Erin O'Hara: Naturopath and wellness expert on the factors behind abdominal bloating

Everyone struggles with abdominal cramps and bloating from time to time - but when should we be concerned?

Bloating can be a symptom of fluid retention, gas, digestive issues, infection, or something bigger.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara shares her tips and tricks for dealing with bloating.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'd be time to talk wellness, and Erin O'Hara joins
us now naturopath, Good morning, Good morning. You can't talk
about bloating today, which, as I said, isn't terribly sexy,
but it's something that a lot of people do suffer
from and find it really frustrating.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
I think probably everyone who's experienced bloating at some point,
whether it's something they've eaten or whether they're not really
sure why they've got it, and some people actually get
it on a regular basis, maybe even a daily basis,
and it can be really really problematic to their everyday life.
And there's many many reasons that causes abdominal bloating and
can be things from like gas and the tummy also

(00:46):
could be fluid retention, can be tended with how the
digestive system works, or infection, and there's lots of reasons
that can create that distension of the belly and usually
it's kind of like a bloated, hard tummy that you
can't really like relieve very easily and can come with
some pain for some people. And that's obviously it really

(01:07):
really affects your everyday life when it comes to gas
producing that can come from foods that we're eating. And
it's not just foods we're intolerant too, but also it
can be gas producing foods, which could be things like
carbonated drinks. Chewing gum can be a big culprit to
bloating beans, lentsils, crucifix vegetables which if you don't know

(01:28):
what they are, that's broccoli, coliflower, cabbage, our good old
favorite Brussels sprouts, really good for the gup. But also
kin calls a lot of bloating, and usually if it
is something you've eaten, it would create a lot of
bloating within sort of twenty four hours of eating it,
and maybe even as close as sort of two or
three hours after having a meal, then you'll be really

(01:48):
really gassy and uncomfortable. And that's usually something that you've
eaten can mean something more complex of things like infections
like H. Pylori or E. Coli, or you may have
heard of things like sebow or LIBO so se bow
is small intestine bacteria overgrowth or LIBO large intestinal bactera overgrowth.
These can create a lot of bloating, as there's a

(02:10):
lot of fermentation in the gut which then creates that gas,
which can create a lot of uncomfortable feeling in the tummy.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
So if you happen to know that if you eat
a certain food it makes you a bit bloated, that's
probably nothing to worry about. It's maybe just you make
a decisions to whether you're going to avoid it or not.
But when do you get concerned about bloating?

Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yeah, if you've got really intense pain that comes with
the bloating, or the bloating is not reducing at all,
you definitely want to go and get it checked out
from your regular GP. Also, if there's a fever with it,
or severe vomiting or difficulty even keeping down food, so
you've got bloating and then you can't actually eat, you
definitely want to go and get that checked out, as

(02:50):
it could be something more serious and not just something
you've eaten that's created a bit of gas in the tummy. However,
if it is something more mild and you know it's
more food related, obviously avoiding the foods that you know
are the trikcker foods absolutely the best thing to be doing,
or even eat less of them, so you might eat
just a small portion and slowly build up to eating

(03:10):
those foods and then the microbiome can adjust to that.
And then other things that are super helpful is when
you are bloated, what do you do? Like you obviously
want to get the bloating down and as quickly as possible,
and you can go as simple as like a good
digestive tea or camera male tea or ginger tea. Peppermint
tea is also helpful. Also looking into some herbal remedies,

(03:34):
so it might be simply going to your pharmacie they
do some little herbal tinctures or through a naturopath that
might have things like phenol, cara way, cammal lemon balm
really good for like reducing the bloating. Digestive enzymes for
some people can be really helpful. And then the other
one that people always think they should be taking for bloating,

(03:55):
but it is always questionable as probiotics, right yeah, and
probotics for some people can help with the bloating and
some people will make the bloating worse. So I think
it's really about understanding why you have the bloating and
then you can kind of get a good sort of
way of managing it a little bit better. And then
just some simple things that you can do to manage
the bloating. Also by what you're eating, making sure you're

(04:18):
not getting constipated, plenty of water, chewing your food thoroughly,
making sure you're not overeating and overfilling the stomach, and
just a good balance of fiber and not overdoing the fiber.
If you're slowly making a dietary change, that you're not
suddenly making a diet change, because that can create a
lot of bloating too, instead slowly building up to it.
I love it.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
That was bloating one oh one folks, Thank you so
much erin appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudgin, listen
live to News Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.