Bloated and Gassy? Signs Your Gut Bacteria Isn’t Happy
You’ve enjoyed a delicious, decadent meal when out of nowhere, you feel bloated or gassy. Maybe you have to suddenly run to the bathroom. You might feel the urge to unbutton your pants as you feel your belly expands against your waistline.
Talk about a mood killer after a wonderful date. Intimacy with your significant other and socializing are out of the question. You just want to curl up on the couch and watch Friends reruns.
These and other post-meal symptoms are oftentimes signs that your gut is not in ideal condition. You might have imbalances in gut bacteria or insufficient digestive enzymes to break down your food.
The reality is that your gut health impacts overall health. Your microbiome, or all the genetic material within your gut, (1) contains an astounding 100 trillion microbes including about 1,000 different species of bacteria. (2)
Imbalances in that bacteria can impact how you breakdown foods while increasing your risk for disease and obesity. (3) If you want to optimize your health, start with your gut.
“When I say it all starts in your gut, I mean almost everything!” says Vincent Pedre, MD, in Happy Gut. “Headaches, migraines, allergies, autoimmunity, weight gain, acne, skin rashes, yeast infections, hormonal imbalances, fatigue, immune challenges, even the way you sense pain—they all relate to the condition and health of your gut.”
Consider the constant assaults the gut undergoes daily. A less-than-optimal diet, prescription and over-the-counter medications including antibiotics, chronic stress, and subpar sleep are among the obstacles that can take their toll on your gut.
First and foremost: Diet and lifestyle factors become the foundation for good gut and overall health. Eating foods from our Core or Advanced Plan, managing stress levels, getting seven to nine hours of quality sleep, and incorporating the right exercise are all crucial components to supporting good digestion and gut health.
But even when you’re doing all that, you might experience less-than-stellar gut health. You might not be breaking down food completely. You might struggle with dysbiosis or gut imbalances.
Antimicrobials are Essential Oils for Your Gut
And that’s where Max GI can help.
This all-in-one supplement combines a powerful and unique probiotic with essential oils, digestive enzymes, and minerals.
Among its benefits, Max GI can support:
- Balanced microbial levels — antimicrobials help zap the bacteria, viruses, protozoans, and fungi that mess with a healthy gut (4)
- Digestion (no more bloating or gas!)
- Nutrient absorption
- Healthy Gut microbiota
- Immune health
Stop and consider that last one: About 70 percent of your immune system exists in your gut. (5) When you are not breaking down food well, you’re not getting immune-supporting nutrients. Gut imbalances can increase your risk for the cold, flu, and other illnesses.
Let’s look at how the ingredients in Max GI can help you better digest food, absorb nutrients, and keep the shape of your gut in tip-top condition.
Digestive Enzyme Blend
Digestive enzymes help break down food into nutrients. (6) These tiny nutrients can then pass through your small intestine, whereafter your body can utilize them.
Your mouth, stomach, and small intestine make some digestive enzymes. But your pancreas makes most of them, including:
- Lipase, which breaks down fats
- Amylase, which breaks down carbohydrates
- Proteases and peptidases, which break down proteins (7)
When your body doesn’t make sufficient digestive enzymes, you might experience bloating, gas, and other uncomfortable symptoms. (8)
Certain health conditions, including chronic pancreatitis, can lead to low levels of digestive enzymes. (9) Always talk with your healthcare practitioner about these and other potential problems that can contribute to an inability to optimally break down food.
Digestion Problems
Beyond that, Pedre says numerous conditions many of us experience daily can reduce your body’s ability to make sufficient digestive enzymes. Among them include:
- Stress
- Toxicity
- Infection
- Inflammation
- Free radical damage from eating inflammatory foods
When you can’t sufficiently break down food, you potentially suffer from nutrient deficiencies, gut imbalances, and many other problems.
Even if you’re eating foods healthy, you may not be optimally absorbing nutrients.
Max GI contains an ideal ratio of these digestive enzymes to break down carbohydrates, protein, and dietary fat.
This blend is also ideal for people with potential food sensitivities such as dairy. Insufficient amounts of the enzyme lactase often create the gassiness, bloating, and other problems some people experience with dairy.
Using a digestive enzyme means you efficiently break down these and other foods and optimally absorb their nutrients.
Probiotics
These live microorganisms, found in fermented foods and cultured milk, are health-friendly bacteria because they support good gut ecology. (10) They support the good gut bugs that fight bad bacteria, help digest food, produce nutrients, and so much more.
