contribute to that uncomfortable, distended feeling.
Rather than just focusing on what to cut out of your diet, Erin will help you zoom out and examine digestion from a functional lens: are you chewing enough? Do you have sufficient stomach acid? Could sluggish bile or bacterial overgrowth be to blame?
With practical insights, simple self-tests, and supplement strategies, this episode gives you a checklist to start solving the bloating mystery at its root.
In this episode:
Why stress and rushed meals shut down digestion before food even hits your stomach
The signs of low stomach acid and why it might be behind your food sensitivities
How to tell if poor fat digestion or gallbladder issues are causing bloating
The “I look 7 months pregnant” symptom Erin hears from clients with SIBO
Why food sensitivities are often a SYMPTOM and not the root cause of digestive issues
Resources mentioned:
Episode 304: H. Pylori - What You Need to Know
Eat to Achieve Self-Study Nutrition Program
1:1 Functional C.A.R.E with Erin & her team
Organifi supplement powder (save 20% on your order with code FUNK)
LMNT Electrolyte Replenishing powder (Use code FUNK and get a free sample pack with any purchase!)
Qualia Senolytic (get up to 50% off and an extra 15% off your first purchase with link + code FUNKS)
Bon Charge (Use code FUNK to save 15%)
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To uncover the drivers of digestive issues like bloating and other things, we first have to understand that digestion is a top down process and we always want to start at the top. Digestion technically starts in the mouth, but it really actually starts in your brain. You have to be switched into parasympathetic rest and digest mode for everything else in the process to work effectively and efficiently. And this shift happens in the brain.
I'm Erin Holt and this is the Funk'tional Nutrition Podcast where we lean into intuitive functional medicine. We look at how diet, our environment, our emotions and our beliefs all affect our physical health. I've got over a decade of clinical experience and because of that I've got a major bone to pick with diet, culture and the conventional health care model. This show is for you. If you're looking for new ways of thinking about your health and you're ready to be an active participant in your own healing, I would love for you to follow the show, rate, review and share. Because you never know whose life you might change.
Hello my friends. Today we're going to get into the top seven reasons for bloating. Bloating and distension is something that we see a lot and it can be so frustrating, especially when you don't know what's causing it. And maybe you have tried all of the things, probiotics, collagen, colostrum. There is certainly no shortage of supplements on the market that are targeted toward gut health and sometimes even bloating. But honestly, none of those things will really touch the bloating caused by the seven things that I'm going to outline in today's show.
So we work with people on their health, including their digestive health in our one to one practice and these are the things that we are seeing every single day. So my goal with this episode is to help you pinpoint and understand, number one, why your bloating is happening and then number two, connect you with the right resources for support. Now my free digestive guide breaks all of this down. Today I'll mention some different digestive support options, but I won't get into the specific of brands or how to figure out your dosing because that's pretty individualized. But I do walk you through all of that in your guide so you can DIY it yourself. It's a really easy to follow PDF. It's totally free, so you can grab that using the link in our show notes. Okay, that's the free Digestive guide.
Now the first thing that I want to say here when it comes to Bloating is that some degree of stomach distension is normal after you eat. Like the food has to go somewhere sometimes. What we label as bloating is actually just normal distension from food. And we don't want to pathologize that like let your body live, let your body do its thing. But looking seven months pregnant after you eat or distension coupled with discomfort or even worse pain, that's not normal bloating. When it presents with other symptoms like gas or reflux, that's a sign that something is off. And I'm gonna go through all of the things that you wanna consider in the order that you should consider them today.
The first thing, not the point of today's show, but the first thing, it's fairly obvious, it's diet, a standard American diet, highly processed diet. It's gonna most likely cause some degree of bloating or other digestive problems. You know, it's not really a diet that our biology is equipped for. So we can see some digestive wonkiness. Again, the point of today's show is not to teach you how to eat well, but it is very, very important. We do have a 21 day food program, it's called Eat to Achieve. It just walks you through like how to eat a whole foods diet. It's a self study, it's super affordable. So if you need that, that resource is available for you.
