Chewing gum

 

Munching¹ on a piece of minty fresh gum makes you swallow too much air, which gets trapped in your digestive system causing pressure, bloating and gas. The same thing can happen if you gulp² air when snacking on the run, eating too quickly, talking while eating or drinking from a straw.

 

Rushing your food

 

It is often easy to eat too quickly or on the run especially breakfast and/or lunch if time is short but it can cause bloating. If you eat on the run your body is feeling stressed because you are rushing.

 

The stress response was designed to enable you to either run or fight for your life, during which time digestion³ of food was unlikely, the natural flow of energy is diverted away from your digestive system to your extremities⁴ to give you the energy to run or fight.

 

Your body literally⁵ shuts down your digestive function and food stagnates⁶ and ferments⁷, making you feel bloated and often giving you gas.

 

Stress hormone⁸ cortisol

 

The main reason some people gather more fat around their middle than others is specifically because of the action of the stress hormone cortisol.

 

And if you eat something sugary or fatty as a consequence of the post-stress appetite surge, any weight you gain as a result, will be around your middle. The reason fat targets the middle is because it is close to the liver where it can most quickly be converted back into energy if needed.

 

Lack of sleep

 

People who are sleep deprived have an increased appetite. Inadequate⁹ sleep lowers levels of leptin, a hormone that suppresses appetite, and increases grehlin, a hormone that increases food intake¹⁰ and is thought to play a role in long-term regulation of body weight. All this suggests that sleep deprivation¹¹ can make weight loss extremely difficult because it causes your body to work against you!

 

Keep a regular sleep routine, include 30 minutes of exercise in your day, avoid all stimulants¹² in the evening (including chocolate, coffee, tea), avoid bright light around the house before bed, have a relaxing bath and keep your bedroom quiet, dark and cool.

 

Bad gut¹³ bacteria

 

Our stomach is made up of good and bad bacteria, called gut flora¹⁴, which has a controlling influence over many important body functions, including metabolism¹⁵ and fat reduction. However, our lifestyle habits can often damage our gut bacteria. These factors include taking antibiotics¹⁶, a diet high in sugar, stress and alcohol. Try to eliminate these to help with fat reduction.

 

Water retention¹⁷ from periods

 

Water retention is a problem for many women and it is often worse just before a period. Don’t be tempted¹⁸ to limit your intake of fluids, which can actually cause bloating. Your body will think it needs to conserve¹⁹ water, which exacerbates²⁰ the problem. Water is a natural diuretic and it should be drunk as frequently as possible.

 

Too much salt

 

If you have a high salt intake, you could be carrying around an extra 1.8kg (4lb) in excess weight due to water retention. Water retention can be caused by not drinking enough water and also too much salt but it can also be caused by the same blood sugar swings that trigger many of the pre-menstrual symptoms.

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