Vegan Diet: My Cure For Bloating

Adopting a vegan diet can bring a host of health benefits, but it can also bring some unwanted side effects, like bloating. Bloating is a common issue for both new and long-term vegans, and it can be uncomfortable and embarrassing. The good news is that there are several ways to reduce bloating on a vegan diet. Here are some tips to help you get started on your bloat-free journey:

- Increase fibre intake gradually: Fibre is great for gut health, but too much, too soon, can cause bloating. Try increasing your fibre intake slowly by gradually adding more plant-based foods to your diet.

- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of water throughout the day to help fibre do its job and prevent constipation. Aim for 3.7 litres of water per day if you're a man and 2.7 litres if you're a woman.

- Eat cooked vegetables: Cooking vegetables breaks down starches and fibres that can cause bloating, making them easier to digest. Baking, steaming, sautéing, or grilling are all great options.

- Chew your food thoroughly: Chewing kick-starts the digestive process and helps break down carbs and starches. It also reduces the amount of air you swallow, which can contribute to bloating.

- Soak legumes and grains before cooking: Soaking legumes and grains helps to release indigestible carbohydrates, making them easier on the digestive system.

- Limit high-gas foods: Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower are known to produce more gas. Try to reduce your intake of these veggies and opt for leafy greens like kale and spinach instead.

- Eat smaller meals more frequently: Eating smaller meals throughout the day can help reduce the feeling of fullness and physical distension associated with bloating.

- Try a probiotic: Probiotics can help support gut health and reduce bloating. Natural herbal remedies like ginger, fennel, and peppermint can also soothe an angry, bloated gut.

Eat slowly and mindfully

Eating slowly and mindfully is one of the best ways to ease bloating on a vegan diet. This is because eating slowly gives a boost to your fullness hormones, making you feel full faster and thus reducing your food intake. When you eat faster, you tend to swallow more air, which can cause bloating.

Chewing your food slowly and thoroughly is a great way to eat mindfully. When you chew, you produce saliva, which is needed for digestion. Saliva breaks down food in your mouth, and once the food reaches your stomach, it acts as a fluid so your food can easily pass through the intestines. The more you chew, the more saliva you produce, and the better your digestion. Chewing also kick-starts the digestive process, as the enzymes in saliva help break down carbs and starch.

If you're new to a plant-based diet, it's a good idea to introduce high-fibre foods gradually. This gives your gut bacteria time to get used to the higher fibre load.

Drink more water

Drinking more water is an important part of reducing bloating on a vegan diet. Water is essential to keeping your body functioning well, and it plays a key role in digestion. Water helps to break down food so that your body can absorb nutrients more effectively. It also helps to prevent constipation by softening stool.

Dietary fibre, which is abundant in a vegan diet, also needs water to work properly. Soluble fibre, found in oats, beans, apples, citrus fruits, and carrots, can sit in your gut for too long if you're not properly hydrated. Insoluble fibre, found in whole wheat flour, beans, and potatoes, attracts water in the small intestine, speeding up its exit from your body.

It's recommended that men drink 3.7 litres of water per day, and women 2.7 litres. It's best to spread your water intake throughout the day, so that water is readily available when it's required for digestion.

In addition to drinking more water, there are several other ways to reduce bloating on a vegan diet. It's important to introduce high-fibre foods gradually, rather than all at once. Soaking legumes before eating them can help to reduce the sugars that cause bloating, and a short walk or light exercise after a meal can also help. Limiting processed foods, salt, and fat can also reduce bloating, as these can cause the body to retain water.

Soak legumes before eating

Soaking legumes before eating them can help to reduce bloating on a vegan diet. This is because legumes—such as chickpeas, black beans, lentils, pigeon peas, mung beans, and split peas—are high in fiber, which can worsen gas and bloating. Soaking legumes overnight leaches out the sugars that are responsible for bloating, reducing the chance that they'll upset your stomach.

If you cook your own beans, it's recommended that you soak them for several hours before cooking and discard the water. This is a great way to reap the health benefits of legumes without suffering from bloating.

In addition to soaking legumes, there are a few other tips that can help reduce bloating on a vegan diet:

• Increase your fiber intake slowly. A sudden increase in fiber can cause gas and bloating.
• Drink plenty of water. Water helps fiber move through the body and prevents constipation.
• Eat cooked vegetables. Cooked vegetables are easier to digest than raw vegetables.
• Limit processed foods, salt, and fat. These can trigger bloating and gas.
• Eat more probiotic foods, such as sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi, miso, and tempeh.

Limit processed foods, salt and fat

Limiting Processed Foods, Salt, and Fat on a Vegan Diet

While a vegan diet has many health benefits, it can also cause bloating, especially for those new to the diet. One way to reduce bloating is to limit your consumption of processed foods, salt, and fat.

Processed Foods

Processed foods can be hard on your digestive system, even if they are plant-based. These foods often contain lots of additives and provide fewer vitamins and minerals than whole, protein-rich plant foods like beans, lentils, peas, nuts, and seeds.

Some examples of processed vegan foods include:

• Vegan junk food, such as ice cream, candy, cookies, chips, and sauces
• Mock meats and cheeses
• Some dairy-free milk alternatives (those that are sweetened)
• Vegan protein bars

Salt

Excess salt in your diet causes water retention, which can lead to bloating. Salt is often found in large quantities in processed foods, including cured meats, cold cuts, and fast food.

Fat

Your digestive tract needs more time to process fat, so limiting your fat intake to small amounts of healthy oils and plant-based fats may help reduce bloating.

To reduce bloating, limit your intake of salty and high-fat foods, including:

• Fast food
• Chips and other snacks
• Fried foods
• Other highly processed foods

Eat more probiotic foods

Eating more probiotic foods is a great way to combat bloating on a vegan diet. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that help digestion, reduce gas and bloating by balancing gut bacteria, and can help your body fight off unhealthy strains of bacteria.

Research suggests that probiotic foods such as sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi, miso, and tempeh may help reduce bloating. While more evidence is needed to understand which probiotic strains are most beneficial, it is generally accepted that probiotics are good for gut health.

Probiotic-rich foods can be incorporated into your diet in many ways. For example, you can try adding kimchi to vegan Korean BBQ bowls, or having tempeh as a plant-based protein source.

In addition to eating probiotic-rich foods, you can also take a daily probiotic supplement that contains acidophilus and Bifidus strains of bacteria. These specific strains of probiotic cultures can help combat gas, bloating, and irregularity. Just be sure to choose a product that is dairy-free and vegan, as many probiotics are made with dairy during the culturing process.

Another way to support your gut health is by consuming prebiotic foods. Prebiotics are a type of fiber that acts as food for the probiotics in your gut. Examples of prebiotic foods include asparagus, oats, apples, and flaxseeds.

By incorporating more probiotic and prebiotic foods into your diet, you can help improve your gut health and reduce bloating associated with a vegan diet.

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