April 14, 2025 • 32 mins
Ever feel like your bloating has no rhyme or reason?
One day you're fine... the next you wake up feeling like a human balloon — before you’ve even had breakfast.
In this episode, I’m breaking down one of the most overlooked clues when it comes to gut symptoms: WHEN your bloating happens.
Because the timing of your bloat?
It’s like your gut’s secret language — telling you exactly where things might be going wrong.
We’ll cover:
→ What it means if you wake up bloated
→ Why you’re bloated after meals (especially protein-heavy ones)
→ The classic “6 months pregnant by bedtime” bloat
→ And yes — even why drinking water might make you bloated
PLUS — I’ll walk you through what to do about each pattern, when testing (like HTMA or GI Map) is actually helpful, and the simple foundational steps you have to take before jumping to lab work.
Bloating should not be your normal — and this episode will help you start uncovering why it’s happening in the first place.
Links & Resources:
→ Ready to get to the root of your bloating for good? Apply for gutTogether® here: www.guttogetherprogram.com
→ Grab my favorite electrolytes from LMNT and get a free sample pack with any order: drheatherfinley.co/lmnt
→ Follow me on Instagram: @drheatherfinley
→ Purchase the adrenal cocktail (use code HEATHER10 for discount)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Heather Finley (00:03):
Welcome to the Love Your Gut Podcast.
I'm your host, Dr.
Heather Finley, registereddietitian and gut health
specialist.
I understand the frustration ofdealing with GI issues because
I've been there and I spent overtwo decades searching for
answers for my own gut issues ofconstipation, bloating, and
stomach pain.
I've dedicated my life tounderstanding and solving my own
(00:24):
gut issues.
And now I'm here to guide you.
On this podcast, I'll help youidentify the true root causes of
your discomfort.
So you can finally ditch yoursymptoms for good.
My goal is to empower you withthe knowledge and tools you need
so that you can love your gutand it will love you right back.
So if you're ready to learn alot, gain a deeper understanding
(00:46):
of your gut and find lastingrelief.
You are in the right place.
Welcome to the love your gutpodcast.
Hey friends.
Welcome back to the Love Yourpodcast.
So excited to be here with youtoday.
And we have a big lineup ofthings to talk about.
Probably the most frustratingthing that many clients come to
(01:07):
us with, and probably the mostfrustrating thing on your
journey, which is bloat.
And if you've experiencedbloating before, you know that
it's.
It can be extremelyuncomfortable.
It can be extremelyunpredictable and all the things
in between.
And so today we're gonna chatabout what the timing of your
(01:28):
bloating tells us about the rootcauses of your bloating.
So waking up more bloated thanwhen you went to bed.
Et cetera, et cetera.
I know when I was on my own guthealth journey, I would wake up
bloated and I'm like, how doesthat even happen?
I haven't eaten anything in like10 to 12 hours.
(01:48):
It on.
Its honestly just felt like somekind of betrayal and it's wild
that it didn't actually startthat way for me in the
beginning, my bloating was moreof just kind of this classic
pattern of like, I'd wake upwith kind of a flat stomach.
Then by the end of the day, sixmonths pregnant.
So naturally, my brilliant planwas that I just needed to not
(02:13):
eat or put off eating as pos aslong as possible because my
brain equated food to bloating.
But spoiler alert.
Skipping meals under eating andwalking around, basically
starving all morning.
Definitely did not help my gutin the long run and led to lots
of overeating later.
Then it got weirder.
(02:34):
I started bloating after evenjust drinking water like.
Sips of water.
And that's when I knew, okay,this is not just a food thing.
There's got to be something elsegoing on in my gut environment.
So we've been trained, I think,in wellness culture to just
always ask what food made mebloated.
And I'm not here to tell youthat no food's gonna bloat you
(02:56):
'cause that's incorrect as well.
If you eat a very large plate ofbroccoli or cruciferous
vegetables, you're gonna getbloated.
And that I would say, is anormal experience.
But bloating should be a veryoccasional exception, like if
you ate a plate of broccoli orsomething.
So.
I wanna talk about how we canhelp you identify some of the
(03:20):
causes of bloating.
Oftentimes we're thinking whatfood caused our bloat.
Uh, but the better question andthe more helpful question is
actually.
When does my bloating happen?
Because the timing of yourbloating, that is your gut
trying to tell you exactlywhat's going on underneath the
surface.
And when we work with clients,and even if you're a podcast
(03:43):
listener, you know that ournumber one goal is to identify
the real root of your problem.
Because if we know what the rootof the problem is, we can
actually fix it.
So today we're going fulldetective mode.
I'm gonna break down the commonpatterns of bloating.
What the timing of your symptomsmight be trying to tell you.
We're gonna talk about waking upbloated bloat.
(04:05):
That's an hour or two aftermeals, feeling fine, but
progressively more bloated andpregnant feeling by the end of
the day, or bloating afterdrinking water.
I see you and I've been youbecause I've experienced.
All of these types of bloatingbefore.
So we're uncovering what thesepatterns mean and why they
happen, and most importantly,what you can do about it.
(04:29):
So I also wanna dig into when itmight be worth it to do testing.
Based on your bloat pattern andwhat test versus when you
probably don't need a test rightaway.
So let's go ahead and just diveright in and we're gonna chat
about bloating right when youwake up.
So that one can be reallyconfusing because you're
(04:50):
thinking, I just slept.
I haven't eaten anything.
Why am I so bloated?
This is probably the one thatmakes people feel the most crazy
because it's.
Like I didn't even eat.
How is it possible?
But bloating first thing in themorning is actually one of the
biggest clues that what we haveis not just about food.
This is more about your gutmotility, your minerals, and
(05:13):
your nervous system.
So what this usually means whenyou wake up bloated, this is
often a sign of slow gutmotility, possible stress
impacting digestion, or justlack of quality sleep.
Potentially mineral depletion aswell.
And honestly, it's probably acombination of two or three of
these working together.
(05:34):
So this typically happensbecause of motility and vagus
nerve issues.
So your vagus nerve is like thishighway between your gut and
your brain, and it tells yourdigestive system, Hey.
It's safe, let's move thingsalong.
But when you are chronicallystressed, go, go, go.
In this fight or flight, yournervous system's stuck there.
(05:57):
Your vagus nerve isn't doing ajob very well.
So the translation to that isthings slow down, digestion
slows, motility, slows.
Your gut isn't clearing out theway that it should overnight.
The second piece is dehydrationand minerals.
So a lot of people will wake up,they will chug plain water and
(06:18):
wonder why they still.
Feel super puffy, bloated, oractually more dehydrated.
And here's the deal.
Water alone does not hydrate youvery well, especially if your
mineral levels are depleted, andespecially if you are filtering
your water.
Filtering your water is always agood idea.
But when you filter your water,you also are filtering out the
(06:41):
good stuff.
So you have to make sure, evenif you're just adding like trace
mineral drops back, you wannamake sure you're adding your
minerals back.
