Latest / Love Your Gut / Ep. 67: Bloated? What the Timing of Your Bloating is Trying to Tell You About Your Gut

Transcript

Ep. 67: Bloated? What the Timing of Your Bloating is Trying to Tell You About Your Gut · Love Your Gut

• 0:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: Welcome to the Love Your Gut Podcast.
• 0:05
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: Heather Finley, registered dietitian and gut health specialist.
• 0:10
  Dr. Heather Finley: I understand the frustration of dealing with GI issues because I've been there and I spent over two decades searching for answers for my own gut issues of constipation, bloating, and stomach pain.
• 0:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: I've dedicated my life to understanding and solving my own gut issues.
• 0:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: And now I'm here to guide you.
• 0:28
  Dr. Heather Finley: On this podcast, I'll help you identify the true root causes of your discomfort.
• 0:33
  Dr. Heather Finley: So you can finally ditch your symptoms for good.
• 0:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: My goal is to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need so that you can love your gut and it will love you right back.
• 0:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if you're ready to learn a lot, gain a deeper understanding of your gut and find lasting relief.
• 0:48
  Dr. Heather Finley: You are in the right place.
• 0:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: Welcome to the love your gut podcast.
• 0:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: Hey friends.
• 0:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: Welcome back to the Love Your podcast.
• 0:56
  Dr. Heather Finley: So excited to be here with you today.
• 0:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: And we have a big lineup of things to talk about.
• 1:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: Probably the most frustrating thing that many clients come to us with, and probably the most frustrating thing on your journey, which is bloat.
• 1:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: And if you've experienced bloating before, you know that it's.
• 1:18
  Dr. Heather Finley: It can be extremely uncomfortable.
• 1:20
  Dr. Heather Finley: It can be extremely unpredictable and all the things in between.
• 1:24
  Dr. Heather Finley: And so today we're gonna chat about what the timing of your bloating tells us about the root causes of your bloating.
• 1:31
  Dr. Heather Finley: So waking up more bloated than when you went to bed.
• 1:35
  Dr. Heather Finley: Et cetera, et cetera.
• 1:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: I know when I was on my own gut health journey, I would wake up bloated and I'm like, how does that even happen?
• 1:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: I haven't eaten anything in like 10 to 12 hours.
• 1:48
  Dr. Heather Finley: It on.
• 1:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: Its honestly just felt like some kind of betrayal and it's wild that it didn't actually start that way for me in the beginning, my bloating was more of just kind of this classic pattern of like, I'd wake up with kind of a flat stomach.
• 2:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: Then by the end of the day, six months pregnant.
• 2:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: So naturally, my brilliant plan was that I just needed to not eat or put off eating as pos as long as possible because my brain equated food to bloating.
• 2:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: But spoiler alert.
• 2:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: Skipping meals under eating and walking around, basically starving all morning.
• 2:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: Definitely did not help my gut in the long run and led to lots of overeating later.
• 2:32
  Dr. Heather Finley: Then it got weirder.
• 2:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: I started bloating after even just drinking water like.
• 2:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: Sips of water.
• 2:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: And that's when I knew, okay, this is not just a food thing.
• 2:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: There's got to be something else going on in my gut environment.
• 2:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: So we've been trained, I think, in wellness culture to just always ask what food made me bloated.
• 2:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: And I'm not here to tell you that no food's gonna bloat you'cause that's incorrect as well.
• 2:57
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you eat a very large plate of broccoli or cruciferous vegetables, you're gonna get bloated.
• 3:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: And that I would say, is a normal experience.
• 3:07
  Dr. Heather Finley: But bloating should be a very occasional exception, like if you ate a plate of broccoli or something.
• 3:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: So.
• 3:15
  Dr. Heather Finley: I wanna talk about how we can help you identify some of the causes of bloating.
• 3:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: Oftentimes we're thinking what food caused our bloat.
• 3:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: Uh, but the better question and the more helpful question is actually.
• 3:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: When does my bloating happen?
• 3:32
  Dr. Heather Finley: Because the timing of your bloating, that is your gut trying to tell you exactly what's going on underneath the surface.
• 3:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: And when we work with clients, and even if you're a podcast listener, you know that our number one goal is to identify the real root of your problem.
