A Natural Tonic to Combat the Discomfort of Bloating

 

No one wants to suffer the discomfort of bloating of the stomach, leading to symptoms such as flatulence, painful stomach ache, diarrhea and an uncomfortable feeling when wearing tight clothes. Many women seem to suffer from this and it is often attributed to irritable bowel syndrome.

Why does bloating occur?

• In many cases, a particular food or set of circumstances sets off the process.

• Apart from stress, the excessive sugar and/or salt used in processed foods are a common cause for this condition.

• As well as certain food intolerance, bloating can also occur as a result of insufficient hydrochloric acid in the stomach, a lack of digestive enzymes in the stomach or too little good intestinal flora (that is the good bacteria normally present in the gut).

• Whatever the cause, digestion is hampered and undigested foods are reaching the gut where fermentation takes place causing the bloating.

Help to stop the bloating

Apart from avoiding the triggers that affect the sufferer, there are also some foods that can help to reduce that bloated feeling.

These include:

• fresh pineapple eaten half an hour before other food or three hours after a meal;
• papaya with its digestive enzymes;
• celery which is a diuretic and therefore helps to relieve fluid retention;
• asparagus will encourage the growth of friendly gut bacteria and help to reduce that irritating build-up of stomach gas;
• a daily serving of probiotics will also add helpful bacteria to your gut;
• natural peppermint tea or chamomile tea;
• and black pepper to assist in digestion.

You will find out more about these foods in our earlier post.

 

A special tonic with the main ingredient of apple cider vinegar

Courtesy of this site, here is a homemade tonic to target the pain and discomfort of a bloated stomach as well as supporting the general immune system – very important at this time of the year when so many are fighting colds, flu and other germs and viruses.

You will need a juicer or blender and the following ingredients

• 1/4 red onion
• 5 inches ginger root
• 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• dash cayenne pepper
• 1 lime
• 1 lemon
• 2 cloves garlic

This is what you need to do and it will only take a few minutes!

• Juice onion and 4 inches of ginger root.

• Add apple cider vinegar, cayenne, the juice from the lemon and lime, 1 inch ginger (grated), and garlic (also grated).

• Stir.

• To serve, add 1/2 tablespoon of your homemade tonic to 1 tablespoon of water.

• Take daily as needed.

• This tonic is safe to store in the refrigerator for 6 - 12 months.

With the exception of lime, we have written before about all the health benefits of each and every ingredient in this beverage. Note to self, need to write about lime in the future!

 

 

Sources

Barrett, J. S., & Gibson, P. R. (2012, July). Fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols (FODMAPs) and nonallergic food intolerance: FODMAPs or food chemicals? Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology, 5(4), 261–268
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3388522/. (Accessed June 8, 2021).

Dahl, W. J., & Stewart, M. L. (2015, November). Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Health implications of dietary fiber. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 115(11), 1861–1870
https://jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(15)01386-6/fulltext?code=jand-site. (Accessed June 8, 2021).

Fiber — how much is too much? (n.d.)
https://studentaffairs.duke.edu/sites/default/files/u110/TooMuchFiber082015.pdf. (Accessed June 8, 2021).
Fiber: How to increase the amount in your diet. (2017, March 27)
https://familydoctor.org/fiber-how-to-increase-the-amount-in-your-diet/. (Accessed June 8, 2021).