And so we wanna think aboutminerals like these little spark
plugs that actually help waterto get into your cells.
And without minerals, you'rebasically pouring water into a
leaky bucket.
(07:02):
The third piece of this ismotility in your sleep, so
people don't realize, but yourgut is supposed to be moving
overnight too.
So your rest and digest systemis what controls your gut's
ability to clear out waste andmove things along while you
sleep.
So if your motility is sluggish,maybe you're not pooping every
(07:23):
day, or maybe you feel reallybacked up, you can absolutely
wake up bloated, inflamed, andpuffy.
You can add things in here likeSIBO or intestinal anogen
overgrowth, and that's just gas,like building up overnight with
nowhere to go.
So here's how to know if this isyou.
You wake up bloated beforeeating.
(07:44):
You're constipated or irregular,even if you have loose stools,
by the way, you can still beconstipated.
You might feel puffy, inflamed,or swollen in the morning.
Your bloating might slightlyimprove after a bowel movement,
but maybe not fully gone,especially if you don't feel
relieved after you go to thebathroom like that.
There's possibly more.
(08:05):
And maybe your digestion stillfeels slow.
So if you're resonating with anyof this, here is what we can do
about it.
Number one, hydrate.
First thing in the morning.
This can be as simple as anadrenal cocktail or even just a
pinch of good quality sea saltin your morning water.
I will put the link in the shownotes to the adrenal cocktail
(08:27):
that is like pre-made warning.
It doesn't have a taste.
Or actually it does have ataste, but it's not a lemon
flavor, it's just like thepowder.
And so sometimes our clientswill say, oh, this does not
taste good.
But if it's gonna help hydrateyou, it's worth it.
So just put a scoop of that, ora pinch of sea salt in your
water in the morning.
(08:47):
This can help hydrate you andmake a big difference.
You wanna support your vagusnerve as well.
So humming, gargling, singing inthe shower, cold exposure.
All these things might seemsuper weird and how would they
affect digestion, but they'regonna activate your vagus nerve,
which is gonna support your gutmotility.
You also want to establish amorning bowel routine.
(09:09):
And the common objection that weget to this from our clients is
don't have time.
But the thing is we have to maketime for what's important,
right?
And your gut loves rhythm androutine.
This does not have to be aneight hour morning routine.
It can take five minutes, but Iwant you to try to go to the
bathroom around the same time.
Think about this though.
If you are rushed every morning,you wake up late, you snooze
(09:33):
your alarm, you're eating on thego.
Why would your body wanna have abowel movement?
There's no time.
So sometimes it's about creatingtime, even if you feel like you
don't have it.
I get it.
I have three kids.
Our mornings are not necessarilyrelaxing, so I totally get it.
Try to find a morning routinethat's gonna work for you which
(09:54):
could just entail trying to goand sit on the toilet at the
same time every day.
Relax, take some moo breaths.
You can look that up on YouTube.
Moo breathing is really helpful.
I.
Let your body know it's safe togo and then support your
motility throughout the day aswell.
Take bitters before meals.
Ginger tea is great.
Magnesium citrate can be awesomeif you are constipated.
(10:16):
Not too much obviously,'cause itcan swing the other way.
Walking after meals and then ofcourse, like balancing your
minerals.
So if this pattern sounds likeyou're, you, here is where
testing can help.
I think that if, if this is whatyou're struggling with, HTMA
testing can be really helpfulbecause this is usually where
(10:38):
we're gonna start becausemineral depletion is such a
common thread here.
A lot of people stuck in thismorning bloat cycle are
stressed, they're not sleepingwell.
They're probably the like type Aoverachiever go, go, go type of
person and not pooping daily.
So HTMA will give us a windowinto your stress pattern, your
(11:00):
nervous system, mineral status,all of which impact digestion
directly.
And then you could do stooltesting as well.
Love this test.
If we're seeing sluggishmotility and you possibly have a
history of SIBO or long-termconstipation, it can give us
just a peek at your bacteria,how your digesting food, gut
(11:22):
inflammation, your gut immunesystem, et cetera.
Okay, next up, what does it meanif you don't wake up bloated,
but the bloat hits hard an houror two after you eat?
So that's what we're gonna getinto next.
This would be.
The person that feels fine.
When you wake up, you probablywake up not feeling bloated.
(11:44):
Then you eat breakfast andwithin an hour or two you start
getting bloated, if that soundsfamiliar.
This is kind of that post mealbloating.
It usually tells me there'ssomething going on with how well
or not well, you are actuallybreaking down your food, so when
bloating hits about an hour ortwo after eating, this is
(12:06):
always.
Almost a sign of low stomachacid, poor enzyme output, or
you're just not breaking downyour food properly.
There could be liver,gallbladder components here,
especially if you don't have agallbladder or you have sluggish
gallbladder symptoms.
So this could be because yourdigestion is under supported, or
(12:26):
it could also be linked tothings like h pylori.
Which is a common bacterialinfection that suppresses
stomach acid.
So this happens because whenstomach acid is a low, which
you're probably thinking don't,most people have high stomach
acid.
The answer to that is no.
A lot of our clients think theyhave too much stomach acid, even
(12:48):
if they have reflux, and it'sactually low.
So if your stomach acid is low,food will sit in your stomach
longer than it should, andinstead of getting churned up
and broken down like it'ssupposed to, it just kind of
hangs out.
And when food finally movesdownstream into your small
intestine, it's just not ready.
So that's when fermentationkicks in.
(13:09):
You get bloating, you get gas,you get discomfort.
Stress is also a major playerhere, so remember that digestion
is a parasympathetic a k, a restand digest activity.
So if you're scarfing down yourmeals in five minutes while
answering emails and feedingyour kids and scrolling
Instagram.
Watching true crime, whatever itis, sitting in traffic, your
(13:33):
body is not prioritizing stomachacid production and enzyme
release because it doesn't knowthe difference between a chaotic
meal or being chased by a bear.
So let's be real.
Most of us eat in a verystressed state without even
realizing it.
I've mentioned this on podcastsbefore, but if you have kids and
you're thinking, LOL, there isno way that I'm gonna be able to
(13:56):
eat dinner without stress.
I'm right there with you.
One of the best things that youcan do is get your kids
involved.
So we love having our kids.
Lead the breathing exercisesbefore dinner.
We'll have somebody say a prayerand then someone else will lead
the breathing exercises.
(14:16):
And as silly as that sounds,they now like, look forward to
it.
It's our pre-meal ritual.
My in-laws will even do it whenthey come over.
So.
Get everybody involved, and itjust becomes a part of the
routine.
And even if everything goeshaywire after that, at least
you've got your body in a stateof rest and digest for a minute
(14:37):
and helped your digestion.
Sometimes this pattern alsohappens because you're eating
too fast or not chewing wellenough.
Digestion starts in your mouth.
So if you're inhaling your food,you're making stomach acid work
over time, so you wanna slowdown.
So kind of a recap, how to knowif this is you.
(14:58):
Bloating one to two hours aftermeals.