Among their benefits, probiotics can support:
- Bowel diseases
- Immune health
- Healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels
- Postmenopausal disorders
- Reducing traveler’s diarrhea
- Skin and oral diseases
- Mood disorders including anxiety and depression (11)
Poor gut health is also linked to an increased risk for some diseases, including obesity. (12)
You can shift your gut bacteria balance with the right foods. Fermented vegetables including kimchi and sauerkraut, pickled vegetables, onions, and unsweetened Greek yogurt are among the best probiotic-rich foods. (13)
Most of us don’t eat these foods, or at least regularly enough to get their therapeutic benefits. That’s where using a probiotic supplement can help. We’ve chosen a unique probiotic strain for Max GI: Bacillus subtilis, which can help treat or prevent gut-related disorders. (14)
You won’t find this unique bacterium in many other formulas. Bacillus subtilis can improve digestive health, optimize your gut flora, and support your immune system. (15) In fact, this unique probiotic provides broad-spectrum immune support. (16)
For additional probiotic support, consider Probiotic 50B. This high-potency probiotic supplement contains 10 of the most highly-researched probiotic strains in just one capsule.
Potassium
Most of us eat too much sodium — especially in processed foods and in table salt – and too little potassium.
Insufficient amounts of this mineral can trigger high blood pressure among other problems. (17) Avocado, sweet potatoes, leafy greens, broccoli, zucchini, and eggplant are good sources of potassium. (18)
Deficiencies can also contribute to digestive problems. That’s because this mineral helps relay signals from the brain to your digestive system, stimulating your gut to contract and properly digest food.
Low potassium levels mean your brain can’t effectively relay those signals to your gut, contributing to digestive problems including bloating and constipation. (19)
Max GI contains this valuable mineral as potassium gluconate. Attaching gluconic acid to potassium salt optimizes absorption to support gut and overall health.
Lysozyme
This tiny enzyme protects your gut from bacterial infections. (20) Alexander Fleming discovered lysozyme when he was searching for antibiotics. He remained determined to find anything that would slow the growth of bacteria.
One day when he had a cold, he added a drop of mucus to the culture and it killed the bacteria. Fleming discovered how lysozyme protects against infection and went on to discover penicillin five years later. (21)
Essential Oils
The essential oils in Max GI — clove, oregano, and thyme oil powders — are natural antimicrobials that can stop the growth and proliferation of harmful microorganisms in your gut.
Clove oil contains eugenol, which can help decrease pain and fight infections. (22) Likewise, oregano can support digestion by increasing bile flow and fighting against bacteria, viruses, fungi, intestinal worms, and other parasites. (23) And among its benefits, thyme can support upset stomach, stomach pain, diarrhea, bedwetting, flatulence, and parasitic worm infections. (24)
Other Natural Ways to Improve Gut Health
Occasionally, post-meal discomfort could indicate a more serious problem. Always communicate specific symptoms and concerns with your healthcare practitioner.
At the same time, you have plenty of strategies to optimize digestion and overall gut health. Along with a healthy diet, the right lifestyle factors, and using Max GI, these five strategies can support a happy, healthy gut.
- Slow down and be mindful when you eat. Eating quickly can create digestive problems and other gut issues. When you’re eating, chew slowly and put your fork down often. Be mindful of the delicious, nutritious food you’re eating and the company you’re enjoying it with.
- Minimize liquids during meals. While water can aid digestion during meals. (25) However, drinking too much liquid could potentially dilute stomach enzymes that break down food. Not everyone agrees about this, but if you find post-meal digestive issues, consider drinking less water — stick with about four to eight ounces — and other liquids during meals.
- Pinpoint food sensitivities. Some people have reactions to specific foods like gluten, dairy, and soy. (26) If you’re suffering gas, bloating, and other discomforts after meals, keep a food journal and track specific symptoms. Talk with your healthcare practitioner about an elimination diet and other strategies to minimize this discomfort. Our Core and Advanced Plans eliminate most food sensitivities.
- Don’t eat when you’re stressed. Chronic stress can have far-ranging effects on your digestive health. (26) Before meals, try taking five deep breaths in and out. Feel gratitude for the nourishment you’re about to eat. And be mindful about stress eating, such as those mid-afternoon snack binges and late-night fridge raids when you’ve had a rough day. Both your gut and your mind may feel worse after.
- Talk with your healthcare practitioner about additional gut-supporting nutrients. Optimal gut health requires an individualized approach. Other nutrients including L-glutamine and probiotics can provide additional support for digestive problems, gut flora imbalances, and other issues.
Dealing with digestive discomfort — that post-meal gas, bloating, and other miseries that can make the aftermath a good meal go bad — is not normal.
To remedy that, you’ll want to provide the nutrients your gut needs to optimally break down food and support the right environment where healthy flora can flourish. And Max GI provides the perfect formula to do that.
Please discuss these and/or any other additional supplements with your healthcare practitioner. Never modify any medications or other medical advice without your healthcare practitioner’s consent.
The information on this webpage is for general use only. Any statement or recommendation on this webpage does not take the place of medical advice nor is meant to replace the guidance of your licensed healthcare practitioner. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. MaxLiving information is and products are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease or provide medical advice. Decisions to use supplements to support your specific needs should be considered in partnership with your licensed healthcare practitioner.