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How to Reduce Bloating in 7 Days — A Gut Doctor's Advice — Transcript

by Dr. Will Bulsiewicz, The Gut Health MD · 3,056 words · 454 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00If you gave me exactly seven days to fix
0:02your bloating, here's how I'd spend
0:05them. Most people think bloating means
0:07too much gas. But plenty of people who
0:10bloat every single day carry a
0:13completely normal amount of gas. Some of
0:15them are getting visibly bigger without
0:17any extra gas at all. And on day six,
0:19I'm going to show you why. I'm a triple
0:21board certified gastronurologist. I've
0:23cared for tens of thousands of patients,
0:26and bloating is the most common
0:28complaint I've heard. time and time
0:30again. Seven days is enough to move it,
0:33but I need you with me. So, grab a pen
0:35and paper [music] to take notes. Hit the
0:37subscribe button if you haven't already,
0:39and let's get this party started because
0:41day one starts tonight.
0:46One of the most common stories that I've
0:49heard over my years in practice goes
0:51something like this. A woman in her
0:53early 40s, bloated every day since her
0:5620s. She cut gluten, felt better for a
0:59week, then dairy, then beans, then
1:01onions. Every cut brought a smidge of
1:04relief, but it was fleeting. It didn't
1:06last. And her diet got more and more
1:09restrictive. I've seen this hundreds of
1:11times. You cut a food, you'll feel a
1:13little bit better, and your brain learns
1:15one lesson. Food is the problem. Keep
1:17cutting. But you're missing the point
1:19here. Why are you bloated in the first
1:23place? Bloating is almost never just one
1:27thing. A 2025 European consensus went
1:30through all of it and the answer that
1:33they came to time and again was the
1:35same. Multiffactorial,
1:37several things at once in different
1:39parts of your gut. Which is exactly why
1:41I can't just give you, hey, here's what
1:43you do on day one. That would be a setup
1:45for failure. And we're here to conquer
1:48bloating. So instead, I'm giving you
1:50seven days. Let's go.
1:53Day one, we need to start by answering
1:55this basic question. What's causing my
1:57bloating? This is a big topic and it
2:00needs to be a whole video on its own. So
2:02stay tuned and stay subscribed. But for
2:05today, I'm just going to give you where
2:07to start. First up, you should read your
2:09labels. Every bottle and package,
2:11prescriptions, supplements, even the gum
2:13that you chew after lunch. Line them up
2:16and actually read them. I'm looking for
2:18iron, opioid painkillers, calcium
2:21containing ant acids, inulin, which is
2:24fiber, but it's the most bloat producing
2:26fiber out there, and sorbital or xylitol
2:29or malitol or arythritol, the sugar
2:32alcohols in everything that gets labeled
2:34sugar-free. Every one of those can slow
2:36a gut down or ferment in it. The most
2:39important thing to do is to check
2:40because then you know, then there are
2:42three things that I would discuss with
2:44your doctor. Write these down. Number
2:46one, testing for celiac disease. For
2:48most tests, you still have to be eating
2:50gluten for an accurate result. The
2:52genetic test is helpful for the person
2:54who is totally gluten-free. That can be
2:56a good starting point. And sometimes an
2:58upper endoscopy is necessary in order to
3:00make a complete diagnosis. Number two,
3:02testing for lactose intolerance. This
3:04could be done with a breath test or you
3:07could take a twoe break from dairy.
3:08Lactose intolerance is extremely common
3:12and it causes gas and bloating. Number
3:14three, ask about sucrace isomaltase
3:17deficiency. That's a long one, isn't it?
3:19Well, that's the enzyme for sucrose,
3:22which is table sugar in a condition
3:24called CSID. It doesn't work well. So,
3:28sugar fermentss instead of digesting.
3:30This condition often flies under the
3:32radar. Most people are totally unaware
3:35of it. And I have been shocked by how
3:38many of my patients test positive and
3:41end up getting relief with treatment.
3:44Gluten, lactose, table sugar, three
3:47things that your gut might be struggling
3:49with and all three are testable. Day
3:52number two, before I change a single
3:54food, I want to make sure that
3:56everything is moving through the way
3:58that it's supposed to. I'm referring to
4:00constipation. It's almost always my
4:03first suspect because in my experience,
4:06it's the most common thing that I find
4:09driving a bloated belly. Here's the
4:11secret. Gas travels with poop. When
4:15stool sits, the gas sits with it. Slow
4:18transit makes more gas and gas makes it
4:21slower. Constipation does come in many
4:23forms. I mean, you could poop every
4:25single day and still be constipated.