• 3:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: Because if we know what the root of the problem is, we can actually fix it.
• 3:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: So today we're going full detective mode.
• 3:56
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'm gonna break down the common patterns of bloating.
• 3:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: What the timing of your symptoms might be trying to tell you.
• 4:02
  Dr. Heather Finley: We're gonna talk about waking up bloated bloat.
• 4:05
  Dr. Heather Finley: That's an hour or two after meals, feeling fine, but progressively more bloated and pregnant feeling by the end of the day, or bloating after drinking water.
• 4:15
  Dr. Heather Finley: I see you and I've been you because I've experienced.
• 4:18
  Dr. Heather Finley: All of these types of bloating before.
• 4:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: So we're uncovering what these patterns mean and why they happen, and most importantly, what you can do about it.
• 4:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: So I also wanna dig into when it might be worth it to do testing.
• 4:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: Based on your bloat pattern and what test versus when you probably don't need a test right away.
• 4:40
  Dr. Heather Finley: So let's go ahead and just dive right in and we're gonna chat about bloating right when you wake up.
• 4:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: So that one can be really confusing because you're thinking, I just slept.
• 4:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: I haven't eaten anything.
• 4:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: Why am I so bloated?
• 4:55
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is probably the one that makes people feel the most crazy because it's.
• 5:00
  Dr. Heather Finley: Like I didn't even eat.
• 5:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: How is it possible?
• 5:02
  Dr. Heather Finley: But bloating first thing in the morning is actually one of the biggest clues that what we have is not just about food.
• 5:09
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is more about your gut motility, your minerals, and your nervous system.
• 5:15
  Dr. Heather Finley: So what this usually means when you wake up bloated, this is often a sign of slow gut motility, possible stress impacting digestion, or just lack of quality sleep.
• 5:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: Potentially mineral depletion as well.
• 5:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: And honestly, it's probably a combination of two or three of these working together.
• 5:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: So this typically happens because of motility and vagus nerve issues.
• 5:40
  Dr. Heather Finley: So your vagus nerve is like this highway between your gut and your brain, and it tells your digestive system, Hey.
• 5:48
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's safe, let's move things along.
• 5:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: But when you are chronically stressed, go, go, go.
• 5:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: In this fight or flight, your nervous system's stuck there.
• 5:57
  Dr. Heather Finley: Your vagus nerve isn't doing a job very well.
• 6:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: So the translation to that is things slow down, digestion slows, motility, slows.
• 6:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: Your gut isn't clearing out the way that it should overnight.
• 6:11
  Dr. Heather Finley: The second piece is dehydration and minerals.
• 6:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: So a lot of people will wake up, they will chug plain water and wonder why they still.
• 6:20
  Dr. Heather Finley: Feel super puffy, bloated, or actually more dehydrated.
• 6:24
  Dr. Heather Finley: And here's the deal.
• 6:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: Water alone does not hydrate you very well, especially if your mineral levels are depleted, and especially if you are filtering your water.
• 6:35
  Dr. Heather Finley: Filtering your water is always a good idea.
• 6:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: But when you filter your water, you also are filtering out the good stuff.
• 6:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: So you have to make sure, even if you're just adding like trace mineral drops back, you wanna make sure you're adding your minerals back.
• 6:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: And so we wanna think about minerals like these little spark plugs that actually help water to get into your cells.
• 6:57
  Dr. Heather Finley: And without minerals, you're basically pouring water into a leaky bucket.
• 7:02
  Dr. Heather Finley: The third piece of this is motility in your sleep, so people don't realize, but your gut is supposed to be moving overnight too.
• 7:10
  Dr. Heather Finley: So your rest and digest system is what controls your gut's ability to clear out waste and move things along while you sleep.
• 7:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if your motility is sluggish, maybe you're not pooping every day, or maybe you feel really backed up, you can absolutely wake up bloated, inflamed, and puffy.
• 7:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can add things in here like SIBO or intestinal anogen overgrowth, and that's just gas, like building up overnight with nowhere to go.
• 7:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: So here's how to know if this is you.
• 7:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: You wake up bloated before eating.
• 7:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: You're constipated or irregular, even if you have loose stools, by the way, you can still be constipated.
• 7:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: You might feel puffy, inflamed, or swollen in the morning.