Today's episode is going to presuppose that you're already eating well. And that's because honestly most of our that come to us, when they work with us one on one, they're already eating well, they're eating a relatively healthy diet, but they still have chronic bloating and distension going on. And if that's you, today's show is for you. Okay, so let's do it honey, do it.
To uncover the drivers of digestive issues like bloating and other things, we first have to understand that digestion is a top down process. And we always want to start at the top. Digestion technically starts in the mouth, but it really actually starts in your brain. You have to be switched into parasympathetic rest and digest mode for everything else in the process to work effectively and efficiently. And this shift happens in the brain. And from there then we've got chewing, we've got swallowing, we've got stomach acid production, pancreatic enzyme release in the small intestine, bile for proper fat absorption, proper intestinal motility to move food through your GI tube. Any issue with Any of those things can lead to chronic bloating and stress is going to shut down all of those. So I always like to start at the top.
Number one. The number one reason for bloating is stressed eating in a stressed out state. There's a reason that our parasympathetic relaxation response is also known as rest and digest. When we're stressed out, our resources are shunted toward immediate survival in away from digestion. So what this does is it lowers blood flow to our digestive organs, to our digestive tract. It lowers production of digestive juices like stomach acid and enzyme. And the end result of all of that is bloating, belching, farting, heartburn, tummy aches, diarrhea, constipation. So just understand that stress and getting the body away from that sympathetic fight or flight response and into the parasympathetic rest and digest respons response is a really crucial part of the whole digestive process. So how do we do this? One thing to be mindful of is, well, I guess being mindful, slowing down, doing some deep diaphragmatic breathing before you eat a meal of food. Okay, so that's number one.
And then number two is eating too fast or eating on the go or not chewing your food. So we have chemical digestion, things like stomach acid and digestive enzymes that help us to break down our food into smaller and smaller and smaller pieces. That is one of the points of digestion to do that. But the mechanical act of chewing your food, mastication, chewing your food with your teeth, mixing it up with saliva, it also does this. It's a really important step. And when you're chewing your food, it is signaling to the rest of your digestive system that food is coming. So get ready, buck up, food is on the way. Without proper chewing, like when you're eating too fast, for example, you're more likely to get digestive symptoms like bloating, like indigestion after you eat. So a really good thing to pay attention to and observe is do you get more bloated when you're rushing through your meals? And does slowing down improve the bloating?
Number three is low stomach acid. Now if you notice you get more bloated after eating protein rich meals, or you even really are turned off by the thought of eating protein rich meals. That can indicate a need for hydrochloric acid or stomach acid. This is pretty common. And it can come secondary to number one and number two. And so that's why I say digestion is a top down process. Because if you're eating under stress and slash or you're eating super fast, this can impact stomach acid production. There are, of course, other things that can impact stomach acid as well. Age is a big one. So hydrochloric acid levels can drop a certain percentage every year as we age. And then H. Pylori can be another reason that we see low stomach acid. This is something we see pretty regularly when we're running stool tests on our clients. This H. Pylori infection, it's a bacteria that lives in the stomach. And chronic H. Pylori infection, if it's gone, left untreated, it can begin to lower and suppressed stomach acid production. I do, just as a heads up, have an entire episode on H. Pylori, if you're looking for more information on that.
Now, stomach acid, hydrochloric acid is super, super, super important. I've talked about it a bunch here on the show. One of the reasons that we need it is we need it to break down our prot. We also need it to essentially trigger the rest of the digestive process. So an appropriately acidified stomach is going to signal to the rest of the digestive tract, like, hey, you gotta get to work.
So it's gonna trigger pancreatic enzyme release. It acidifies the small intestine to trigger that release.