You might feel heaviness,fullness, pressure in the upper
belly or under your ribs.
You might feel super full afterjust normal sized meals due to
low stomach acid and just slowmotility.
You might be burping a lot.
You might feel full, but stillhungry if you're thinking.
(15:19):
How is that possible if you'veexperienced it?
You know what I'm talking about?
You might even see undigestedfood in your stool, especially
like vegetable fibers or grains.
You might have reflux orheartburn symptoms that can be
pretty common here too.
And then if h pylori isinvolved, you might feel
nauseous or you might have badbreath.
(15:41):
So here's what you can do aboutit.
Slow down.
I mentioned this earlier, butchew your food until it's
basically mush beforeswallowing.
I know that sounds so simple,but most people are wildly under
chewing.
They take like three chews andthen they swallow.
I'm guilty of this as well.
We all are.
So slow down.
Add some bitter foods ordigestive bitters to your meals.
(16:03):
So think like arugula, radish,ginger, lemon, liquid bitters
can be helpful as well.
This is gonna help to stimulatestomach acid and overall
digestion.
You may want to support yourstomach acid with enzymes
depending on your situation.
I would always recommend workingwith a practitioner for this
because this could look like alot of different things.
(16:26):
Digestive Bitters, HCL,digestive enzymes.
These are tools, not foreversolutions, so you'd wanna make
sure you're taking the rightthing for you.
And then lastly, eat in arelaxed state.
So take three to five deepbreaths.
Put your phone down.
This truly matters.
It might be helpful to test theGI map can be more helpful in
(16:49):
this case when we can see thingslike h pylori infections, we can
actually see your pancreaticoutput.
We can look at other digestiverelated imbalances as well.
The HTMA is gonna be helpful.
Minerals like potassium, sodium,zinc are critical for stomach
acid production.
(17:10):
And low potassium is just one ofthose sneaky signs that we see
all the time on HTMA that candirectly impact your ability to
break down food.
This is also where mineraldepletion ties into why
digestion is struggling in thefirst place.
So we've covered bloating,waking up, bloated, bloating
(17:33):
after meals, but if your patternis totally fine in the morning
and then progressively morebloated as the day goes on until
you feel like you need maternityleggings by dinner time.
That is our next pattern, and ittells us something actually
totally different.
Before we move on to that end ofday bloating pattern, we have to
(17:54):
continue talking about mineralsbecause I know some of you are
listening to this like, okay,how they're cool.
I'll support my digestion.
I'll support my stomach acid,but I'm also drinking a gallon
of plain water a day.
I still feel bloated, tired.
Nothing's improving, and Itotally get it because I used to
feel that way too.
But the thing is, hydration isnot about water.
(18:17):
You need minerals.
Like sodium, potassium,magnesium to actually absorb and
use that water inside yourcells.
That is why I am a huge fan ofElement T or Element.
It is an electrolyte drink thatmakes it really easy to get
those minerals in without a tonof sugar or weird ingredients.
So if I am not taking my custommineral blend, I love starting
(18:41):
my morning with Element T.
Especially on days when I wakeup feeling puffy or sluggish or
I just know I didn't sleep well.
Which can happen quite a bitright now, having three kids and
a baby.
So right now Element is givingmy podcast listeners a free
sample pack with any purchase soyou can try all the flavors and
(19:02):
find your favorite, which isgreat.
My current go-to.
Is the raspberry salt.
I love drinking this one withsome sparkling water and a
little bit of lime juice as alittle mocktail, especially in
the afternoon.
I also love the chocolate saltin warm water at the end of the
day as like a little hotchocolate.
(19:22):
Sometimes I'll put it in icedcoffee as well.
Just sprinkle a little bit of itin my iced coffee and it takes
super good.
So you just have to trust me onthat one.
If you want to try Element Tea,you can go to Dr.
Heather finley.co/lt and I'lldrop that link in the show notes
too.
All right, next up is probablythe most common bloating pattern
(19:47):
I see in clients.
This is you wake up feelingpretty good.
The day goes on, the bloat justkeeps building and building, and
by dinner you're Googling ourmaternity leggings.
Socially acceptable fornon-pregnant women.
Trust me, I have been there andso many of our clients have, we
have had several clients thattell me, I have my morning pants
(20:08):
and I have my afternoon pants.
And as sad as that sounds, it'sthe reality of really terrible
progressive bloat.
So this progressive bloatusually means a sign of
dysbiosis in the gut.
So.
An imbalance of gut bacteria.
It can also indicate sluggish,motility, or intestinal
(20:28):
permeability as well.
What many people know as quoteunquote leaky gut.
And honestly, blood sugar issuesand stress can layer on top of
all of this.
This can be referred to as likethe stress layer cake, so adding
more stress to your body,whether it's.
Actual stress from like your jobor whatever it might be, or just
(20:50):
all these things adding stressto your body, blood sugar
issues, dysbiosis, et cetera.
So this happens becausethroughout the day, everything
you eat is feeding your gutbacteria, which is not a bad
thing.
We do want that.
But if bacterial balance is off,especially in your large
intestine or small intestine aswell, or your gut motility is
(21:13):
slow, you are going to get a bigbuildup of fermentation, which
equals gas, which equalsbloating, and before you
automatically think sibo,remember this pattern doesn't
always mean bacterial overgrowthin the small intestine.
Dysbiosis can also happenanywhere, in the gut, so it can
(21:33):
be in the large intestine too.
Like I said earlier, blood sugarswings will also play a big role
here.
So if you're skipping meals andyou're undereating throughout
the day, or you're loading up onfiber into one giant smoothie or
salad, your digestion might begetting overwhelmed later on.
Fiber is awesome.
Most people need more fiber.
(21:55):
But more is not always more.
Your gut likes it spreadthroughout the day, not one,
just gigantic fiber bomb atlunch.
So how to know if this is you.
You might have a flat or normalstomach in the morning.
You might feel more, morebloated with carbs or fiber or
larger meals.
You might have bloating orgassiness that increases as the
(22:18):
day goes on.
You might have that six monthspregnant by bedtime.
Look, sometimes needing tounbutton your pants.
We've all been there.
So here's what you can do aboutit.
Number one, focused on balancedmeals.
Make sure you're gettingprotein, fat, fiber, and color.
That's what we teach ourclients, PFFC, at every meal.
To stabilize blood sugar, youcan walk after meals.
(22:40):
This is one of the easiest waysthat you can support motility
and reduce bloating.
You can consider using thingslike bitters, ginger, tea,
magnesium at night if yourmotility is sluggish.
You can watch your fiber timing,so do not o overload all your
fiber into one meal and spreadit out, and then support your
nervous system throughout theday, not just at bedtime.
(23:03):
These would be some baselinethings that you would want to
do, and then of course, you canget into the weeds with actually
rebalancing gut bacteria, etcetera.
But you really wouldn't wanna dothat without testing.
I don't wanna bomb your gut withantimicrobials or various
probiotics without actuallyknowing if you need it.
We have so many clients that goto their doctor.
