As if hot flashes, weight gain, brain fog, irritability, loss of libido, thinning hair, and sleeping problems weren’t enough to ruin your every waking moment during your menopause journey, let’s add an extra special treat for you – the menopausal bloat.
If you are in the throes of this midlife craziness, you are very likely to know exactly what I mean.
Bloating can occur for a variety of reasons including food intolerances, stress, smoking or simply swallowing too much air when you are eating. However, the risk of it happening during menopause is increased dramatically, specifically during the early stages of perimenopause. This is the time when your unbalanced, ‘overly-sensitive’ hormones are changing fast and furiously (if only in real life it was as glamorous as in the Hollywood movies) and it is this rapid change in increased Estrogen levels which is to blame for water retention in the body, resulting in menopausal bloating.
Top Tips To Overcome Menopausal Bloating
Of course there is anti-bloating medication such as diuretics, liver salts, birth control pills and HRT which are all thought to help. Peppermint, fennel and chamomile oils and teas are also good natural alternatives.
However, for the best results, making various lifestyle adjustments is the way to go to significantly reduce menopausal bloating.
Dietary Changes: Cut out those foods and drinks that you recognise cause you bloating. For each and everyone of us, these vary but include fat-ladened foodstuffs, certain veggies (like cabbage), salad items, heavily processed food as well as high sugar and salt items. Listen to your body and hear what it is telling you, it will let you know what doesn’t sit right.
Move More Often: If possible, do some type of exercise every day. If this simply isn’t realistic, try working out at least 3 times a week adopting both strength-training and cardiovascular exercise.
- Top Tip: My sister uses her kitchen island as a ‘walking track’ and often closes all her rings while talking to me on the phone! Granted we can talk, but you get the point. Just step! Just move!
Get Upside Down: On my quest to perfect a yoga headstand, I found that going upside down helped relieve gas build-up and ultimately reduced the bloat. Why not give it a go?!
Ditch the Gum & Fizzy Drinks: Both of these guilty culprits are responsible for filling your abdomen with extra air leaving you with an unwanted bloat.
Quit Cigarettes and Beer. Both smoking and alcohol have been shown to increase bloating. Cut them out. Anyway, just cut them out….they’re not your friends during menopause – so get rid!
Stay Hydrated: Ensure you drink plenty of water to minimise the bloat. Whether it’s pure water or cleansing herbal teas, this will make sure your GI tract remains calm and balanced keeping menopausal bloat at bay.
Intermittent Fasting: Give your body a break and let it rest. Giving the digestive system a long break (e.g. 10-14 hours) can help prevent future bloating and help your system reset. Try to limit your food intake to a 10-12 hour window, daily if possible but 3-5 times a week is also a great start.
Is It Menopausal Bloat Or Weight Gain?
Something to be mindful of is that during perimenopause and menopause, the changes in your hormones may cause weight gain more quickly than usual, especially around your belly area. However, we can’t just pin this on the menopause as other factors play out such as aging, lifestyle behaviors, and genetics.
Gaining weight during menopause is almost inevitable, but with certain lifestyle tweaks, you can help avoid the extra unwanted pounds. Those extra pounds elevate the risk of developing other unwanted health ailments such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.
Focus on eating a well-balanced diet, exercise and being kind to yourself when it comes to sleep.
Bye Bye Bloat
The good news is that once the extreme hormonal changes that occur during menopause start to wane and your hormones don’t fluctuate as much, bloating is less likely to occur.
Good luck ladies navigating the menopausal belly bloat – this is not an easy one to overcome but I am sure you are doing your absolute best!
#strongarmemoji
#challengingmenopause
