Bloated? Improve Your Digestion with the Hauser Diet
Bloating is an uncomfortable and even painful experience that occurs when gas gets trapped in the intestines. It can be attributed to stress, anxiety, smoking, irritable bowel syndrome, and certain foods that are thought to produce gas. Traditional remedies include eliminating foods such as beans, cruciferous vegetables and soft drinks, taking antacids, eating slowly, and avoiding high-fiber foods. We agree that certain diet changes can help with bloating, but to completely eliminate the problem an individualized diet plan is needed, as different foods will cause bloating in different people. The trick is knowing your Hauser Diet Type®.
What you can do about bloating – Know Your Diet Type
We feel the key reason for bloating is that people are eating foods that do not maximize their bodies’ energy production. Similar to how putting the wrong type of gasoline in your car causes all sorts of sounds coming out of the engine, consuming the wrong type of “fuel” for your body causes basic functioning problems, bloating being a common result. The five Hauser Diet Types are designed to support different types of physiologies, resulting in maximum health and digestion. A person with Lion physiology requires a lot of protein and fat, with minimal carbohydrates, and will not function well on a Giraffe Diet, which is a vegan diet high in carbohydrates and low in protein and fat. Eating the wrong combination of protein, fat, and carbohydrates is a very common cause of GI distress in our patients. Eating according to one’s Hauser Diet Type can ease GI stress and provide a more pleasant eating experience!
Are food sensitivities making you bloated?
Bloating is a symptom we see often in patients who have food sensitivities (delayed food allergies). In addition to Hauser Diet Typing, we test for individual food sensitivities. We often hear our patients skeptically say that they don’t have any food sensitivities because they never notice any reactions after eating or because they have already had previous skin tests for food allergies. Skin tests for food allergies look for an IgE antibody response to food; but we look for a different antibody response to food. The test we use measures the levels of IgG antibodies that are produced against a large number of foods (95 of 190 foods). These IgG antibodies are also referred to as “delayed-response allergies” in that the immune response is not immediate, and can take anywhere from 24 to 72 hours to produce a symptom. When allergenic foods are consumed, the immune cells produce antibodies that act like torpedoes to destroy the invading substance, causing stress in the body. Bloating is one of many symptoms of the GI stress caused by a food allergy.
Consume Fresh Organic Foods
No matter what your individual Diet Type is, we strongly encourages fresh, organic, whole foods in their most natural forms, avoiding foods with chemicals, dyes, fillers, preservatives, and other things that can put your body under stress. Foods with artificial ingredients can easily cause indigestion in the form of bloating as they interfere with the body’s natural process of digesting fresh food sources.
Supplement with Enzymes
In short, enzymes digest your food so that your body can absorb and use it for energy and the thousands of processes occurring in your body. Unfortunately, many foods have been heavily processed, so the naturally occurring enzymes are destroyed, making it harder for our bodies to digest the foods, resulting in undigested food particles in the digestive tract. The Hauser Diet promotes eating primarily fresh, unprocessed foods. Fresh food means it will spoil- fresh vegetables, fruit, meat, etc… Fresh food does not mean the food can sit on a shelf for the next five years without spoiling. Enzyme levels are higher in fresh foods. But even still, some people find that supplementing with digestive enzymes help to prevent bloating.
Add Some Good Bacteria
In addition to a healthy diet plan for bloating, adding a few supplements can help relieve the problem. Living inside of your intestines is a whole host of bacteria. These tiny bacteria help maintain a large portion of your immune system, inhibit viruses and harmful bacteria from entering your body, and ensure the proper breakdown of food. When you undergo stress, eat a poor diet, or take rounds of antibiotics, among other things, bacteria in the gut becomes unbalanced. Once the “good” bacteria level is decreased, it leaves room for “bad” bacteria to take over. A probiotic supplement can restore the good bacteria in your gut so that normal and healthy digestion can occur.
A Patient’s Story
The type of food that you eat affects every part of your body and your bodily functions. Some people’s bodies are just not designed to digest and process certain foods. That’s what one of our patients, Eric, discovered when he went through Diet Typing at our office in Oak Park, Illinois. Eric is a busy physician and works long hours at the hospital. As a result he eats protein bars, cafeteria food, or often skips meals altogether. Eric was hoping to lose some weight and balance his energy levels. He also mentioned that he had a lot of belching, indigestion and bloating– something we figured would be associated with food sensitivities. Since his food sensitivity testing would take a few weeks to come back, we started him on the Otter diet based on his Diet Typing results. We also encouraged Eric to eat fresh foods and discussed some options he could bring with him during his long workdays.
One month later Eric came to see us to review his food allergies. Not only had he lost five pounds and an inch in his waist, he had also noticed a huge difference in his belching and bloating. He was very happy with these results. He still had a few changes to make regarding his food sensitivity results, and he was happy and willing to make them in hopes of additional improvement. He was instructed on how to eliminate and substitute for the couple primary sensitivities he had to dairy and soy, along with continuing to follow the Otter Diet. The results were great – he eliminated his indigestion and bloating and found new energy to get through the day!
If bloating is a problem for you, we encourage you to see how Hauser Diet Typing can give you an individualized healthy diet plan and may lead to an elimination of your uncomfortable GI symptoms, including bloating. We’re happy to see you for a Diet Typing appointment!
REASONS FOR BLOATING:
Eating the Wrong Foods for your Hauser Diet Type: We feel the key reason for bloating is the fact that many people are eating foods that do not maximize their bodies’ energy productivity. In other words, they are eating the wrong foods for their Diet Type. You know what it is like when you put the wrong type of gasoline in your car? You can hear all sorts of sounds coming out of the engine. The same holds true for your body! If you are an Otter who eats like a Monkey, that could be the problem!
Food allergies: Bloating is symptom we see often in patients who have food allergies. For that reason we commonly test our Diet Typing patients for food allergies. Common food allergies include gluten/wheat, dairy, eggs, or a host of other foods. By coming in to Caring Medical and getting a simple blood allergy test done, you can determine if this might be contributing to your problem. Avoiding these foods can alleviate bloating.
Leaky Gut Syndrome: In this case, inflammation of the lining of the gut appears to cause you to have a porous stomach lining. This means that substances can pass more freely between your gut and blood stream, often times due to excessive antibiotic use. Bloating, along with diarrhea, constipation, and abdominal pain may result. At Caring Medical, we can test you for leaky gut and get you on the right foods and dietary supplements that help alleviate it.
IBS: This syndrome can come about from an over active colon. It has many of the same symptoms as Leaky Gut. We feel, however, that IBS is just another name for someone who eats the wrong foods for their Diet Type or need some enzymes to help digest their foods.
Enzyme deficiencies: Enzymes digest your food and allow you to assimilate it. Unfortunately, many foods have been processed so the naturally occurring enzymes have been destroyed, making it harder for our bodies to digest the foods. A good enzyme supplement taken with each meal can eliminate bloating on the spot.
So forget buying the elastic pants or the ones with the adjustable waist bands! By simply finding out the cause of your problems instead of popping antacids and other over-the-counter medications, you can stop stressing over why your stomach seems to grow throughout the day for no apparent reason! Give us a call!
Marion Hauser on TLN’s Live with Jerry Rose with Guest Hostess Sunmee Choi speaking on the topic of Digestive Problems.