(23:25):
And they're told, oh, you justhave sibo.
And they take antibiotics andthey feel better, and then their
symptoms come right back becausethey didn't actually have sibo,
they had other stuff going on intheir large intestine that
needed to be addressed as well.
So this is where the GI map canactually be really helpful.
It's a great test to just seebacterial patterns,
(23:47):
inflammation, enzyme output thatcould be.
Causing some of this.
You can also look into an HTMAif you're seeing a lot of stress
patterns for lows, patterns,chronic undereating history, and
just depletion that's slowingdown digestion.
Alright, last and probably themost shocking bloating pattern
(24:08):
of all is when water bloats you.
So let's talk about it.
This feels personal because whenit started happening to me, I
was like, great, what am Isupposed to do now?
My body isn't even toleratingwater.
Um, I promise you are notbroken.
It's just information every timeyou're having symptoms.
(24:28):
As frustrating as they might be,it's just your body giving you
information and so you caneither push against that
information or you can leaninto.
What information is thiscommunicating to me and how am I
going to address it?
So this can happen fromhistamine issues, electrolyte
imbalances, intestinalpermeability, or otherwise known
(24:51):
as leaky gut.
And then surprise, surprise,stress definitely plays a role
here as well.
So histamine intolerance can bea part of this because your body
can react to all sorts ofthings.
Um, histamine related wine,fermented foods, and even plain
water if your gut lining isirritated or inflamed.
(25:13):
Electrolyte imbalances isanother huge one.
If you're drinking tons of plainwater, like I mentioned earlier,
but you're not replacing yourminerals, you're just diluting
your electrolytes even more.
And this can definitely impactbloat and swelling.
And then if you do haveintestinal permeability, which
likely, if you were listening tothis podcast, you have some
(25:34):
level of it.
This is like an inflamed gutlining that's just extra
sensitive to anything comingthrough.
If you're bloated after plainwater, if you're worse after
fermented foods like wine, bonebroth, leftovers, if you have
other histamine symptoms likeitching or flushing or runny
nose or headaches, and then ifyou feel better with
(25:55):
electrolytes or mineral richdrinks, which most people do.
Then that could be a sign thatyou know that these things could
possibly be at play for you.
So what to do about it?
Add minerals to your water, evenif it's just a pinch of sea
salt, like Celtic salt in themorning.
Experiment with naturalantihistamines like nettles, tea
(26:17):
nettles are super mineral rich,so this is really just a win-win
overall.
Nettles is a great option.
To either drink hot, you cancold brew it however you like
it.
You can support your gut liningwith things like
immunoglobulins, collagen,glutamine would definitely
recommend working with thepractitioner to figure out
(26:38):
what's gonna be best for you.
You can focus on meal hygiene,so of course nobody is not gonna
benefit from this.
Slowing down, chewing, eating ina relaxed state.
And then again, stressmanagement really is everything
because of the connectionbetween the gut and the brain,
rest and digest, et cetera.
So when it comes to testing, youknow, a lot of the tests that
(27:01):
I've mentioned can be reallyhelpful.
If this is the case, if yourbody is just so reactive, a GI
map is gonna look atinflammation markers like
calprotectin.
It's gonna look at Secretaryiga, which gives us clues about
your gut immune system.
It will also look at some.
Other immune related markers andsome histamine related markers.
(27:25):
So there's a marker on herecalled eosinophil activation
protein, and then an HTMA aswell can look at electrolyte
balance and mineral ratios andstress patterns.
So now that we've covered.
All these patterns of bloatingand what they mean.
The biggest question I alwaysget is when should I test and
when can I just focus on thefoundations without starting
(27:48):
with labs?
So that's what I wanna end thisepisode with.
And after hearing all thesedifferent bloating patterns, you
might be wondering, do I needtesting or can I fix this on my
own?
And that's honestly such a goodquestion because I do think that
some people jump to testing waytoo soon.
Or you go to a provider and theydon't even get you on some
(28:11):
foundational support before allof a sudden you're jumping right
into like a SIBO protocol.
And so that's where.
I would say you probably don'tneed testing or a fancy protocol
if you haven't worked onfoundations.
If you aren't balancing yourblood sugar or eating enough and
eating regularly, if you're notsupporting your sleep, none of
(28:34):
this has to be perfect.
But if you're not making aneffort to get good sleep, if
you're not managing your stress,if you are not slowing down at
meals and chewing your food.
And then if you're notsupporting your minerals or just
digestion and motility, withsome of the more, just natural
ways then.
I wouldn't jump straight intotesting unless you were solely
(28:57):
just gonna do a mineral test,because the testing might just
show you what you already know,that your gut is a little
stressed, and that you need towork on foundations.
And I, I say that with love.
If you've had no major guttrauma, like antibiotic use or
long-term birth control, or amold exposure or sibo.
And you haven't worked on thebasics.
(29:18):
I would always start withfoundations.
We always explain it to ourclients, like building a house.
We, of course, get reallyexcited about the fancy
wallpaper that we're gonna putup, but if you haven't poured
the foundation, then you'renever gonna be able to put the
wallpaper up.
And so we have to think of someof these foundations just like
that.
But testing really can save youtime.
(29:41):
If you've worked on all thesethings, you're eating enough,
you've got minerals on board,you're managing stress as best
as you can, and you're stillbloated all the time.
Maybe there's literally nopattern to your bloating.
It's random, it's severe, it'sconfusing.
This is when testing can be agame changer, especially if you
have a history of antibioticuse, birth control for years,
(30:04):
sibo, anogen overgrowth, guttrauma, head injury, or
restrictive dieting that couldhave altered your gut
environment.
Testing can really help us.
Give, give us the roadmap tofigure out what's really going
on.
So the two or three tests that Ithink can be helpful, which is
(30:24):
gonna vary by the individual onorder and you know which tests,
but I.
HTMA is where we almost alwaysstart because minerals are
really just foundational toevery system in the body, and
especially if you're havingreally severe motility issues.
And a lot of the stuff that Italked about in this episode,
(30:46):
then it's gonna tell us a lotabout your stress patterns, how
well your nervous system isfunctioning, all of which impact
digestion and motility.
The GI Map can be great to layeronto that because it will tell
us about bacterial imbalances,pathogens, h pylori, how you're
digesting food.
So this can be a go-to.
And then sometimes you just needsome basic blood work as well.
(31:08):
So looking at Iron labs, becauselow iron will also slow gut
motility, thyroid labs becauseyour thyroid is directly
connected to gut function.
So this can be helpful dependingon your.
Particular case.
All right.
Here's what I want you toremember from today.
Bloating is a symptom, not theproblem.
(31:29):
Your body is not trying to annoyyou or sabotage you.
It is trying to tell yousomething.
And once you learn how tolisten, whether that's noticing
when you're bloating shows up,supporting your digestion, or
just deeper with testing, thingscan change.
Bloating should be theexception, not your everyday
experience, and that's 100%.
(31:51):
Possible.