It's gonna support gallbladder contraction. We need gallbladder contraction to release bile, to emulsify fats. So we can see with low stomach acid a lot of downstream side effects in that. All those downstream side effects can lead to bloating, gas, feeling, full heartburn, indigestion, nausea. All of these can be correlated with low stomach acid. The other thing to understand about long term low stomach acid, it can actually lead to food sensitivities too, because again, that appropriately acidified stomach is going to trigger the release of other things that we need, pepsin being one of them. That's an enzyme that digest protein. And something to understand about dietary proteins, the food that we're eating, they must eventually be broken down into smaller and smaller bits.
We have to take the protein structures and break them down all the way into amino acids in order to prevent food sensitivities. The immune system will only react to bigger protein structures, protein branch, and not those individual amino acids. So with low stomach acid, our food isn't breaking down effectively, so it can lead to more of those food reactions. So if you're somebody with a lot of food sensitivities, food reactions, this is something to really keep in mind. So if you suspect low stomach acid. What do you do? Well, you can actually supplement with it HCL or hydrochloric acid comes in a supplemental form. Start at a low dose and you can walk your way up.
The digestive guide explains exactly how to do this. You kind of want to build yourself up to find the exact right dose to get rid of the bloating. And the dosages are extremely personalized based on you. Another thing you could trial is apple cider vinegar. That also helps to acidify the stomach to digest proteins to reduce the bloating. It's not going to be as strong as hydrochloric acid, but you might feel more comfortable taking it. So you can start with one, maybe even two tablespoons to get the best digestive effect, and you can take it before meals. Now, if you notice burning when you take hydrochloric acid or apple cider vinegar, you do want to discontinue it pretty much immediately because that can be a sign of either an ulcer or gastritis.
So it's a sign that something's going on with the lining of your GI tract. There might be inflammation in the stomach lining, and you really need to heal that lining first before your body can tolerate the acid. So you shouldn't feel burning with these things. If you do, it's a sign that something else is off.
And this is something that we. We see pretty commonly, I would say, in our 1:1 practice. And so what we're doing is basically looking to reestablish a healthy stomach lining before we introduce acid. Now, the best time to take it kind of depends. So you can do it five to 10 minutes before you eat. You can take it with the meal, or you might notice taking it after a meal is more effective for you. There is a little bit of, I don't want to say trial and error, because error is a bit hyperbolic, but you want to play around with it to see where you get the best benefit. And that's really true for the other digestive support that I'm going to recommend on this show. So just kind of keep that in mind. It's not an exact science. You can play around with a little bit.
Erin Holt:
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Number four. So number three is low stomach acid. The number four cause of bloating is low digestive enzymes, low pancreatic enzymes. Now if you notice that you're reacting to starches in fiber, if those are the things that are causing more of your bloating, it could be because is this is an enzyme issue. We can actually see this on a stool test. It will show up as low elastase, really common, but again often secondary to low stomach acid. So again it's that top down process, kind of like a a set of dominoes. And the first domino needs to fall before the next one, before the next one, and so on and so forth. And so we can see low digestive enzymes secondary to low stomach acid.
And we can see low stomach acid secondary to an H. Pylori infection. It doesn't always work like that, but that's something I would say that we see pretty regularly. So we're always trying to swim upstream and figure out the whys behind things too. That's kind of what a root cause approach does. It's not saying, oh, you've got this low stomach acid, we're just going to give you more stomach gas. We also want to uncover, hey, why is that? But honestly, either way, supplementing with digestive support in the meantime, while you figure out the root causes or the underlying drivers can be really helpful and really supportive. So digestive enzymes, you can get them as a supplement. Sometimes they also come with HCL in them. It's usually a lower dose HCL, but something to experiment with as well. And you take these again around mealtime, either right before, during or after.
Now, number five is a really overlooked cause of bloating, and that is gallbladder issues. And man, do we see this a lot in practice. Now, when I say gallbladder issues, I'm not just referring to gallstones or gallbladder obstruction. It doesn't have to be that severe. Sometimes there is sludge formation or thickening of bile, and that can cause problem. If the gallbladder isn't releasing enough bile to digest your fats, that can cause problems. And by problems, I mean symptoms as well.