• 7:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: Your bloating might slightly improve after a bowel movement, but maybe not fully gone, especially if you don't feel relieved after you go to the bathroom like that.
• 8:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: There's possibly more.
• 8:05
  Dr. Heather Finley: And maybe your digestion still feels slow.
• 8:09
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if you're resonating with any of this, here is what we can do about it.
• 8:12
  Dr. Heather Finley: Number one, hydrate.
• 8:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: First thing in the morning.
• 8:15
  Dr. Heather Finley: This can be as simple as an adrenal cocktail or even just a pinch of good quality sea salt in your morning water.
• 8:23
  Dr. Heather Finley: I will put the link in the show notes to the adrenal cocktail that is like pre-made warning.
• 8:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: It doesn't have a taste.
• 8:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: Or actually it does have a taste, but it's not a lemon flavor, it's just like the powder.
• 8:37
  Dr. Heather Finley: And so sometimes our clients will say, oh, this does not taste good.
• 8:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: But if it's gonna help hydrate you, it's worth it.
• 8:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: So just put a scoop of that, or a pinch of sea salt in your water in the morning.
• 8:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: This can help hydrate you and make a big difference.
• 8:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: You wanna support your vagus nerve as well.
• 8:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: So humming, gargling, singing in the shower, cold exposure.
• 8:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: All these things might seem super weird and how would they affect digestion, but they're gonna activate your vagus nerve, which is gonna support your gut motility.
• 9:05
  Dr. Heather Finley: You also want to establish a morning bowel routine.
• 9:09
  Dr. Heather Finley: And the common objection that we get to this from our clients is don't have time.
• 9:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: But the thing is we have to make time for what's important, right?
• 9:17
  Dr. Heather Finley: And your gut loves rhythm and routine.
• 9:20
  Dr. Heather Finley: This does not have to be an eight hour morning routine.
• 9:23
  Dr. Heather Finley: It can take five minutes, but I want you to try to go to the bathroom around the same time.
• 9:28
  Dr. Heather Finley: Think about this though.
• 9:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you are rushed every morning, you wake up late, you snooze your alarm, you're eating on the go.
• 9:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: Why would your body wanna have a bowel movement?
• 9:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: There's no time.
• 9:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: So sometimes it's about creating time, even if you feel like you don't have it.
• 9:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: I get it.
• 9:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: I have three kids.
• 9:45
  Dr. Heather Finley: Our mornings are not necessarily relaxing, so I totally get it.
• 9:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: Try to find a morning routine that's gonna work for you which could just entail trying to go and sit on the toilet at the same time every day.
• 9:59
  Dr. Heather Finley: Relax, take some moo breaths.
• 10:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can look that up on YouTube.
• 10:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: Moo breathing is really helpful.
• 10:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: I.
• 10:05
  Dr. Heather Finley: Let your body know it's safe to go and then support your motility throughout the day as well.
• 10:10
  Dr. Heather Finley: Take bitters before meals.
• 10:12
  Dr. Heather Finley: Ginger tea is great.
• 10:13
  Dr. Heather Finley: Magnesium citrate can be awesome if you are constipated.
• 10:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: Not too much obviously,'cause it can swing the other way.
• 10:20
  Dr. Heather Finley: Walking after meals and then of course, like balancing your minerals.
• 10:24
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if this pattern sounds like you're, you, here is where testing can help.
• 10:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: I think that if, if this is what you're struggling with, HTMA testing can be really helpful because this is usually where we're gonna start because mineral depletion is such a common thread here.
• 10:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: A lot of people stuck in this morning bloat cycle are stressed, they're not sleeping well.
• 10:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: They're probably the like type A overachiever go, go, go type of person and not pooping daily.
• 10:56
  Dr. Heather Finley: So HTMA will give us a window into your stress pattern, your nervous system, mineral status, all of which impact digestion directly.
• 11:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then you could do stool testing as well.
• 11:09
  Dr. Heather Finley: Love this test.
• 11:10
  Dr. Heather Finley: If we're seeing sluggish motility and you possibly have a history of SIBO or long-term constipation, it can give us just a peek at your bacteria, how your digesting food, gut inflammation, your gut immune system, et cetera.
