Do You Look Bloated? Avoid These 3 Foods to Beat the Bloat

Holiday pictures are right around those corner….those office Christmas parties and New Year’s Eve celebration photos just waiting to be snapped.

I know you don’t want to look bloated, so I am going to give you 3 foods to avoid, and 3 foods to eat instead.

And besides holiday temptations, around the holidays people tend to be more stressed out anyways due to family obligations and end of the year deadlines and eat things that cause them to bloat…and being bloated drains your energy.

So here are 3 foods to avoid so you can keep your energy up, and keep a double chin and bloated belly at bay.

Belly Bloaters:

1. Frozen Dinners: Sodium is usually added to most frozen dinners to increase shelf life and boost flavor, but they usually have WAY too much sodium for a single serving and they can cause you to retain water and feel bloated.

2. Beer: Beer is carbonated, so it will bloat your belly….and research has shown that alcohol can cause an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine, which also causes belly inflation.

3. Diet Soft Drinks: Besides being carbonated like beers, diet soft drinks are full of artificial sweeteners that your body has a lot of difficulty digesting, which causes even more bloating.

Try to avoid frozen dinners, beer, and diet soft drinks for the month of December…and save room for all of the delicious foods that will be waiting for you during the holiday parties and family dinners.

Here are some things to eat instead:

Bloat Beaters:

1. Bananas: Bananas are packed with potassium, which acts as an antidote to the bloating effects of sodium. If you had some really salty food and are feeling gassy and bloated, grab a banana and watch the bloat disappear.

2. Peppermint: Peppermint has been shown in studies to help fight off cramping and gas and is a great stomach soother. The next time you are feeling gassy or have an upset tummy, make yourself a cup of peppermint tea. It’s great for these cold winter months also.

3. Cucumber: Cucumbers are perhaps the best bloat beaters out there because they contain quercetin, which reduces swelling and is a great anti-inflammatory. Make a simple cucumber salad or cut up some cucumber pieces and add it to a glass of water for a quick and refreshing drink.

Hope you found these tips useful….my favorite belly bloat trick is the one I mentioned above…adding cucumber pieces to water.

I like to take a big bottle of water with me everywhere I go, and adding cucumber gives it a delicious flavor and I find myself drinking more water because of it.