So when we are running our stool test, we might see high sciaticret and sciaticret is looking at that fat in stool. So when it's elevated, that means that there is fat in stool. That's not a good thing. We don't want fat in the stool. We want to be absorbing the fat that we're eating. So that's an indication that fat digestion is off. Sometimes you might notice with low bile or gallbladder issues, you might even see greasy stools or almost like an oil slick on top of the toilet water. I know this is really gross to talk about. I'm sorry. But you know, check your poop. There's a lot of information there. Sometimes it can look like floating stools. Another thing that you might notice if there's gallbladder issues is there can be referral pain when the gallbladder is contracting. So this might be in response to eating a lot of fat. You can notice upper back pain between the shoulder blades. Other things we can see with gallbladder or bile issues are bloating, constant distension, burping.
Again, especially in reaction to fatty food. So just like your body's not able to tolerate fatty foods like fried foods or even butter and oils, now I will say the issue with this is that we're rarely eating fat in isolation. It's usually mixed up with other foods, with proteins and carbs. So this one can be a little bit challenging to suss out, but definitely something to keep in mind. There are certain risk factors for gallbladder issues. Long term. Hypothyroidism, Middle Eastern, African or Mexican descent, they're at a higher risk factor. Females, metabolic dysfunction, sedentary lifestyle, all of these things can be more risk factors for gallbladder issues.
Now, if you suspect that this is your problem, hydrochloric acid and pancreatic enzymes might have some benefit. Why? Because of that domino effect. But you also might need some fat specific support. So there's certain things that can help to thin the bile, certain bitters, beetroot extract, milk thistle, dandelion root, all of those help to thin the bile. We do see a, a lot of utility with using bitters in practice. We find that some people just do really well with them. Even if they don't have an elevated steatocrit on their stool test, even if it's not showing fat in the stool, they just feel better taking bitters. So it's something that is not problematic to take and to take long term.
Erin Holt:
So that's just something to keep in mind. We love our bitters. Incorporating bitter foods into the diet can also be helpful. A couple of other things. There's a bile acid called tudka. I never know if I'm saying that right. But that can also improve bile, gallbladder issues, fat digestion, and then just detoxification. Because bile is pretty crucial for detoxifying things out of the body.
Erin Holt:
Ox bile is another one. Now the thing with these, and just to be aware of this, if you take too much, you can sometimes see increased bowel movements or even loose stools and diarrhea. On kind of a positive note here, this can be a real needle mover if you do tend toward sluggish bowels. Recently, I'll share my experience. I was just noticing more stomach pain, gas and discomfort after eating. So I would eat a meal of food and like an hour later my stomach would hurt. I'm like, well, what is going on? And my stool test was fine. So it certainly didn't indicate that I needed fat support.
Erin Holt:
But I just, I don't know, gut sense. I've been doing this work for so long, sometimes I just get gut sense. I mean, pun intended probably. And I'm like, I think I need fat support. And I added in ox bile and it made, made such A huge difference. The pain, the discomfort went away. And as an added bonus, I also felt a lot more regular with bowel movements as well. So just a little clinical pearl slash pro tip from me to you, okay?
Number six is sibo. If you feel like everything you eat, no matter what you do, causes bloating, you may consider SIBO if you just feel. Feel constantly distended, like seven months pregnant. I say that intentionally because our SIBO clients will say that to us. Like, I look pregnant and I'm not. If you notice that bloating gets worse throughout the day, all of these things are consistent with sibo. So SIBO stands for small intestine bacterial overgrowth. It's a pretty apt name because it means there's an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine. Bacteria ferment things, and that's kind of what they do, and they can ferment our food.