So if this episode was helpful,I would love for you to
screenshot it, share it to yourstories, and tag me.
I love seeing what's resonatingwith you and chatting with you
over on Instagram.
And then if you are ready toskip the guessing game and just
get to the bottom of yourbloating once and for all, that
(32:12):
is exactly what we do insidegut.
Together we combine testing likeHTMA and GI Map with one-on-one
coaching and protocols to helpyou really, truly address this
without obsessing over everybite of food.
So you can learn more andapply@gottogetherprogram.com.
I will link that in the shownotes as well.
(32:32):
But thanks for hanging out withme today.
I will see you on the nextepisode of the Love Your Gut
podcast.
Welcome to the Love Your Gut Podcast.
I'm your host, Dr.
Heather Finley, registereddietitian and gut health
specialist.
I understand the frustration ofdealing with GI issues because
I've been there and I spent overtwo decades searching for
answers for my own gut issues ofconstipation, bloating, and
stomach pain.
I've dedicated my life tounderstanding and solving my own
(00:24):
gut issues.
And now I'm here to guide you.
On this podcast, I'll help youidentify the true root causes of
your discomfort.
So you can finally ditch yoursymptoms for good.
My goal is to empower you withthe knowledge and tools you need
so that you can love your gutand it will love you right back.
So if you're ready to learn alot, gain a deeper understanding
(00:46):
of your gut and find lastingrelief.
You are in the right place.
Welcome to the love your gutpodcast.
Hey friends.
Welcome back to the Love Yourpodcast.
So excited to be here with youtoday.
And we have a big lineup ofthings to talk about.
Probably the most frustratingthing that many clients come to
(01:07):
us with, and probably the mostfrustrating thing on your
journey, which is bloat.
And if you've experiencedbloating before, you know that
it's.
It can be extremelyuncomfortable.
It can be extremelyunpredictable and all the things
in between.
And so today we're gonna chatabout what the timing of your
(01:28):
bloating tells us about the rootcauses of your bloating.
So waking up more bloated thanwhen you went to bed.
Et cetera, et cetera.
I know when I was on my own guthealth journey, I would wake up
bloated and I'm like, how doesthat even happen?
I haven't eaten anything in like10 to 12 hours.
(01:48):
It on.
Its honestly just felt like somekind of betrayal and it's wild
that it didn't actually startthat way for me in the
beginning, my bloating was moreof just kind of this classic
pattern of like, I'd wake upwith kind of a flat stomach.
Then by the end of the day, sixmonths pregnant.
So naturally, my brilliant planwas that I just needed to not
(02:13):
eat or put off eating as pos aslong as possible because my
brain equated food to bloating.
But spoiler alert.
Skipping meals under eating andwalking around, basically
starving all morning.
Definitely did not help my gutin the long run and led to lots
of overeating later.
Then it got weirder.
(02:34):
I started bloating after evenjust drinking water like.
Sips of water.
And that's when I knew, okay,this is not just a food thing.
There's got to be something elsegoing on in my gut environment.
So we've been trained, I think,in wellness culture to just
always ask what food made mebloated.
And I'm not here to tell youthat no food's gonna bloat you
(02:56):
'cause that's incorrect as well.
If you eat a very large plate ofbroccoli or cruciferous
vegetables, you're gonna getbloated.
And that I would say, is anormal experience.
But bloating should be a veryoccasional exception, like if
you ate a plate of broccoli orsomething.
So.
I wanna talk about how we canhelp you identify some of the
(03:20):
causes of bloating.
Oftentimes we're thinking whatfood caused our bloat.
Uh, but the better question andthe more helpful question is
actually.
When does my bloating happen?
Because the timing of yourbloating, that is your gut
trying to tell you exactlywhat's going on underneath the
surface.
And when we work with clients,and even if you're a podcast
(03:43):
listener, you know that ournumber one goal is to identify
the real root of your problem.
Because if we know what the rootof the problem is, we can
actually fix it.
So today we're going fulldetective mode.
I'm gonna break down the commonpatterns of bloating.
What the timing of your symptomsmight be trying to tell you.
We're gonna talk about waking upbloated bloat.
(04:05):
That's an hour or two aftermeals, feeling fine, but
progressively more bloated andpregnant feeling by the end of
the day, or bloating afterdrinking water.
I see you and I've been youbecause I've experienced.
All of these types of bloatingbefore.
So we're uncovering what thesepatterns mean and why they
happen, and most importantly,what you can do about it.
(04:29):
So I also wanna dig into when itmight be worth it to do testing.
Based on your bloat pattern andwhat test versus when you
probably don't need a test rightaway.
So let's go ahead and just diveright in and we're gonna chat
about bloating right when youwake up.
So that one can be reallyconfusing because you're
(04:50):
thinking, I just slept.
I haven't eaten anything.
Why am I so bloated?
This is probably the one thatmakes people feel the most crazy
because it's.
Like I didn't even eat.
How is it possible?
But bloating first thing in themorning is actually one of the
biggest clues that what we haveis not just about food.
This is more about your gutmotility, your minerals, and
(05:13):
your nervous system.
So what this usually means whenyou wake up bloated, this is
often a sign of slow gutmotility, possible stress
impacting digestion, or justlack of quality sleep.
Potentially mineral depletion aswell.
And honestly, it's probably acombination of two or three of
these working together.
(05:34):
So this typically happensbecause of motility and vagus
nerve issues.
So your vagus nerve is like thishighway between your gut and
your brain, and it tells yourdigestive system, Hey.
It's safe, let's move thingsalong.
But when you are chronicallystressed, go, go, go.
In this fight or flight, yournervous system's stuck there.
(05:57):
Your vagus nerve isn't doing ajob very well.
So the translation to that isthings slow down, digestion
slows, motility, slows.
Your gut isn't clearing out theway that it should overnight.
The second piece is dehydrationand minerals.
So a lot of people will wake up,they will chug plain water and
(06:18):
wonder why they still.
Feel super puffy, bloated, oractually more dehydrated.
And here's the deal.
Water alone does not hydrate youvery well, especially if your
mineral levels are depleted, andespecially if you are filtering
your water.
Filtering your water is always agood idea.
But when you filter your water,you also are filtering out the
(06:41):
good stuff.
So you have to make sure, evenif you're just adding like trace
mineral drops back, you wannamake sure you're adding your
minerals back.
And so we wanna think aboutminerals like these little spark
plugs that actually help waterto get into your cells.
And without minerals, you'rebasically pouring water into a
leaky bucket.
(07:02):
The third piece of this ismotility in your sleep, so
people don't realize, but yourgut is supposed to be moving
overnight too.
So your rest and digest systemis what controls your gut's
ability to clear out waste andmove things along while you
sleep.
So if your motility is sluggish,maybe you're not pooping every
(07:23):
day, or maybe you feel reallybacked up, you can absolutely
wake up bloated, inflamed, andpuffy.
You can add things in here likeSIBO or intestinal anogen
overgrowth, and that's just gas,like building up overnight with
nowhere to go.
