The Science Of Your Gut: 3 Easy Steps to Reduce Bloating, Improve Digestion, and Feel Better Today

Dr. Amy Shah (00:31):

The biggest tip when you're feeling bloated or distended is,

 

Mel Robbins (00:38):

Hey, it's your friend Mel, and welcome to the Mel Robbins podcast. Today, you and I are going to talk about something that we have all experienced. Maybe you're experiencing it at this very moment. What is a topic? We're talking about bloating. And there's a particular reason why I wanted to talk about bloating today. And the reason is simple. I am so fricking bloated right now. I'm uncomfortable. See, here's what happened. The last couple of weeks, I have been on the road for work and I've been going from one city to the next city, and I've been giving speeches and having business meetings and it's been really great. And I want to tell you a little secret. This is like a travel secret, little travel tip that when I travel for work, I always just travel with a carry-on. And you may be asking yourself, well Mel, if you have been traveling for two weeks, how the heck can you go to multiple cities with a carry-on?

 

(01:29):

Well, the secret is simple. I wear this fame outfit every speech and every business meeting. I swear to God, I travel with a uniform. And if you ever look at any of the stories on Instagram, you'll notice wow, Mel always has on the same pair of red pants and the black shirt whenever she's giving your speech. It's true. I have this stretchy pair of red pants that I love that are made out of polyester. And I have this great black Oxford shirt that is also made out of polyester. And I wear it on stage and I wear it to business meetings and it looks fantastic. And the other thing that's fantastic about polyester is that when you get to a hotel room, if you hang a polyester pair of pants up in a shower and you run a shower within about 15 minutes, the steam of a shower in a hotel room cleans it like a dry cleaner.

 

(02:21):

Absolutely fabulous. So here I am, I'm on the road and I've got my red polyester pants. And on Monday I put the red pants on. They felt great. On Tuesday, I'm in Nashville to give a speech, put the red polyester pants, they felt great Wednesday, put the red polyester pants on in Chicago. They felt great. On Thursday, I put the red polyester pants on in Orlando for a speech. They felt great Friday when I put the red polyester pants on. That's so great everybody. I mean, I couldn't button them. And when I looked down, I realized I have the pants here, you can see 'em. If you look at YouTube, this poor button is hanging on by a thread for dear life. I'm talking, it has a singular thread because the tension on the waistband on this poor little button over the course of the last week has basically acted like a saw slowly sawing apart the threads that were attaching the button to the pants.

 

(03:29):

That button was the hardest working person in my company for the last five days. And I don't know what happened because I take care of myself when I'm on the road. It's not like I'm downing Jim Beam or I'm out late. I get a great night's sleep, I travel with friends. We're having a lot of fun. I love what I'm doing, but I kid you not, I will show you photos of me on that Friday. I look like I'm in the second trimester of a pregnancy. I have a food baby that looks like a basketball right in my stomach. And here's the thing, I know that I didn't gain weight. I mean, because you can't gain seven to 10 pounds in five days, but somehow I gained the equivalent of that in bloating. And so I finally got home here and I'm like, I have to figure out what to do because I am either going to be belching for two weeks or farting this out, and neither one is a great option and I feel terrible, and I don't want to wear sweatpants for the next, I dunno, four weeks while I'm waiting for the bloating to go down.

 

(04:42):

And so I was just about to Google, how do you get rid of a bloat five day reset? And I thought, Mel, what are you doing? Why don't you call Dr. Amy Shah? I mean Dr. Amy Shah, as you probably know if you're a listener to the Mel Robbins Podcast, she's been on this twice before. She is a double board certified medical doctor in the field of allergies, immunology, and internal medicine. She graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University's world renowned school of Nutrition. She went on to receive her doctorate with distinction. She's trained at Harvard, at Columbia, and she is on the front line of nutritional and medical science. She's been on the show before. She's incredible. And her bestselling book, I'm so effing Hungry, why We Crave What We Crave and what to do about it. It is the manual on trying to balance your hormones and understand the science of nutrition so that you can curve your cravings.