4:27That's why I created a video. You might
4:29be constipated and not even know it. And
4:31that's for anyone who's unsure. If you
4:34are bloated, you absolutely need to know
4:36if you're constipated because if you
4:38are, the very first thing I would do is
4:41to get things moving. So, your homework
4:43for day two is to keep things moving.
4:46Look in the toilet bowl. Do you see a
4:47hard, lumpy, bumpy stool? That would
4:49suggest constipation, but so does
4:51straining or incomplete emptying. Number
4:53two, drink plenty of water. Your fiber
4:56needs it. You need to float that log
4:58down the river, not let it get dried up
5:00on the rocks. And number three, move
5:02your body today. When you move, your gut
5:04moves. A simple walk can actually help a
5:06lot. Day number three, we want to stop
5:09adding more gas to the gut. Now, the
5:11first source is gas or air that you
5:14swallow. Straws, carbonated drinks,
5:17sparkling water, even chewing gum, and
5:19hard candies lead you to swallowing more
5:22air. Some of it you'll bring back up as
5:24a belch, which is lovely, but some of it
5:27is going to wiggle its way through 25 ft
5:30of bowel, making its presence known the
5:33entire way. The second source are high
5:36gas producing foods. The classic
5:38category is called FODMAPs, which are
5:40fermentable carbohydrates. Your microbes
5:43turn them into gas. Now, it's not
5:45actually a bad thing. When they do this,
5:47they're often producing short- chain
5:49fatty acids. They're great. We we want
5:51those. But if your gut is sensitive or
5:54slow,
5:56piling a big fermentable load on top is
6:00just adding extra gas that you don't
6:02need. A crossover trial fed people with
6:05irritable bowel syndrome, a low FODMAP
6:07diet or a typical Australian diet.
6:11Symptom scores dropped by about half on
6:14the low FODMAP arm. Bloating got better
6:17and so did pain and gas. Now, this is
6:21important. This is a test, not your
6:24long-term diet. I don't want you going
6:26low FODMAP long term. That's actually
6:28bad for your gut. Instead, what you're
6:31doing is a temporary elimination to see
6:34how you feel and how your gut responds.
6:37And then you put the food back in, which
6:38we will discuss on day seven. Some of
6:41you are probably wondering about
6:43histamine intolerance. These are the
6:45people who struggle with fermented
6:47foods, fish and shellfish, aged cheese,
6:50alcohol, and leftovers. Best way to test
6:52for that better than any blood test is
6:55to do a 2 week histamine elimination.
6:57You do this separate from doing a FODMAP
6:59elimination. Now, here's the good news.
7:02I've made this as easy as I could
7:04possibly make it because both of these
7:06protocols are in my book, the
7:08Fiberfueled Cookbook. All you got to do
7:11is crack open the chapter for low FODMAP
7:13or crack open the chapter for low
7:15histamine. Eat out of that chapter and
7:17you will actually be doing the protocol.
7:19So, it simplifies things a lot. Anyway,
7:21on day three, you have three things that
7:24you're going to do to reduce the gas in
7:26your gut. No straws, no carbonation, no
7:28gum, temporary FODMAP or histamine
7:30elimination. And number three, write
7:33down what you ate and how your belly
7:34felt. And in a perfect world, you should
7:37be working with a dietitian. Day four.
7:40Well, yesterday we changed the menu.
7:41Today we're actually going to change the
7:44way that we eat. I want you to chew like
7:46you mean it. Digestion starts in your
7:49mouth. Your teeth pulverize the food.
7:52Your saliva starts breaking it down with
7:54digestive enzymes. The more time the
7:56food spends in your mouth, the more
7:58chewing repetitions that you get in, the
8:00easier it's going to be to digest your
8:02food. Way to slow down. Put the fork
8:05down between bites. Eating fast often
8:08leads to swallowing air. Try smaller
8:10portions. A big meal is a big job for
8:13the gut. And I'm officially giving you
8:15permission to loosen your clothing.
8:17Tight waistbands make bloating feel
8:19worse. And then there's the last one,
8:21which I'm a huge fan of. Researchers
8:23took eight people who struggled with
8:25bloating, and they piped gas straight
8:28into the small intestine, which just
8:30sounds like so much fun to be a
8:32participant in the study. Anyway, they
8:34measured what came back out. At rest,
8:36about 45% stayed in. So, like that gas
8:40was stuck. But then the same people did
8:43some mild pedaling, but gas retention
8:45dropped to just 24% and they felt
8:48better. Their symptoms got better. The
8:50point is that gentle movement mobilizes
8:53gas. Sitting still does the opposite. So
8:56whether it's pedaling for poots or a
8:58fart walk, either way we want to
9:01mobilize that gas, especially after
9:02meals. So on day four, I've given you
9:04four things to improve your digestion.