Now, if we have bacteria in the large intestine, fermenting our food, not really a problem. But when we have a large amount of bacteria in the small intestine, where it really doesn't belong, necessarily, and that starts fermenting our food, we're going to have problems. We're going to have a lot of bloating, we're going to have distension, we're going to have some stomach pain, some discomfort with all of that. That. So if your bloating is pretty significant and kind of omnipresent, just like all the time, no matter what you eat, you could consider SIBO as the reason for your bloating. How do you know if you have it? That's a breath test. So that is a test that you actually can get from your gastroenterologist. We also run those in practice, and we're looking for different types of gases in the small intestine to let us know, hey, yeah, bacteria are there.
Now, as a little DIY, you can also trial a low fodmap diet for two weeks. If you notice a pretty significant improvement in your bloating and in your symptoms after a week or two of following that diet, then you might be dealing with SIBO. I am not a fan of using a low fodmap diet long term. So this is not something that you would want to just say, oh, I'm just gonna to stay on low fodmap forever. I would suggest seeking out support if you suspect sibo because you do want to bring those bacterial levels down. You want to get the right testing, you want to get the right treatment. Again, we do that in practice with our 1:1 clients. When we're working with somebody with sibo, we also question why do you have it sibo? Even though it might be the driver of your bloating, it's not usually a root cause, it's happening secondary to something else.
So that might be the valve between your small and large intestine isn't working very well. You might not have great intestinal contractions. There can be other reasons for why you've got SIBO. So we're also trying to not just get rid of the SIBO, but make sure it doesn't come back. Because recurring SIBO can be a problem for some folks. And in fact Rachel and I are going to record an episode on this soon. What we do in practice when folks are coming to us with recurring SIBO.
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And then finally, number seven is food sensitivities. And I save this one for the end because this is kind of how I think about it in my brain. Food sensitivities take the blame for a lot of digestive issues, but they're not always the culprit. Now, just as a general rule, I'm a fan of eating a whole foods diet and removing some of the bigger trigger foods if someone is dealing with ongoing symptoms. So trigger foods can be gluten, dairy, corn, eggs, soy. These are some of the foods that more people tend to react to. But sussing out what foods you're reacting to doesn't always tell us why you're reacting to them.
So while removing foods or even going on an elimination diet can help to reduce symptoms like bloating, which is incredible, we still want to uncover and understand why you're reacting to foods, especially if you're reacting to a big long list if you have multiple food reactions. Because removing 20 foods from your diet isn't really a great long term strategy. Now the biggest reasons that we see people reacting to foods is really kind of everything that we outlined in today's show. So when somebody says, I think I'm reacting to foods, my mind goes to, okay, is it really a food sensitivity or are you so stressed out to that it's impacting your digestion? Is it a food sensitivity? Are you just eating way too fast? Is it a food sensitivity or do you have low stomach acid? Is it a food sensitivity or do you have bacterial growth and dysbiosis? I'm not a big fan of blaming food for what bacteria are doing because it can lead to unnecessary food fear and restriction. Is it a food sensitivity or do you just have overall poor digestion? So I really like to to rule all of these things out first and then from there we can consider an elimination diet or even food sensitivity testing, if that makes sense. Now what I will say is that back to those multiple food reactions. If you are reacting to a lot of foods, oftentimes that's more of an immune issue. Your immune system is responding to food as though it's a foreign invader, so we really want to look at your microbiome via a stool test to understand understand why you are reacting to so many foods.
If that is the case, and that is the work that we do in our onetoone practice, if this is the type of support you're looking for, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We're here for you, and I really hope that this episode was helpful for you and gave you a bit of a checklist to run yourself through to help you understand what could be contributing to your bloating. And if you need a companion guide to walk you through even more detail, you can download our free digestive guide using the link in the show Notes. I hope this was helpful. Send it to a friend who is dealing with some bloating so we can help them out too and I'll check you next week.
Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Funk'tional Nutrition Podcast. Please keep in mind this podcast is created for educational purposes only and should never be used as a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment. If you got something from today's show, don't forget subscribe, leave a review, share with a friend, and keep keep coming back for more.
Take care of you.