 

(05:41):

And I'm like, what are you doing? Why are you going to Google when you can get Dr. Shah on? And Dr. Shah can explain what is bloating, why does it happen? And more importantly, what is the protocol? What could you do in let's say five days? Is there a five day reset that you and I could follow so that whenever you feel bloated because of what you ate or because of stress or because of whatever the heck is going on, you know what to do. And so that's what we're doing today. And I also know that this conversation, we're planning on releasing it right during the holidays. And so you're going to be in the thick of it. You're going to be in the thick of all those amazing meals and the stress of the holidays and the drinking and the travel and the this and the that.

Dr. Amy Shah (07:00):

So grateful to be here with you. Mel.

 

Mel Robbins (07:03):

Can we just start with what the heck is bloating?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (07:07):

Bloating is so many things. It's the feeling of distension in your abdomen, but everybody thinks it's just from gas. Yes, it is from gas, but it can also be from your hormones. It can be water retention, it can be from medications causing discomfort. It can be just from being constipated. We all go through that where we're bloated, not because there's gas, but there's actual stool in there. And then menopause. Bloating, right? That's even more so than the regular PMS bloating. There's a whole menopause, bloating we have and there's so many other causes of bloating. So it's not just you ate too much or you ate too many Brussels sprouts or broccoli, which we can talk about. It's also, it can be from so many other things.

 

Mel Robbins (07:54):

Well, you said a big word just a minute ago, you said distended, that bloating is when your stomach is. What does that word mean?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (08:04):

So when your belly is pushing out, so from the inside, so you can have, like I said, it can be from stool, it can be from air, it can be from hormones causing water retention. And we all know how, I don't know about you, about when right before my period, I look like I'm pregnant. Okay? So all of that is distension inside. So this could be the wall of the intestines swollen, or it could be there's gas inside or it could be there's stool or food inside and that's why it's distended. There's so many different ways, but it feels kind of the same.

 

Mel Robbins (08:40):

That makes a lot of sense. Thank you for explaining that because I'm trying to really help myself and anyone listening tease out the difference between, oh, my habits have changed and I'm gaining a lot of weight, versus, oh, I've got something going on where from the inside out, it's almost like I feel like somebody has blown a balloon up inside of me full of something. I know this might sound like an insensitive question, but I have to ask this. 

Dr. Amy Shah (09:21):

Yeah, it's hard to tell sometimes the difference, right? Because you go on a week long binge, it's say that holidays or you're on vacation and you come back and it's almost like a combination of multiple things. You're retaining water because you traveled a lot, you drank a lot, maybe you ate a lot of salt, and then your gut bacteria are mad at you. Remember, it is this world that lives inside your gut called the microbiome and they're just mad and they're producing all this gas to let you know that they're mad. And then you probably ate a lot of excess calories for that period of time. So it could be a combination of all three and you won't know until you start to reset your gut what is actually happening because a water weight will go away pretty quick if you're constipated, pretty much hopefully can resolve that. And then once you get your diet back on track, you might notice that the scale is starting to go down. So all of these things start to resolve themselves together.

 

Mel Robbins (10:24):

Why don't I back up a minute because here's what I'm starting to wonder in reaching out to you, Dr. Shah, I had a food baby. I could not button my pants. And it happened so fast over the course of five days that I knew that this was bloating. 

Dr. Amy Shah (11:01):

You're burping a lot, obviously farting because farting and bloating go really hand in hand. You're constipated. That's not a good sign, but that's a sign that you are bloated because often when you have a lot of gas in your intestines, you can't push that stool out. And you might not just be bloated in your gut. You might be one of those people who's retaining fluid everywhere. Have you ever had that issue where your rings don't fit anymore or your bracelets get tight or your shoes feel like they're getting tight? That's basically what's happening in your intestines is happening all over your body. So that's another sign that this could be bloating and water retention and not necessarily like you gained a bunch of weight.