• 11:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: Okay, next up, what does it mean if you don't wake up bloated, but the bloat hits hard an hour or two after you eat?
• 11:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: So that's what we're gonna get into next.
• 11:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: This would be.
• 11:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: The person that feels fine.
• 11:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: When you wake up, you probably wake up not feeling bloated.
• 11:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: Then you eat breakfast and within an hour or two you start getting bloated, if that sounds familiar.
• 11:51
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is kind of that post meal bloating.
• 11:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: It usually tells me there's something going on with how well or not well, you are actually breaking down your food, so when bloating hits about an hour or two after eating, this is always.
• 12:07
  Dr. Heather Finley: Almost a sign of low stomach acid, poor enzyme output, or you're just not breaking down your food properly.
• 12:13
  Dr. Heather Finley: There could be liver, gallbladder components here, especially if you don't have a gallbladder or you have sluggish gallbladder symptoms.
• 12:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: So this could be because your digestion is under supported, or it could also be linked to things like h pylori.
• 12:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: Which is a common bacterial infection that suppresses stomach acid.
• 12:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: So this happens because when stomach acid is a low, which you're probably thinking don't, most people have high stomach acid.
• 12:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: The answer to that is no.
• 12:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: A lot of our clients think they have too much stomach acid, even if they have reflux, and it's actually low.
• 12:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if your stomach acid is low, food will sit in your stomach longer than it should, and instead of getting churned up and broken down like it's supposed to, it just kind of hangs out.
• 13:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: And when food finally moves downstream into your small intestine, it's just not ready.
• 13:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: So that's when fermentation kicks in.
• 13:09
  Dr. Heather Finley: You get bloating, you get gas, you get discomfort.
• 13:13
  Dr. Heather Finley: Stress is also a major player here, so remember that digestion is a parasympathetic a k, a rest and digest activity.
• 13:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if you're scarfing down your meals in five minutes while answering emails and feeding your kids and scrolling Instagram.
• 13:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: Watching true crime, whatever it is, sitting in traffic, your body is not prioritizing stomach acid production and enzyme release because it doesn't know the difference between a chaotic meal or being chased by a bear.
• 13:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: So let's be real.
• 13:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: Most of us eat in a very stressed state without even realizing it.
• 13:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: I've mentioned this on podcasts before, but if you have kids and you're thinking, LOL, there is no way that I'm gonna be able to eat dinner without stress.
• 13:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'm right there with you.
• 14:00
  Dr. Heather Finley: One of the best things that you can do is get your kids involved.
• 14:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: So we love having our kids.
• 14:07
  Dr. Heather Finley: Lead the breathing exercises before dinner.
• 14:11
  Dr. Heather Finley: We'll have somebody say a prayer and then someone else will lead the breathing exercises.
• 14:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: And as silly as that sounds, they now like, look forward to it.
• 14:20
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's our pre-meal ritual.
• 14:23
  Dr. Heather Finley: My in-laws will even do it when they come over.
• 14:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: So.
• 14:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: Get everybody involved, and it just becomes a part of the routine.
• 14:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: And even if everything goes haywire after that, at least you've got your body in a state of rest and digest for a minute and helped your digestion.
• 14:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: Sometimes this pattern also happens because you're eating too fast or not chewing well enough.
• 14:45
  Dr. Heather Finley: Digestion starts in your mouth.
• 14:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if you're inhaling your food, you're making stomach acid work over time, so you wanna slow down.
• 14:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: So kind of a recap, how to know if this is you.
• 14:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: Bloating one to two hours after meals.
• 15:00
  Dr. Heather Finley: You might feel heaviness, fullness, pressure in the upper belly or under your ribs.
• 15:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: You might feel super full after just normal sized meals due to low stomach acid and just slow motility.
• 15:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: You might be burping a lot.
• 15:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: You might feel full, but still hungry if you're thinking.
• 15:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: How is that possible if you've experienced it?
• 15:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: You know what I'm talking about?
• 15:23
  Dr. Heather Finley: You might even see undigested food in your stool, especially like vegetable fibers or grains.
• 15:31
  Dr. Heather Finley: You might have reflux or heartburn symptoms that can be pretty common here too.
• 15:35
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then if h pylori is involved, you might feel nauseous or you might have bad breath.
• 15:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: So here's what you can do about it.
• 15:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: Slow down.
• 15:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: I mentioned this earlier, but chew your food until it's basically mush before swallowing.
• 15:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: I know that sounds so simple, but most people are wildly under chewing.
• 15:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: They take like three chews and then they swallow.
• 15:56
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'm guilty of this as well.
• 15:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: We all are.
• 15:59
  Dr. Heather Finley: So slow down.
• 16:00
  Dr. Heather Finley: Add some bitter foods or digestive bitters to your meals.
• 16:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: So think like arugula, radish, ginger, lemon, liquid bitters can be helpful as well.
• 16:10
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is gonna help to stimulate stomach acid and overall digestion.
• 16:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: You may want to support your stomach acid with enzymes depending on your situation.
• 16:20
  Dr. Heather Finley: I would always recommend working with a practitioner for this because this could look like a lot of different things.
• 16:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: Digestive Bitters, HCL, digestive enzymes.
• 16:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: These are tools, not forever solutions, so you'd wanna make sure you're taking the right thing for you.
• 16:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then lastly, eat in a relaxed state.
• 16:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: So take three to five deep breaths.
• 16:40
  Dr. Heather Finley: Put your phone down.
• 16:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: This truly matters.
• 16:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: It might be helpful to test the GI map can be more helpful in this case when we can see things like h pylori infections, we can actually see your pancreatic output.
• 16:57
  Dr. Heather Finley: We can look at other digestive related imbalances as well.
• 17:02
  Dr. Heather Finley: The HTMA is gonna be helpful.
• 17:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: Minerals like potassium, sodium, zinc are critical for stomach acid production.
• 17:10
  Dr. Heather Finley: And low potassium is just one of those sneaky signs that we see all the time on HTMA that can directly impact your ability to break down food.
• 17:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is also where mineral depletion ties into why digestion is struggling in the first place.
• 17:28
  Dr. Heather Finley: So we've covered bloating, waking up, bloated, bloating after meals, but if your pattern is totally fine in the morning and then progressively more bloated as the day goes on until you feel like you need maternity leggings by dinner time.
• 17:45
  Dr. Heather Finley: That is our next pattern, and it tells us something actually totally different.
• 17:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: Before we move on to that end of day bloating pattern, we have to continue talking about minerals because I know some of you are listening to this like, okay, how they're cool.
• 18:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'll support my digestion.
• 18:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'll support my stomach acid, but I'm also drinking a gallon of plain water a day.
• 18:07
  Dr. Heather Finley: I still feel bloated, tired.
• 18:09
  Dr. Heather Finley: Nothing's improving, and I totally get it because I used to feel that way too.
• 18:13
  Dr. Heather Finley: But the thing is, hydration is not about water.
• 18:17
  Dr. Heather Finley: You need minerals.
• 18:18
  Dr. Heather Finley: Like sodium, potassium, magnesium to actually absorb and use that water inside your cells.
• 18:24
  Dr. Heather Finley: That is why I am a huge fan of Element T or Element.
• 18:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: It is an electrolyte drink that makes it really easy to get those minerals in without a ton of sugar or weird ingredients.
• 18:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if I am not taking my custom mineral blend, I love starting my morning with Element T.
• 18:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: Especially on days when I wake up feeling puffy or sluggish or I just know I didn't sleep well.
• 18:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: Which can happen quite a bit right now, having three kids and a baby.
• 18:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: So right now Element is giving my podcast listeners a free sample pack with any purchase so you can try all the flavors and find your favorite, which is great.
• 19:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: My current go-to.
• 19:05
  Dr. Heather Finley: Is the raspberry salt.
• 19:07
  Dr. Heather Finley: I love drinking this one with some sparkling water and a little bit of lime juice as a little mocktail, especially in the afternoon.
• 19:15
  Dr. Heather Finley: I also love the chocolate salt in warm water at the end of the day as like a little hot chocolate.
• 19:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: Sometimes I'll put it in iced coffee as well.
• 19:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: Just sprinkle a little bit of it in my iced coffee and it takes super good.
• 19:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: So you just have to trust me on that one.
• 19:31
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you want to try Element Tea, you can go to Dr.
• 19:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: Heather finley.co/lt and I'll drop that link in the show notes too.
• 19:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: All right, next up is probably the most common bloating pattern I see in clients.
• 19:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is you wake up feeling pretty good.
• 19:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: The day goes on, the bloat just keeps building and building, and by dinner you're Googling our maternity leggings.
• 19:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: Socially acceptable for non-pregnant women.
• 20:02
  Dr. Heather Finley: Trust me, I have been there and so many of our clients have, we have had several clients that tell me, I have my morning pants and I have my afternoon pants.
• 20:10
  Dr. Heather Finley: And as sad as that sounds, it's the reality of really terrible progressive bloat.
• 20:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: So this progressive bloat usually means a sign of dysbiosis in the gut.
• 20:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: So.
• 20:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: An imbalance of gut bacteria.
• 20:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: It can also indicate sluggish, motility, or intestinal permeability as well.
• 20:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: What many people know as quote unquote leaky gut.
• 20:33
  Dr. Heather Finley: And honestly, blood sugar issues and stress can layer on top of all of this.
• 20:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: This can be referred to as like the stress layer cake, so adding more stress to your body, whether it's.
• 20:45
  Dr. Heather Finley: Actual stress from like your job or whatever it might be, or just all these things adding stress to your body, blood sugar issues, dysbiosis, et cetera.
• 20:56
  Dr. Heather Finley: So this happens because throughout the day, everything you eat is feeding your gut bacteria, which is not a bad thing.
• 21:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: We do want that.
• 21:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: But if bacterial balance is off, especially in your large intestine or small intestine as well, or your gut motility is slow, you are going to get a big buildup of fermentation, which equals gas, which equals bloating, and before you automatically think sibo, remember this pattern doesn't always mean bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine.
• 21:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: Dysbiosis can also happen anywhere, in the gut, so it can be in the large intestine too.
• 21:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: Like I said earlier, blood sugar swings will also play a big role here.
• 21:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if you're skipping meals and you're undereating throughout the day, or you're loading up on fiber into one giant smoothie or salad, your digestion might be getting overwhelmed later on.
• 21:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: Fiber is awesome.
• 21:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: Most people need more fiber.
• 21:55
  Dr. Heather Finley: But more is not always more.
• 21:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: Your gut likes it spread throughout the day, not one, just gigantic fiber bomb at lunch.
• 22:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: So how to know if this is you.
• 22:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: You might have a flat or normal stomach in the morning.
• 22:10
  Dr. Heather Finley: You might feel more, more bloated with carbs or fiber or larger meals.
• 22:15
  Dr. Heather Finley: You might have bloating or gassiness that increases as the day goes on.
• 22:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: You might have that six months pregnant by bedtime.
• 22:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: Look, sometimes needing to unbutton your pants.
• 22:24
  Dr. Heather Finley: We've all been there.
• 22:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: So here's what you can do about it.
• 22:28
  Dr. Heather Finley: Number one, focused on balanced meals.
• 22:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: Make sure you're getting protein, fat, fiber, and color.
• 22:33
  Dr. Heather Finley: That's what we teach our clients, PFFC, at every meal.
• 22:37
  Dr. Heather Finley: To stabilize blood sugar, you can walk after meals.
• 22:40
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is one of the easiest ways that you can support motility and reduce bloating.
• 22:45
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can consider using things like bitters, ginger, tea, magnesium at night if your motility is sluggish.
• 22:51
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can watch your fiber timing, so do not o overload all your fiber into one meal and spread it out, and then support your nervous system throughout the day, not just at bedtime.
• 23:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: These would be some baseline things that you would want to do, and then of course, you can get into the weeds with actually rebalancing gut bacteria, et cetera.
• 23:11
  Dr. Heather Finley: But you really wouldn't wanna do that without testing.
• 23:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: I don't wanna bomb your gut with antimicrobials or various probiotics without actually knowing if you need it.
• 23:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: We have so many clients that go to their doctor.
• 23:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: And they're told, oh, you just have sibo.
• 23:28
  Dr. Heather Finley: And they take antibiotics and they feel better, and then their symptoms come right back because they didn't actually have sibo, they had other stuff going on in their large intestine that needed to be addressed as well.
• 23:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: So this is where the GI map can actually be really helpful.
• 23:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's a great test to just see bacterial patterns, inflammation, enzyme output that could be.
