Dec 1, 2009 6:04 am US/Eastern
8 Simple Ways To Reduce Bloating & Stay Thin
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
If your clothes are feeling a little tighter after the long Thanksgiving weekend, you're not alone. The average person gains about one to two pounds this time of year. Fortunately, if you don't feel like trying to lose weight right now, you don't have to.
CBS 2's Dr. Holly Phillips learned eight ways you can look and feel slimmer in just a week.
It's a feeling you never really experienced when you were younger: bloating.
But as we age, it takes longer for food to leave our stomachs, plus air can get trapped there, and that makes clothes tighter around the waist.
The good news is there are simple ways to solve the problem quickly. All you have to do is add or subtract eight simple things from your diet.
The first thing you want to add is fiber, both soluble and insoluble.
"The reason for doing both is of only insoluble fiber, you cause all this water to be held in gut and it stays there and you feel uncomfortable soluble fiber. It's like a 1-2 punch, with a little bit of both, will help to move things through," said dietician Leslie Boncil.
Many foods already have both, like fruit and potatoes. The peel or skin has insoluble fiber, the inside is the soluble fiber. You also get insoluble fiber in bran and soluble in oats.
Now subtract sodium, which makes you retain water and look and feel bloated. Most people eat more than two times the recommended daily amount of sodium, and that doesn't count the high sodium in processed foods we eat – like anything labeled "instant."
"Sodium tends to make the body hold water. Potassium may actually have the opposite effect of helping body lose water," said Boncil.
So add potassium-rich foods like potatoes, bananas, oranges, yogurt, milk, tomato sauce and spinach. But subtract raw produce because it takes up a lot of volume in the stomach. Instead try substituting a big salad with cooked broccoli or cauliflower.
Also, subtract sugar alcohols, like sorbitol, mostly found in gum and mints. They can cause bloating because the body doesn't break them down well and takes in extra air as you're chewing.
Another quick fix to help you slim down: drink more fluids like water and tea. Women should get 90 ounces a day, or eleven 8-ounce cups. Men should get 125 ounces a day, or fifteen 8-ounce cups.
Keep your body healthy also by adding to your diet yogurt with probiotics, the good bacteria in the product that can help with digestion.
And finally, subtract soda because the carbonation can bloat you.
And of course, instead of reaching for the salt shaker, try a dash of Italian spices or just plain pepper.
So a quick recap:
- Add fiber
- Substract sodium
- Add potassium
- Subtract raw produce
- Subtract sugar alcohols
- Drink more fluids
- Eat yogurt with probiotics
- Subtract soda
Other things that lead to bloating include taking certain medications and, believe it or not, stress. For more ways to combat these and other causes,
click here.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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