9:07Number one, spend time chewing your
9:08food. Number two, smaller portions.
9:11Number three, loosen your waistband
9:13after dinner. Get comfortable. And
9:15number four, 10 minutes of walking after
9:17your meals. Like it's the same meal.
9:19It's the same food, but we're handling
9:21it different. And that results in less
9:22bloating. Day number five. Okay, your
9:25entire intestinal system was designed to
9:28work in a rhythm. Bloating often happens
9:31when we've fallen out of rhythm. Between
9:33meals, when your stomach and small
9:35intestine are empty, a wave of strong
9:39contractions called the MMC sweeps
9:42through from top to bottom.
9:44Gastroenterologists
9:46have called it the housekeeper of the
9:48gut. It sweeps leftover debris and
9:51bacteria down and out of the small
9:53intestine. But here's the key. It only
9:56runs between meals when you're empty.
9:59The moment that you eat, it shuts down.
10:02Picture never being empty. A smoothie at
10:049, almonds at 11:00, a matcha latte at
10:073, crackers while you cook. The food may
10:10be healthy, but the housekeeper never
10:12runs. You've deprived the gut of one of
10:15its most powerful modes of rhythm. So on
10:18day five, we're doing three things to
10:21establish our rhythm. We're going to
10:22have three meals per day, ideally 4
10:25hours apart. Water, black coffee, plain
10:27tea, those are fine in between. Number
10:29two, stop eating 2 to three hours before
10:31bed. Your gut slows down at night. A
10:34late dinner sits there. And number
10:37three, if you're genuinely hungry
10:39between meals, eat a full meal sooner
10:42rather than grazing on top and in
10:44between. Day number six, this was the
10:46one that I teed up in the beginning.
10:48People can have the same amount of gas
10:49but a totally different amount of
10:51suffering. Two things make a normal
10:53amount of gas feel unbearable. The first
10:55one that almost nobody has heard of is
10:58called abdominoprenic
11:00disiners. Your belly gets visibly
11:03fuller, visibly bigger after a meal. You
11:06could look pregnant. So you assume that
11:08like you're just a balloon getting
11:10inflated. But what actually happened is
11:13your body rearranged itself around the
11:16same amount of gas. Think about a tent.
11:18Same air inside. Push the roof down and
11:21the walls bow out. The tent looks twice
11:24as wide. Nothing got added. It's just
11:26the shape that changed. It flattened
11:29out. The diaphragm, the big breathing
11:31muscle under your lungs, should relax
11:33upward after a meal and give the
11:36contents room. But in some people, it
11:38pushes down instead and the front wall
11:41of the belly lets go and now the abdomen
11:43bulges forward. That's not extra gas.
11:46That's a reflex that's actually given
11:49the appearance of the wrong thing. And
11:51reflexes can be retrained. A randomized
11:54trial in the journal Gastroenterology
11:57took 42 people whose bellies visibly
12:00swelled after meals. And they learned to
12:02move the diaphragm doing an exercise
12:04pattern before and after meals for 4
12:07weeks. And guess what happened?
12:09Distension scores dropped by 66%.
12:13So, I'm going to teach you the exercise
12:15that they were taught because you can
12:16try it right now. There are two
12:19positions and you're going to move
12:20between them. Position one, lift your
12:24chest, ribs up, and at the same time,
12:26draw your belly in. Okay? So, chest up,
12:30belly in. That's the one that's going to
12:32do the work for us. That's your
12:33diaphragm rising and giving your gut
12:35room. Now, position two is the opposite.
12:39Chest drops, belly pushes out.
12:42Now go back and forth. Breathe in as
12:44your chest lifts and your belly draws
12:46in.
12:48And breathe out as your chest drops and
12:50your belly relaxes out.
12:53Chest up, belly in.
12:57Chest out, belly out.
13:02Now, that's you moving your diaphragm on
13:05purpose instead of letting it push down
13:07and stay there. Try it tonight after
13:08dinner. and then tell me in the comments
13:11what your belly did. I'm betting that
13:13you will feel better. The second thing
13:15is the nerves. Your gut has its entire
13:18nervous system, 500 million nerves, and
13:21it sets a dial. How much stretch it
13:23takes before your brain calls it
13:26discomfort. So, if you turn that dial
13:28up, then gas that another person
13:30wouldn't even notice can be felt as
13:33pressure or tightness or pain. It's like
13:38somebody putting your least favorite
13:40song on repeat. For me, I know exactly
13:44what song that is.
