What should you know about stop gas and bloating?

Gas forms when swallowed air and normal gut bacteria move through the digestive system. Bloating is a feeling of fullness or visible abdominal swelling. Eating quickly, fizzy drinks, constipation, chewing gum, and some carbohydrates can increase symptoms.

Recurring bloating may accompany Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Lactose Intolerance, Food Intolerance, Coeliac Disease, Giardiasis, or Helicobacter Pylori Infection. A food diary can show links, but removing several food groups without advice can create nutritional gaps and make the pattern harder to interpret.

Eat slowly, chew well, choose smaller portions, and reduce fizzy drinks and habits that make you swallow air. Gentle walking after meals may help movement through the bowel. Add fibre gradually and drink enough fluid, because a sudden fibre increase can temporarily worsen gas.

Record meals, bowel movements, pain, stress, and symptoms for a short period. Do not begin a strict elimination diet on your own. Nutrition Counselling can help you test a suspected trigger while keeping meals balanced and ensuring that important diagnoses are not obscured.

Seek urgent help for severe or rapidly worsening abdominal pain, a hard swollen abdomen with vomiting, blood in stool, black stool, fainting, or inability to pass stool or gas. Arrange a medical review for persistent bloating, unintentional weight loss, ongoing diarrhoea, repeated vomiting, or symptoms that wake you at night.

Ask whether constipation, intolerance, infection, or another digestive condition could explain the pattern, whether tests are needed, and how to change foods without losing key nutrients.