So here's how to know if this isyou.
You wake up bloated beforeeating.
(07:44):
You're constipated or irregular,even if you have loose stools,
by the way, you can still beconstipated.
You might feel puffy, inflamed,or swollen in the morning.
Your bloating might slightlyimprove after a bowel movement,
but maybe not fully gone,especially if you don't feel
relieved after you go to thebathroom like that.
There's possibly more.
(08:05):
And maybe your digestion stillfeels slow.
So if you're resonating with anyof this, here is what we can do
about it.
Number one, hydrate.
First thing in the morning.
This can be as simple as anadrenal cocktail or even just a
pinch of good quality sea saltin your morning water.
I will put the link in the shownotes to the adrenal cocktail
(08:27):
that is like pre-made warning.
It doesn't have a taste.
Or actually it does have ataste, but it's not a lemon
flavor, it's just like thepowder.
And so sometimes our clientswill say, oh, this does not
taste good.
But if it's gonna help hydrateyou, it's worth it.
So just put a scoop of that, ora pinch of sea salt in your
water in the morning.
(08:47):
This can help hydrate you andmake a big difference.
You wanna support your vagusnerve as well.
So humming, gargling, singing inthe shower, cold exposure.
All these things might seemsuper weird and how would they
affect digestion, but they'regonna activate your vagus nerve,
which is gonna support your gutmotility.
You also want to establish amorning bowel routine.
(09:09):
And the common objection that weget to this from our clients is
don't have time.
But the thing is we have to maketime for what's important,
right?
And your gut loves rhythm androutine.
This does not have to be aneight hour morning routine.
It can take five minutes, but Iwant you to try to go to the
bathroom around the same time.
Think about this though.
If you are rushed every morning,you wake up late, you snooze
(09:33):
your alarm, you're eating on thego.
Why would your body wanna have abowel movement?
There's no time.
So sometimes it's about creatingtime, even if you feel like you
don't have it.
I get it.
I have three kids.
Our mornings are not necessarilyrelaxing, so I totally get it.
Try to find a morning routinethat's gonna work for you which
(09:54):
could just entail trying to goand sit on the toilet at the
same time every day.
Relax, take some moo breaths.
You can look that up on YouTube.
Moo breathing is really helpful.
I.
Let your body know it's safe togo and then support your
motility throughout the day aswell.
Take bitters before meals.
Ginger tea is great.
Magnesium citrate can be awesomeif you are constipated.
(10:16):
Not too much obviously,'cause itcan swing the other way.
Walking after meals and then ofcourse, like balancing your
minerals.
So if this pattern sounds likeyou're, you, here is where
testing can help.
I think that if, if this is whatyou're struggling with, HTMA
testing can be really helpfulbecause this is usually where
(10:38):
we're gonna start becausemineral depletion is such a
common thread here.
A lot of people stuck in thismorning bloat cycle are
stressed, they're not sleepingwell.
They're probably the like type Aoverachiever go, go, go type of
person and not pooping daily.
So HTMA will give us a windowinto your stress pattern, your
(11:00):
nervous system, mineral status,all of which impact digestion
directly.
And then you could do stooltesting as well.
Love this test.
If we're seeing sluggishmotility and you possibly have a
history of SIBO or long-termconstipation, it can give us
just a peek at your bacteria,how your digesting food, gut
(11:22):
inflammation, your gut immunesystem, et cetera.
Okay, next up, what does it meanif you don't wake up bloated,
but the bloat hits hard an houror two after you eat?
So that's what we're gonna getinto next.
This would be.
The person that feels fine.
When you wake up, you probablywake up not feeling bloated.
(11:44):
Then you eat breakfast andwithin an hour or two you start
getting bloated, if that soundsfamiliar.
This is kind of that post mealbloating.
It usually tells me there'ssomething going on with how well
or not well, you are actuallybreaking down your food, so when
bloating hits about an hour ortwo after eating, this is
(12:06):
always.
Almost a sign of low stomachacid, poor enzyme output, or
you're just not breaking downyour food properly.
There could be liver,gallbladder components here,
especially if you don't have agallbladder or you have sluggish
gallbladder symptoms.
So this could be because yourdigestion is under supported, or
(12:26):
it could also be linked tothings like h pylori.
Which is a common bacterialinfection that suppresses
stomach acid.
So this happens because whenstomach acid is a low, which
you're probably thinking don't,most people have high stomach
acid.
The answer to that is no.
A lot of our clients think theyhave too much stomach acid, even
(12:48):
if they have reflux, and it'sactually low.
So if your stomach acid is low,food will sit in your stomach
longer than it should, andinstead of getting churned up
and broken down like it'ssupposed to, it just kind of
hangs out.
And when food finally movesdownstream into your small
intestine, it's just not ready.
So that's when fermentationkicks in.
(13:09):
You get bloating, you get gas,you get discomfort.
Stress is also a major playerhere, so remember that digestion
is a parasympathetic a k, a restand digest activity.
So if you're scarfing down yourmeals in five minutes while
answering emails and feedingyour kids and scrolling
Instagram.
Watching true crime, whatever itis, sitting in traffic, your
(13:33):
body is not prioritizing stomachacid production and enzyme
release because it doesn't knowthe difference between a chaotic
meal or being chased by a bear.
So let's be real.
Most of us eat in a verystressed state without even
realizing it.
I've mentioned this on podcastsbefore, but if you have kids and
you're thinking, LOL, there isno way that I'm gonna be able to
(13:56):
eat dinner without stress.
I'm right there with you.
One of the best things that youcan do is get your kids
involved.
So we love having our kids.
Lead the breathing exercisesbefore dinner.
We'll have somebody say a prayerand then someone else will lead
the breathing exercises.
(14:16):
And as silly as that sounds,they now like, look forward to
it.
It's our pre-meal ritual.
My in-laws will even do it whenthey come over.
So.
Get everybody involved, and itjust becomes a part of the
routine.
And even if everything goeshaywire after that, at least
you've got your body in a stateof rest and digest for a minute
(14:37):
and helped your digestion.
Sometimes this pattern alsohappens because you're eating
too fast or not chewing wellenough.
Digestion starts in your mouth.
So if you're inhaling your food,you're making stomach acid work
over time, so you wanna slowdown.
So kind of a recap, how to knowif this is you.
(14:58):
Bloating one to two hours aftermeals.
You might feel heaviness,fullness, pressure in the upper
belly or under your ribs.
You might feel super full afterjust normal sized meals due to
low stomach acid and just slowmotility.
You might be burping a lot.
You might feel full, but stillhungry if you're thinking.
(15:19):
How is that possible if you'veexperienced it?
You know what I'm talking about?
You might even see undigestedfood in your stool, especially
like vegetable fibers or grains.
You might have reflux orheartburn symptoms that can be
pretty common here too.
And then if h pylori isinvolved, you might feel
nauseous or you might have badbreath.
(15:41):
So here's what you can do aboutit.
Slow down.
