Why Gas and Bloat may be good
or at least not as bad as you think
Sometimes its time for a reality check.
I used to hate when someone would say to me “you need a reality check”. Even though I have always been sort a down to earth kind of person; I would occasionally hear that from people in my life who genuinely cared about me and the choices I was making.
The older I get the more I realize that it is healthy for our brain to to have a good sense of facts and reality as much as it is healthy for our brain to to know how to “let go” and “escape”. More on that in a feature post.
But this post is about the reality of bloat…
The bloat struggle is a common part of my practice.
And yes, persistent bloating and gas can be debilitating and can often be linked to Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth, Small Intestinal Fungal Overgrowth, IBS and more. And worse, some lower pelvic area bloating can be a late sign of ovarian disease.
These scenarios with bloating usually have a different feel . Meaning they make someone “feel pregnant” . And they get worse as the day goes. There is no rise and fall.
So lets talk about other forms of bloating.
You ate something and after you eat you feel a little distended/bloated and that may last for 3 or so hours. Yet, after that you feel back to normal.
This is different.
During these moments your body may be experiencing good bloat secondary to hormesis or training of the microbiome
Hormesis is "Good Stress" that makes the organism stronger and more resilient.
Probiotics, fiber, and specific gut nutrients can act as hormetic stressor on the gut.
Where these nutrients may induce heat shock proteins in the gut which actually make the gut more resistant to inflammation. (Arnal, 2016)
Fascinating to think that perhaps some of the uneasiness we feel when we eat fiber (ie. gas,) could be a training effect on the gut to be stronger.
When you get bloated ; don’t let your Default Mode Network take over and send you into a spiral.
Stop and think ahead and bring your frontal lobe into the mix and say to your self “ lets see how I feel in 4 hours or 6 hours before feeling like something wrong is happening”
Our gut feels are strong.
Especially those of us with lifetime gut problems. We tend to have hyperarousal to changes in our gut at a very strong level.
But talk yourself back every once and while and remind yourself that fiber and other nutrients are supposed to create fermentation and gas.
And until you toot , pass wind, or have a bowel movement….well its stored in that adorable tummy of yours.
reference:
source . Arnal ME, Lallès JP. Gut epithelial inducible heat-shock proteins and their modulation by diet and the microbiota. Nutr Rev. 2016;74(3):181-197. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuv104
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