If chhole-chawal make you feel bloated, here’s what you must do

1. Mid-meal buttermilk. Add buttermilk to your meal as it contains healthy bacteria which enhances gut health.
2. Don’t eat raw salad along with a cooked meal. Don’t eat raw salad along with cooked meals as both of them have different digestion times and can, in turn, cause indigestion and gas.
3. Drink ginger tea. Drink ginger tea as it stimulates the secretion of digestive juices and enzymes that improve digestion. You can make ginger tea by adding ½ inch of ginger to 200ml of warm water.
4. Eat fennel and jaggery. Eat fennel and jaggery as it improves gut mobility and digestion.

Speaking with indianexpress.com Ushakiran Sisodia, registered dietician and clinical nutritionist, diet and nutrition, Nanavati Max Super Speciality Hospital said, “Bloating occurs due to the build-up of gas in the digestive system, often caused by consuming foods that are difficult to digest. Bloating and indigestion are common among Indians due to our food choices — spicy, oily, wheat-based foods, along with legumes such as chickpeas or kidney beans.” She added that to avoid bloating, it is important to choose foods that can be digested and metabolised easily by the body.

 

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Giving some tips for an easy digestion, Sisodia shared consuming well-cooked rice and vegetables, fruits, dal, and yoghurt as these are easy to digest. “Additionally, it is crucial to eat slowly and mindfully and incorporate physical activity into your daily routine to aid digestion and prevent bloating. Maintaining a balanced and varied diet, staying hydrated, and practicing mindful eating can help improve digestion and reduce bloating”.

Adding, Dr Dilip Gude, senior consultant physician, Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad told indianexpress.com, “Bloating is usually a consequence of poor dietary habits, some classes of drugs, acid peptic disease etc. Medically the condition is termed Borborygmi or flatulence”.

Below, he shared few tips to aid digestion:

– Adequate fluid intake helps intestinal motility and can bring down the symptoms. Likewise, chewing and eating slowly makes a difference too. When food is eaten fast without chewing, apart from aerophagia, the struggle by the gut to digest bigger food chunks may result in gas formation.

– Limiting foods such as broccoli, beans, cabbage sprouts etc can also help bring down gas.

– Reduce intake of foods high in acidic content like coffee, citrus foods, tomatoes, carbonated beverages to bring down bloating.

– Avoid stress, cut down overeating, cut down sugar to bring down bloating.

“Bismuth subsalicylate, activated charcoal, simethicone, lactase enzyme etc are some of the drug choices that can bring down bloating. In coexisting constipation apart from antacid measures, intestinal motility enhancing agents like prucalopride etc can help bloating,” Dr Gude concluded.

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