Let's be real: The aversion to bloating that women have is so much less about how it looks than how it feels. When you're bloated, it feels like you have a tire of gas hovering around your stomach. You can't lie down, sit up, or curl onto your side without feeling this weird pressure that makes you keep running to the bathroom, to no avail. Ironically enough, even though it might have been food that got you bloated in the first place (hello, third round of salt-rimmed margaritas, chips and guac), there are plenty of foods that help you stop bloating, too.
When you're looking to get rid of that awful, gassy feeling around your middle section, you should opt for water-based foods that will hydrate you and flush your system out. The things you should avoid are any foods that are high in sodium or particularly salty, since this will cause your body to retain water and thus bloat even more.
No one is happy with their body 100 percent of the time, but with that said, it's perfectly healthy to stay aware of your bodily changes in response to food, especially if you're using that awareness to further increase your own health. Here are six anti-bloat foods that will help you get rid of that nasty balloon feeling in your body:
Easy enough, right? Water obviously is the best way to hydrate and flush excess sodium out of your system, but the added lemon will help sooth your digestive system as well, ensuring that you feel back to normal as soon as possible. On a normal day, you want to drink between eight and 10 glasses of water, so to combat your bloating you might want to drink an extra glass or two on top of that.
Tomatoes contain large amounts of the antioxidant lycopene, which will sooth your digestive system and help you blast away that bloating sensation. According to Eat This, Not That!, tomatoes are most effective when eaten raw, or even blended with a concoction of other veggies, depending on how you prefer to eat them.
This one seems pretty counterintuitive, but eating some seriously spicy cayenne peppers will increase the flow of digestive enzymes through your intestines, according to Women's Health, and this in turn will kill the bacteria in your stomach that leads to bloating and gas.
Feel free to sprinkle the cayenne pepper over everything and anything, so long as you can handle the heat.
Although not all veggies are created equal (you should actually avoid broccoli and brussels sprouts, which cause bloating), asparagus is an anti-bloating machine, according to Health.
Asparagus makes you pee — and yes, that pee might smell funny, but it's a super effective strategy to flush out all of those excess liquids in your body that are making you feel bloated. Throw some asparagus on your salad, or grill some up to fill a portion of your plate for dinner.
Cranberry juice is helpful for flushing out your system because it's a natural diuretic, according to Eat This, Not That!.
But you have to make sure you get the all natural stuff, not the cranberry cocktail that's been loaded up with sugar, which won't be nearly as effective.
According to Health, fennel seeds have a compound that relaxes your gastrointestinal tract, preventing spasms that can often lead to bloating.
Fennel seeds are often found in bread or sausage, but you can also just chew on them directly if you're cool with their kind of funky flavor.
