The bulging bellies brigade
Goddammit. I'm sitting here typing away and suddenly feel a sharp pain in my stomach. The pain is ignored. Half an hour later, I'm sitting with a exercise ball of a pregnant horn behind my desk. What the hell is that always?
A small survey among the editorial team reveals that we all occasionally suffer from a bloated feeling. The idea of: ‘if you poke me in the stomach with a pin now, I'll probably explode’. We all know this annoying phenomenon here, but especially Simoon, Elke, and I seem to be pros when it comes to the belly brigade. Suddenly out of nowhere. Sometimes before eating, sometimes after, sometimes before going to sleep, sometimes in the middle of the day. No predicting it.
What could it be due to? Technically, it could be a hundred things. A spastic intestine, food intolerance, swallowing air while eating, chronic stress, your digestion going completely loco due to fatty food; you name it. But it's definitely not sexy – especially in the summer. Do you also suffer from this sometimes? Good. Then I looked into how we can kick that horn out the door for both myself and you.
1. Leave that Coca-Cola bottle alone next time
Just like all other drinks that contain carbonation, by the way. Carbonation can build up in your stomach, which leads to a fun bubble party.
2. Small is fine
Hungry? Make your portions a bit smaller and try to eat lighter foods more often.
3. Eat earlier in the evening
Those late-night fridge raids will be skipped for now.
4. Eating unripe fruit = party for the belly brigade
So don't force that unripe kiwi out of its skin anymore.
5. More fiber, my friend
And go crazy, eat a bit more vegetables too.
6. Drink more water
In practice, very few people actually manage to drink two liters a day. Seems like no punishment with this weather, by the way.
7. That ginger tea is also quite a good idea...
Did you know that ginger stimulates digestion? Simone probably has known for a long time, but god, I'm learning something too.
8. And finally, perhaps the most important:
Boring. But. So. True. Chew. Slowly. Bite. For. Bite. Bye bye belly! Hi bikini, how ya doinnng?
