Belly bloat feels like a curse. Especially if your health and weight loss goals include a flatter tummy and smaller pant size.
You could eat really healthy, log every calorie and exercise your heart out, but on those belly bloat days, no matter the effort, your pants feel tight, the scale reads high.
It may make you feel like you want to give up. After all, what’s the point of trying if you can’t get results!
Worse yet you start to believe your destined to put on the belly fat because you’ve hit perimenopause or menopause. As if this is the beginning of the end.
But that’s simply not true.
I don’t need to tell you that the body changes during perimenopause and menopause, YES!
Hormones will fluctuate and the fluctuations will dictate weight gain, belly fat and belly bloat.
Even during post menopause hormone levels shift, your body adapts to a new estrogen low and your fitness, and nutrition need to adapt to this new norm.
But when you eat and exercise not only to balance hormones but to adapt to your new hormone levels, that’s when the magic happens.
Your health thrives
Your energy increases and belly bloat flattens out.
Here are 2 Simple Strategies to Combat Belly Bloat, not only during Perimenopause & Menopause when hormones continue to shift, but you can continue to use these strategies well into post menopause in order to live in harmony with your new hormone levels once perimenopause and menopause are complete.
Reduce Sodium to Combat Belly Bloat & Protect your Heart:
Estrogen and progesterone levels affect water retention which causes belly bloat.
Starting in perimenopause, estrogen and progesterone become unbalanced.
Estrogen drops, but it can also rise as the body compensates for the drop in progesterone production.
This explains sudden and unexplainable feelings of belly bloat, even when you’ve eaten healthy and exercised.
Once Menopause hits, estrogen levels drop to a new low.
Low estrogen increases sodium sensitivity. You become more sensitive to the effects of salt.
This is the time to be exceptionally careful with salt intake. Even if you’ve never had a history of high blood pressure, or if you’re new to ongoing symptoms of bloating, then menopause may have made you more sensitive to sodium.
Solution: Reduce the amount of sodium you eat for 1 week. Then record how it makes you feel.
Are you less bloated? Do your rings fit again? Are your shoes fitting more easily? Have you noticed a decline in your blood pressure?
A small shift in blood pressure that shows a drop of as little as 10 percent is a tell tail sign you’re sodium sensitive and reducing your sodium can help, not only flatten the stomach, but increase your heart health too.
As a general guideline, reduce your sodium intake to between 1,500mg to a maximum of 2,000mg a day.
Food logs give great insight into how much of a nutrient you’re eating. Write down the amount of sodium you eat throughout the day and record how it makes you feel.
If you Need a FREE Food Log to Record your Sodium & Fibre Click Here: aliciajoneshealthyliving.com/foodlogs
Impact Digestion to Reduce Belly Bloat:
During perimenopause and menopause stomach symptoms you’ve only occasionally experienced in the past tend to increase.
Decreased estrogen and progesterone reduces gastric emptying (how quickly food moves out of your stomach), and reduces gut motility (how quickly food moves through your entire digestive system causing bloat.
Food may ferment in the gut, or in the intestine causing major belly bloat, pain and discomfort.
Solution: Cardio, Fibre and lots of water create less belly bloat and a reduced risk of some cancers
Much like your heart contracts and expands during cardio, your intestines are also contracting and expanding which helps to push out waste, reduce your risk of cancer and reduce belly bloat associated with constipation.
In other words, cardio creates a natural increase in intestinal motility which allows food to pass freely through your digestive tract.
Couple that with a high fibre diet rich in whole grains, dark leafy greens and bran, and you’re good to go.
Of course, some fibres bulk up the stool, so to ensure they pass freely through your system, make sure to drink plenty of water.
If symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome add to your belly bloat, the types of fibres you choose will vary depending on your trigger foods.
Research shows that Psyllium is fibre found in grains and breads which produces less belly bloating gas and a reduction in IBS symptoms.
Unlike Sodium ,where you can decrease the amount of salt you eat and notice quick drops in belly bloating, the fibre, cardio, and water combination may take a bit longer,
Especially if you haven’t been eating much fibre.
A gradual increase in fibre weekly is highly suggested. If your body hasn’t adapted to the increase, it may initially have the opposite effect, creating bloating and gas.
By adding these two simple strategies into your healthy nutrition and exercise plan, you’ll be meeting your hormones where they’re at. Your body will respond by reducing belly bloat, releasing fat and improving your health for years to come.
If you Need a FREE Food Log to Record your Sodium & Fibre Click Here: aliciajoneshealthyliving.com/foodlogs