13:47>> And it could be the same volume as any
13:49other song, but if I hear that stinking
13:52song,
13:54>> just want it turned down. That's where
13:57peppermint oil comes in. It relaxes the
14:00smooth muscle of your small intestine. A
14:02meta analysis pulled 10 randomized
14:05placeboc controlled trials with over a
14:07thousand people and it significantly
14:09improved overall gut symptoms and
14:12abdominal discomfort. As a
14:14gastronurologist, I've used peppermint
14:16oil in countless patients and I've
14:18reviewed the research behind it. And
14:20that's why as the co-founder of 38
14:22Terra, we included peppermint oil in our
14:24new product called BDR, which stands for
14:27bloating and digestive relief. More on
14:2938 terra BDR in a minute. So, why
14:33haven't you heard more about peppermint
14:35oil? Well, you can't really patent
14:36peppermint. There's no sales rep for it.
14:39Nobody drops a glossy trial report on a
14:42desk for peppermint oil. I mean, look,
14:44the evidence is there, but the marketing
14:46machine that sells it, that doesn't
14:48exist. So, day six, three things. The
14:51breathing, 5 minutes once after you eat
14:54is a good starting point. Remember in
14:55the trial it was before and after meals
14:58three times a day. Sit up tall. Engage
15:00the core. That's number two. And number
15:02three, consider peppermint oil to soothe
15:04those nerves. And day number seven, it's
15:07our last day. So, you know what I'm
15:08doing today? I'm going to rebuild the
15:10microbiome for you. In my first book, I
15:12told you that there was a golden rule of
15:14gut health to eat a wide variety of
15:17plants, specifically 30 plants per week.
15:20So, on day seven, we're bringing food
15:23back. A gut that bloats on fiber, it
15:25doesn't mean that fiber is incompatible.
15:27Usually, it got handed too much too
15:31fast. People often get super motivated
15:34to add fiber and then they overshoot.
15:37Instead, you need to think of fiber as
15:40being like exercise for your gut. Start
15:42low and go slow. One new plant a day,
15:46not 10. in maybe a small little serving
15:50of a fermented food, like a single
15:52spoonful of sauerkraut, not the whole
15:54jar. And if you're going to include
15:55probiotics, they need to be targeted,
15:58strain specific, and dose specific.
16:01Grabbing whatever bottles on the shelf
16:04is like closing your eyes and reaching
16:06into the medicine cabinet and just
16:07taking out whatever you get in your
16:09hand. If the goal is your gut comfort,
16:12there's a probiotic that I've used for
16:14years. It's actually a yeast. Sacroyces
16:17cervci strain CNC cm i3856.
16:22So in this video I've discussed two
16:24supplements that I've used for gut
16:26comfort and to reduce bloating.
16:28Peppermint oil and sacroyces servci.
16:31Prior to now they never were put
16:33together in one capsule. And there's
16:35actually a good reason for that.
16:37Peppermint oil is antimicrobial. So when
16:39you mix it with a probiotic you're going
16:40to kill the probiotic. It just doesn't
16:43make sense. at 38 Terra, which is the
16:45company that I am the co-founder of and
16:47where I formulate products to my
16:49specifications. It took us years to
16:51figure this out, but it ultimately
16:53turned out incredible. BDR, or bloating
16:56and digestive relief, uses a dual stage
16:58capsule inside a capsule system. So,
17:00what you have is an outer capsule that
17:02delivers peppermint oil to your small
17:04intestine. That's exactly where you want
17:05it. And then the inner capsule, it sits
17:08sealed inside, protected, and it opens
17:11further down, closer to the colon,
17:14dropping the probiotic, again, right
17:16where you want it. We call it BDR,
17:17bloating and digestive relief. An
17:19important PSA before we run. It's always
17:23a good idea to be working with a
17:24licensed health provider. Make sure to
17:26discuss with your clinician if your
17:28bloating comes with weight loss that
17:29you're not planning or blood in the
17:31stool, black stools, low iron on your
17:33blood tests, bloating that's brand new
17:36after 50, a lasting change in your bowel
17:38habits that you can't explain, pain that
17:41wakes you up at night, or vomiting,
17:42trouble swallowing or fever, or it's
17:45always worthwhile talking to your doctor
17:47if you have a strong family history of
17:48any cancer. And there it is. You've
17:51given me 7 days and this is how I would
17:54approach bloating during that time. If
17:56you found this video helpful, then
17:58you're not going to want to miss what's
18:00coming soon. Hit the subscribe button
18:02and send this to that friend who's
18:04always groaning and talking about how
18:06bloated they feel. I want to try to help
18:08them, too. Thanks again for being here,
18:12and I will see you next week.

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