 

Mel Robbins (11:53):

Well, I want to tell you a couple things. Number one, I don't ever sleep with jewelry on because my hands swell so much. And same thing when I exercise. If I'm going to go out for a long walk, I don't wear my rings because my hands swell. And at the end of the day, my feet are typically like a half size larger. I never thought that that could be a sign of bloating or a sign that my body is inflamed. Inflamed. And then the other thing I'll tell you is just a quick story because it might help you listening to start to discern what you may be dealing with. I'd say about six years ago when our daughter, Kendall was in high school, she always was a big burber, just these deep, just loud kind of burps. And she was such a little thing that it was so shocking how loud these burps were. And it was almost like a joke in our family, like Kendall.

 

(12:55):

And then she started to say, Dr. Shah, she would go, I feel so fat. She was not using the B word she was using. I feel so fat, so fat. And because she was so thin, I thought, oh my God, she's got body dysmorphia. So I took her to a therapist because I thought as she is saying, she feels fat and I'm looking at her and I'm like, you don't look fat to me. You look pretty darn skinny. This therapist said, I think you should get her gut tested. I think she's dealing with disordered eating. I think she's got body dysmorphia. She says, no, no, no, you should get her gut tested. It turns out when they tested her gut that she was missing all of the good bacteria in her gut and that what was happening is the food would go down her mouth and down her esic and down into the stomach and all of a sudden it would hit her stomach. And because she had literally no good gut bacteria, the food sat and rotted.

 

(13:54):

And so the burping was from rotting food and it's disgusting. Belching the constant. Well, the constant belching was her trying to relieve the pressure and her saying, I feel fat. I feel fat. I feel fat was really her trying to explain, I am bloated. And so we went and did this protocol of resetting her gut microbiome and all the symptoms disappeared. And so this is a very real thing that you may be dealing with and be feeling symptoms other than a food baby and your gut health is really the issue that's causing all this. Because I was explaining earlier that I really wanted to talk to you because I had been traveling for the last couple of weeks and I wear the same pair of pants. That's my little travel secret. I wear the same outfit everywhere I go. And so the pants that I was wearing on Monday fit, they fit on Tuesday, they fit on Wednesday, they fit on Thursday. Although I'll tell you that poor little button holding my red pants together was the hardest working person in the room. I have my little red pants right here.

 

Dr. Amy Shah (15:03):

Oh, do you have that?

 

Mel Robbins (15:05):

But by Friday I had a food baby. I literally looked like I was six to seven months pregnant. It was a balloon coming out and I had to do the trick where you shove it, you unbutton your pants and you stick a rubber band through the opening and hook it to extend your pants. And I thought, okay, I can't gain seven pounds in five days because I can't lose seven pounds in five days. Right? This is not just a normal.

 

Dr. Amy Shah (15:34):

Yeah.

 

Mel Robbins (15:35):

So maybe what we should talk about, since you're basically saying when you're bloated, your gut bacteria is mad at you, right? I mean that's kind of, is that the basic thing that's going on here?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (15:45):

It is the basic thing that's going on, that gut hormone immune connection. I mean that is when that's off balance. You get all these symptoms, people think, oh my God, it's hormone bloating, or Oh my God, it's coming from something else. But really it's because your gut bacteria are not happy. It's not only related to food, it can be related to other things, but when they're not happy, they're going to let you know

 

Mel Robbins (16:13):

What foods actually could bloat you.

Mel Robbins (17:01):

Got it. Okay. First of all, ladies and gentlemen, let's give a round of applause for triple bird certified. Dr. Amy Shah, who just told us all soft pants, people, soft pants, you're traveling, you're feeling bloated. Let's get rid of the zippers and the buttons soft pants. So I got it. I'm taking it away. I am following it. You've talked about the intestines and the stomach. