You try hard to eat well and get in your workouts, but you still struggle to get the flat belly you long for.
You know what to do and even wake up some days with a flat(ter) belly, only to find by mid-day you need to unbutton your pants to accommodate belly bloat.
During the week you eat well, but when the weekend comes all of that healthy eating and planning goes out the window. This is when brain fog, exhaustion, and the emotional roller coaster kick in.
So what can you do to banish belly bloat, skyrocket energy levels, even out your moods, and YES…button those favorite jeans?
Check out and apply these 5 belly bloat banishing tricks to get the flat belly you deserve.
This post was written by Amy Lewis – you can read more about her in her bio below.
Drink More Water
Hydration is key, not only to overall health, but to gut health specifically. Water consumption allows for proper elimination. When we are dehydrated, everything slows down, including our digestive system, which can lead to constipation and belly bloat. You’ll want to drink plenty of water to encourage proper elimination and flatten your belly.
How much water should you drink? You’ll want to consume half your body weight in ounces of water. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, you’ll want to drink 100 ounces of water per day.
Breathe
This one sounds simple, after all, we must breathe to live, right? With busy schedules and the daily stressors we face, often we “forget” to breathe. When we take deep, deliberate breaths, we slow our heart rate down, reduce stress and panic, and ultimately we can’t help but calm ourselves and de-stress.
High-stress levels make it close to impossible to flatten your belly and get in the shape you desire. Stress hormones mess with our digestion and metabolism. When we have digestive strife, belly bloat happens.
Take a few minutes upon waking (1-3 minute is plenty) to take slow, mindful, deep breaths. Breathe all the way into your belly, feel the rise and fall of your chest and belly. Notice where your stress levels are before and after deep breathing. The cool thing is, you can stop at any point in your day and incorporate deep breathing for stress relief. Go ahead, give it a try.
Exercise
Exercise helps increase blood flow throughout the body. Increasing your hear rate, and your blood flow through movement can have a positive effect on digestion. Going for a walk, biking, or doing gently yoga poses helps to get things moving in your gut.
Adding exercise into your routine will not only help reduce belly bloat, but will increase overall health, and give you more energy to get through your day.
Try starting your day with simple stretches, go for a walk after meals, and fit in a more vigorous workout several times a week.
Probiotics
Probiotics fill your gut with good bacteria, allowing the gut flora to balance out and the digestive system to function optimally. Probiotics contain healthy bacteria in the form of a live culture to help break down the foods you eat and combat the “bad” bacteria.
A host of habits leads to “bad” bacterial overgrowth causing poor digestion, gas and bloating. Poor eating habits and stress are just two practices that lead to an imbalanced gut.
Ideally, we want an 80/20 split of “good” vs. “bad” bacteria in the gut. Adding a probiotic to your routine will do this for you over time. Be sure to look for a live culture, something that gets to your get still living for optimal results.
Keep A Food Journal
In our modern go, go, go world we often find ourselves grabbing on-the-go meals and snacks. Because we’ve got so much on our minds, we often eat without really paying attention to what we’re putting into our systems.
Slowing down and taking the time to track our meals brings awareness to how we are fueling our bodies. This helps us do the detective work to figure out what is contributing to belly bloat.
Try tracking your meals for a minimum of 3 days. Write down everything that passes your lips, foods, and beverages. In addition, track how you feel physically, mentally, and emotionally. Then take the time to notice any patterns that arise.
Eliminate The Following From Your Diet
Sugar: you’re probably already aware that sugar is harmful to your health. It causes tooth decay, depression of the immune system, and it can cause an explosion of “bad” bacteria in the gut leading to excess gas and uncomfortable bloating.
you’re probably already aware that sugar is harmful to your health. It causes tooth decay, depression of the immune system, and it can cause an explosion of “bad” bacteria in the gut leading to excess gas and uncomfortable bloating.
Try eliminating all forms of sugar from your diet, start with just 48 hours and when you feel great, you’ll want to continue kicking the sugar habit.
*If you’re a sugar junkie you may very well suffer some withdrawal symptoms, headaches, sluggishness…don’t worry, stay the course and banish your belly bloat by avoiding all sugars.
Have some vegetable glycerin on hand (you can find this at your local health food store or on line at Amazon.com) to combat the sugar cravings. Simply place drops of the vegetable glycerin on your tongue (you can use as much as you need) and you’ll be amazed how your sugar cravings are curbed.
Dairy:
Many people these days have trouble digesting lactose, the sugar found in milk. Folks who can’t process dairy are missing the enzyme necessary to break the lactose down. Without the necessary enzymes for digestion, excess gas and bloating occur.
Try eliminating all forms of dairy from your diet starting with just 48 hours and working from there.
Experiment with dairy alternatives like Almond Milk (we use Silk, Unsweetened Original Almond Milk) or rice milk. Be wary of trying processed cheese alternatives. You won’t want to trade one bloating culprit for another.
Wheat and Gluten:
Some people have a hard time digesting carbohydrates, including wheat. This leads to gas and uncomfortable bloating. Other people have a sensitivity to gluten, a catch-all name for the proteins found in whole wheat, barley, rye, and even oats (unless processed in a gluten-free facility). The sensitivity or intolerance causes gas, bloating, abdominal discomfort, along with a host of other symptoms like brain fog, depression, joint pain, and sluggishness, to name a few.
Try eliminating wheat for 48 hours to start. If you’re a sandwich eater, try wrapping your sandwich fixings with Romaine lettuce instead, or a check out the gluten free breads available at your local grocer. Enjoy Life makes a great brown rice wrap that is fantastic for wrapping sandwich fixings, or baking longer and making rice chips. Check out the alternatives and focus on how you are feeling instead of what you are missing out on.
Use the steps above to eliminate belly bloat and get the flat belly you deserve.
You can do it! I believe in you.
For more guidance and support on your journey toward a flat belly and optimal gut health, check out The 21-Day Belly Bloat Solution.
By Amy Lewis 
Amy Lewis is a fitness and nutrition expert with decades of experience helping people make positive, impactful changes.
She holds a Masters Degree in Education and taught for 10 years before taking her knowledge full time into the health and fitness world.
Amy’s academic training is in nutrition, exercise science, fitness assessment, exercise programming, and instructional techniques. She holds a plethora of certifications in the fitness industry and takes her role as a gut health expert seriously.
Amy established Fusion Fitness by Amy Lewis in the heart of the Green Mountains, Killington, Vermont — blending together her professional approaches to results-oriented nutrition, fitness and mindset.
She has taken her passion for fitness, nutrition, and changing lives online with Amy Lewis Health Solutions, offering health solutions to accommodate people around the world.
In addition, Amy has developed a unique program for improving gut health, skyrocketing energy levels, banishing belly bloat, getting rid of brain fog and even leveling out moods.
Her 20-year battle with Crohn’s Disease, belly bloat, depression, anxiety, lethargy, and brain fog came to an end with the exact methods Amy shares through her scientific, research based work.
Amy also shares her knowledge and expertise with communities through seminars, classes, and online venues. Nothing inspires her more than helping people achieve optimal health and fitness so that they can live life to the fullest with the energy and enthusiasm to do so.
Amy lives in the beautiful Green Mountains with her husband Dave and children Charlie (13) and Sadie (9). She enjoys the ability to reach out to the larger world community while living a life style that suits her health and fitness needs and the ability to spend time with her family.