I mentioned this earlier, butchew your food until it's
basically mush beforeswallowing.
I know that sounds so simple,but most people are wildly under
chewing.
They take like three chews andthen they swallow.
I'm guilty of this as well.
We all are.
So slow down.
Add some bitter foods ordigestive bitters to your meals.
(16:03):
So think like arugula, radish,ginger, lemon, liquid bitters
can be helpful as well.
This is gonna help to stimulatestomach acid and overall
digestion.
You may want to support yourstomach acid with enzymes
depending on your situation.
I would always recommend workingwith a practitioner for this
because this could look like alot of different things.
(16:26):
Digestive Bitters, HCL,digestive enzymes.
These are tools, not foreversolutions, so you'd wanna make
sure you're taking the rightthing for you.
And then lastly, eat in arelaxed state.
So take three to five deepbreaths.
Put your phone down.
This truly matters.
It might be helpful to test theGI map can be more helpful in
(16:49):
this case when we can see thingslike h pylori infections, we can
actually see your pancreaticoutput.
We can look at other digestiverelated imbalances as well.
The HTMA is gonna be helpful.
Minerals like potassium, sodium,zinc are critical for stomach
acid production.
(17:10):
And low potassium is just one ofthose sneaky signs that we see
all the time on HTMA that candirectly impact your ability to
break down food.
This is also where mineraldepletion ties into why
digestion is struggling in thefirst place.
So we've covered bloating,waking up, bloated, bloating
(17:33):
after meals, but if your patternis totally fine in the morning
and then progressively morebloated as the day goes on until
you feel like you need maternityleggings by dinner time.
That is our next pattern, and ittells us something actually
totally different.
Before we move on to that end ofday bloating pattern, we have to
(17:54):
continue talking about mineralsbecause I know some of you are
listening to this like, okay,how they're cool.
I'll support my digestion.
I'll support my stomach acid,but I'm also drinking a gallon
of plain water a day.
I still feel bloated, tired.
Nothing's improving, and Itotally get it because I used to
feel that way too.
But the thing is, hydration isnot about water.
(18:17):
You need minerals.
Like sodium, potassium,magnesium to actually absorb and
use that water inside yourcells.
That is why I am a huge fan ofElement T or Element.
It is an electrolyte drink thatmakes it really easy to get
those minerals in without a tonof sugar or weird ingredients.
So if I am not taking my custommineral blend, I love starting
(18:41):
my morning with Element T.
Especially on days when I wakeup feeling puffy or sluggish or
I just know I didn't sleep well.
Which can happen quite a bitright now, having three kids and
a baby.
So right now Element is givingmy podcast listeners a free
sample pack with any purchase soyou can try all the flavors and
(19:02):
find your favorite, which isgreat.
My current go-to.
Is the raspberry salt.
I love drinking this one withsome sparkling water and a
little bit of lime juice as alittle mocktail, especially in
the afternoon.
I also love the chocolate saltin warm water at the end of the
day as like a little hotchocolate.
(19:22):
Sometimes I'll put it in icedcoffee as well.
Just sprinkle a little bit of itin my iced coffee and it takes
super good.
So you just have to trust me onthat one.
If you want to try Element Tea,you can go to Dr.
Heather finley.co/lt and I'lldrop that link in the show notes
too.
All right, next up is probablythe most common bloating pattern
(19:47):
I see in clients.
This is you wake up feelingpretty good.
The day goes on, the bloat justkeeps building and building, and
by dinner you're Googling ourmaternity leggings.
Socially acceptable fornon-pregnant women.
Trust me, I have been there andso many of our clients have, we
have had several clients thattell me, I have my morning pants
(20:08):
and I have my afternoon pants.
And as sad as that sounds, it'sthe reality of really terrible
progressive bloat.
So this progressive bloatusually means a sign of
dysbiosis in the gut.
So.
An imbalance of gut bacteria.
It can also indicate sluggish,motility, or intestinal
(20:28):
permeability as well.
What many people know as quoteunquote leaky gut.
And honestly, blood sugar issuesand stress can layer on top of
all of this.
This can be referred to as likethe stress layer cake, so adding
more stress to your body,whether it's.
Actual stress from like your jobor whatever it might be, or just
(20:50):
all these things adding stressto your body, blood sugar
issues, dysbiosis, et cetera.
So this happens becausethroughout the day, everything
you eat is feeding your gutbacteria, which is not a bad
thing.
We do want that.
But if bacterial balance is off,especially in your large
intestine or small intestine aswell, or your gut motility is
(21:13):
slow, you are going to get a bigbuildup of fermentation, which
equals gas, which equalsbloating, and before you
automatically think sibo,remember this pattern doesn't
always mean bacterial overgrowthin the small intestine.
Dysbiosis can also happenanywhere, in the gut, so it can
(21:33):
be in the large intestine too.
Like I said earlier, blood sugarswings will also play a big role
here.
So if you're skipping meals andyou're undereating throughout
the day, or you're loading up onfiber into one giant smoothie or
salad, your digestion might begetting overwhelmed later on.
Fiber is awesome.
Most people need more fiber.
(21:55):
But more is not always more.
Your gut likes it spreadthroughout the day, not one,
just gigantic fiber bomb atlunch.
So how to know if this is you.
You might have a flat or normalstomach in the morning.
You might feel more, morebloated with carbs or fiber or
larger meals.
You might have bloating orgassiness that increases as the
(22:18):
day goes on.
You might have that six monthspregnant by bedtime.
Look, sometimes needing tounbutton your pants.
We've all been there.
So here's what you can do aboutit.
Number one, focused on balancedmeals.
Make sure you're gettingprotein, fat, fiber, and color.
That's what we teach ourclients, PFFC, at every meal.
To stabilize blood sugar, youcan walk after meals.
(22:40):
This is one of the easiest waysthat you can support motility
and reduce bloating.
You can consider using thingslike bitters, ginger, tea,
magnesium at night if yourmotility is sluggish.
You can watch your fiber timing,so do not o overload all your
fiber into one meal and spreadit out, and then support your
nervous system throughout theday, not just at bedtime.
(23:03):
These would be some baselinethings that you would want to
do, and then of course, you canget into the weeds with actually
rebalancing gut bacteria, etcetera.
But you really wouldn't wanna dothat without testing.
I don't wanna bomb your gut withantimicrobials or various
probiotics without actuallyknowing if you need it.
We have so many clients that goto their doctor.
(23:25):
And they're told, oh, you justhave sibo.
And they take antibiotics andthey feel better, and then their
symptoms come right back becausethey didn't actually have sibo,
they had other stuff going on intheir large intestine that
needed to be addressed as well.
So this is where the GI map canactually be really helpful.
It's a great test to just seebacterial patterns,
(23:47):
inflammation, enzyme output thatcould be.
Causing some of this.
You can also look into an HTMAif you're seeing a lot of stress
patterns for lows, patterns,chronic undereating history, and
just depletion that's slowingdown digestion.
Alright, last and probably themost shocking bloating pattern
(24:08):
of all is when water bloats you.