• 23:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: Causing some of this.
• 23:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can also look into an HTMA if you're seeing a lot of stress patterns for lows, patterns, chronic undereating history, and just depletion that's slowing down digestion.
• 24:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: Alright, last and probably the most shocking bloating pattern of all is when water bloats you.
• 24:11
  Dr. Heather Finley: So let's talk about it.
• 24:13
  Dr. Heather Finley: This feels personal because when it started happening to me, I was like, great, what am I supposed to do now?
• 24:20
  Dr. Heather Finley: My body isn't even tolerating water.
• 24:23
  Dr. Heather Finley: Um, I promise you are not broken.
• 24:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's just information every time you're having symptoms.
• 24:28
  Dr. Heather Finley: As frustrating as they might be, it's just your body giving you information and so you can either push against that information or you can lean into.
• 24:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: What information is this communicating to me and how am I going to address it?
• 24:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: So this can happen from histamine issues, electrolyte imbalances, intestinal permeability, or otherwise known as leaky gut.
• 24:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then surprise, surprise, stress definitely plays a role here as well.
• 24:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: So histamine intolerance can be a part of this because your body can react to all sorts of things.
• 25:05
  Dr. Heather Finley: Um, histamine related wine, fermented foods, and even plain water if your gut lining is irritated or inflamed.
• 25:13
  Dr. Heather Finley: Electrolyte imbalances is another huge one.
• 25:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you're drinking tons of plain water, like I mentioned earlier, but you're not replacing your minerals, you're just diluting your electrolytes even more.
• 25:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: And this can definitely impact bloat and swelling.
• 25:28
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then if you do have intestinal permeability, which likely, if you were listening to this podcast, you have some level of it.
• 25:35
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is like an inflamed gut lining that's just extra sensitive to anything coming through.
• 25:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you're bloated after plain water, if you're worse after fermented foods like wine, bone broth, leftovers, if you have other histamine symptoms like itching or flushing or runny nose or headaches, and then if you feel better with electrolytes or mineral rich drinks, which most people do.
• 25:59
  Dr. Heather Finley: Then that could be a sign that you know that these things could possibly be at play for you.
• 26:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: So what to do about it?
• 26:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: Add minerals to your water, even if it's just a pinch of sea salt, like Celtic salt in the morning.
• 26:13
  Dr. Heather Finley: Experiment with natural antihistamines like nettles, tea nettles are super mineral rich, so this is really just a win-win overall.
• 26:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: Nettles is a great option.
• 26:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: To either drink hot, you can cold brew it however you like it.
• 26:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can support your gut lining with things like immunoglobulins, collagen, glutamine would definitely recommend working with the practitioner to figure out what's gonna be best for you.
• 26:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can focus on meal hygiene, so of course nobody is not gonna benefit from this.
• 26:46
  Dr. Heather Finley: Slowing down, chewing, eating in a relaxed state.
• 26:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then again, stress management really is everything because of the connection between the gut and the brain, rest and digest, et cetera.
• 26:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: So when it comes to testing, you know, a lot of the tests that I've mentioned can be really helpful.
• 27:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: If this is the case, if your body is just so reactive, a GI map is gonna look at inflammation markers like calprotectin.
• 27:12
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's gonna look at Secretary iga, which gives us clues about your gut immune system.
• 27:17
  Dr. Heather Finley: It will also look at some.
• 27:20
  Dr. Heather Finley: Other immune related markers and some histamine related markers.
• 27:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: So there's a marker on here called eosinophil activation protein, and then an HTMA as well can look at electrolyte balance and mineral ratios and stress patterns.
• 27:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: So now that we've covered.
• 27:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: All these patterns of bloating and what they mean.
• 27:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: The biggest question I always get is when should I test and when can I just focus on the foundations without starting with labs?
• 27:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: So that's what I wanna end this episode with.
• 27:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: And after hearing all these different bloating patterns, you might be wondering, do I need testing or can I fix this on my own?
• 27:59
  Dr. Heather Finley: And that's honestly such a good question because I do think that some people jump to testing way too soon.
• 28:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: Or you go to a provider and they don't even get you on some foundational support before all of a sudden you're jumping right into like a SIBO protocol.
• 28:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: And so that's where.
• 28:18
  Dr. Heather Finley: I would say you probably don't need testing or a fancy protocol if you haven't worked on foundations.
• 28:27
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you aren't balancing your blood sugar or eating enough and eating regularly, if you're not supporting your sleep, none of this has to be perfect.
• 28:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: But if you're not making an effort to get good sleep, if you're not managing your stress, if you are not slowing down at meals and chewing your food.
• 28:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then if you're not supporting your minerals or just digestion and motility, with some of the more, just natural ways then.
• 28:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: I wouldn't jump straight into testing unless you were solely 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 to work on foundations.
• 29:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: And I, I say that with love.
• 29:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you've had no major gut trauma, like antibiotic use or long-term birth control, or a mold exposure or sibo.
• 29:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: And you haven't worked on the basics.
• 29:18
  Dr. Heather Finley: I would always start with foundations.
• 29:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: We always explain it to our clients, like building a house.
• 29:23
  Dr. Heather Finley: We, of course, get really excited about the fancy wallpaper that we're gonna put up, but if you haven't poured the foundation, then you're never gonna be able to put the wallpaper up.
• 29:33
  Dr. Heather Finley: And so we have to think of some of these foundations just like that.
• 29:37
  Dr. Heather Finley: But testing really can save you time.
• 29:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you've worked on all these things, you're eating enough, you've got minerals on board, you're managing stress as best as you can, and you're still bloated all the time.
• 29:51
  Dr. Heather Finley: Maybe there's literally no pattern to your bloating.
• 29:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's random, it's severe, it's confusing.
• 29:56
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is when testing can be a game changer, especially if you have a history of antibiotic use, birth control for years, sibo, anogen overgrowth, gut trauma, head injury, or restrictive dieting that could have altered your gut environment.
• 30:12
  Dr. Heather Finley: Testing can really help us.
• 30:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: Give, give us the roadmap to figure out what's really going on.
• 30:20
  Dr. Heather Finley: So the two or three tests that I think can be helpful, which is gonna vary by the individual on order and you know which tests, but I.
• 30:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: HTMA is where we almost always start because minerals are really just foundational to every system in the body, and especially if you're having really severe motility issues.
• 30:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: And a lot of the stuff that I talked about in this episode, then it's gonna tell us a lot about your stress patterns, how well your nervous system is functioning, all of which impact digestion and motility.
• 30:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: The GI Map can be great to layer onto that because it will tell us about bacterial imbalances, pathogens, h pylori, how you're digesting food.
• 31:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: So this can be a go-to.
• 31:05
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then sometimes you just need some basic blood work as well.
• 31:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: So looking at Iron labs, because low iron will also slow gut motility, thyroid labs because your thyroid is directly connected to gut function.
• 31:18
  Dr. Heather Finley: So this can be helpful depending on your.
• 31:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: Particular case.
• 31:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: All right.
• 31:23
  Dr. Heather Finley: Here's what I want you to remember from today.
• 31:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: Bloating is a symptom, not the problem.
• 31:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: Your body is not trying to annoy you or sabotage you.
• 31:33
  Dr. Heather Finley: It is trying to tell you something.
• 31:35
  Dr. Heather Finley: And once you learn how to listen, whether that's noticing when you're bloating shows up, supporting your digestion, or just deeper with testing, things can change.
• 31:45
  Dr. Heather Finley: Bloating should be the exception, not your everyday experience, and that's 100%.
• 31:51
  Dr. Heather Finley: Possible.
• 31:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if this episode was helpful, I would love for you to screenshot it, share it to your stories, and tag me.
• 32:00
  Dr. Heather Finley: I love seeing what's resonating with you and chatting with you over on Instagram.
• 32:05
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then if you are ready to skip the guessing game and just get to the bottom of your bloating once and for all, that is exactly what we do inside gut.
• 32:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: Together we combine testing like HTMA and GI Map with one-on-one coaching and protocols to help you really, truly address this without obsessing over every bite of food.
• 32:27
  Dr. Heather Finley: So you can learn more and apply@gottogetherprogram.com.
• 32:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: I will link that in the show notes as well.
• 32:32
  Dr. Heather Finley: But thanks for hanging out with me today.
• 32:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: I will see you on the next episode of the Love Your Gut podcast.