So let's talk about it.
This feels personal because whenit started happening to me, I
was like, great, what am Isupposed to do now?
My body isn't even toleratingwater.
Um, I promise you are notbroken.
It's just information every timeyou're having symptoms.
(24:28):
As frustrating as they might be,it's just your body giving you
information and so you caneither push against that
information or you can leaninto.
What information is thiscommunicating to me and how am I
going to address it?
So this can happen fromhistamine issues, electrolyte
imbalances, intestinalpermeability, or otherwise known
(24:51):
as leaky gut.
And then surprise, surprise,stress definitely plays a role
here as well.
So histamine intolerance can bea part of this because your body
can react to all sorts ofthings.
Um, histamine related wine,fermented foods, and even plain
water if your gut lining isirritated or inflamed.
(25:13):
Electrolyte imbalances isanother huge one.
If you're drinking tons of plainwater, like I mentioned earlier,
but you're not replacing yourminerals, you're just diluting
your electrolytes even more.
And this can definitely impactbloat and swelling.
And then if you do haveintestinal permeability, which
likely, if you were listening tothis podcast, you have some
(25:34):
level of it.
This is like an inflamed gutlining that's just extra
sensitive to anything comingthrough.
If you're bloated after plainwater, if you're worse after
fermented foods like wine, bonebroth, leftovers, if you have
other histamine symptoms likeitching or flushing or runny
nose or headaches, and then ifyou feel better with
(25:55):
electrolytes or mineral richdrinks, which most people do.
Then that could be a sign thatyou know that these things could
possibly be at play for you.
So what to do about it?
Add minerals to your water, evenif it's just a pinch of sea
salt, like Celtic salt in themorning.
Experiment with naturalantihistamines like nettles, tea
(26:17):
nettles are super mineral rich,so this is really just a win-win
overall.
Nettles is a great option.
To either drink hot, you cancold brew it however you like
it.
You can support your gut liningwith things like
immunoglobulins, collagen,glutamine would definitely
recommend working with thepractitioner to figure out
(26:38):
what's gonna be best for you.
You can focus on meal hygiene,so of course nobody is not gonna
benefit from this.
Slowing down, chewing, eating ina relaxed state.
And then again, stressmanagement really is everything
because of the connectionbetween the gut and the brain,
rest and digest, et cetera.
So when it comes to testing, youknow, a lot of the tests that
(27:01):
I've mentioned can be reallyhelpful.
If this is the case, if yourbody is just so reactive, a GI
map is gonna look atinflammation markers like
calprotectin.
It's gonna look at Secretaryiga, which gives us clues about
your gut immune system.
It will also look at some.
Other immune related markers andsome histamine related markers.
(27:25):
So there's a marker on herecalled eosinophil activation
protein, and then an HTMA aswell can look at electrolyte
balance and mineral ratios andstress patterns.
So now that we've covered.
All these patterns of bloatingand what they mean.
The biggest question I alwaysget is when should I test and
when can I just focus on thefoundations without starting
(27:48):
with labs?
So that's what I wanna end thisepisode with.
And after hearing all thesedifferent bloating patterns, you
might be wondering, do I needtesting or can I fix this on my
own?
And that's honestly such a goodquestion because I do think that
some people jump to testing waytoo soon.
Or you go to a provider and theydon't even get you on some
(28:11):
foundational support before allof a sudden you're jumping right
into like a SIBO protocol.
And so that's where.
I would say you probably don'tneed testing or a fancy protocol
if you haven't worked onfoundations.
If you aren't balancing yourblood sugar or eating enough and
eating regularly, if you're notsupporting your sleep, none of
(28:34):
this has to be perfect.
But if you're not making aneffort to get good sleep, if
you're not managing your stress,if you are not slowing down at
meals and chewing your food.
And then if you're notsupporting your minerals or just
digestion and motility, withsome of the more, just natural
ways then.
I wouldn't jump straight intotesting unless you were solely
(28:57):
just gonna do a mineral test,because the testing might just
show you what you already know,that your gut is a little
stressed, and that you need towork on foundations.
And I, I say that with love.
If you've had no major guttrauma, like antibiotic use or
long-term birth control, or amold exposure or sibo.
And you haven't worked on thebasics.
(29:18):
I would always start withfoundations.
We always explain it to ourclients, like building a house.
We, of course, get reallyexcited about the fancy
wallpaper that we're gonna putup, but if you haven't poured
the foundation, then you'renever gonna be able to put the
wallpaper up.
And so we have to think of someof these foundations just like
that.
But testing really can save youtime.
(29:41):
If you've worked on all thesethings, you're eating enough,
you've got minerals on board,you're managing stress as best
as you can, and you're stillbloated all the time.
Maybe there's literally nopattern to your bloating.
It's random, it's severe, it'sconfusing.
This is when testing can be agame changer, especially if you
have a history of antibioticuse, birth control for years,
(30:04):
sibo, anogen overgrowth, guttrauma, head injury, or
restrictive dieting that couldhave altered your gut
environment.
Testing can really help us.
Give, give us the roadmap tofigure out what's really going
on.
So the two or three tests that Ithink can be helpful, which is
(30:24):
gonna vary by the individual onorder and you know which tests,
but I.
HTMA is where we almost alwaysstart because minerals are
really just foundational toevery system in the body, and
especially if you're havingreally severe motility issues.
And a lot of the stuff that Italked about in this episode,
(30:46):
then it's gonna tell us a lotabout your stress patterns, how
well your nervous system isfunctioning, all of which impact
digestion and motility.
The GI Map can be great to layeronto that because it will tell
us about bacterial imbalances,pathogens, h pylori, how you're
digesting food.
So this can be a go-to.
And then sometimes you just needsome basic blood work as well.
(31:08):
So looking at Iron labs, becauselow iron will also slow gut
motility, thyroid labs becauseyour thyroid is directly
connected to gut function.
So this can be helpful dependingon your.
Particular case.
All right.
Here's what I want you toremember from today.
Bloating is a symptom, not theproblem.
(31:29):
Your body is not trying to annoyyou or sabotage you.
It is trying to tell yousomething.
And once you learn how tolisten, whether that's noticing
when you're bloating shows up,supporting your digestion, or
just deeper with testing, thingscan change.
Bloating should be theexception, not your everyday
experience, and that's 100%.
(31:51):
Possible.
So if this episode was helpful,I would love for you to
screenshot it, share it to yourstories, and tag me.
I love seeing what's resonatingwith you and chatting with you
over on Instagram.
And then if you are ready toskip the guessing game and just
get to the bottom of yourbloating once and for all, that
(32:12):
is exactly what we do insidegut.
Together we combine testing likeHTMA and GI Map with one-on-one
coaching and protocols to helpyou really, truly address this
without obsessing over everybite of food.
So you can learn more andapply@gottogetherprogram.com.
I will link that in the shownotes as well.
(32:32):
But thanks for hanging out withme today.
I will see you on the nextepisode of the Love Your Gut
podcast.
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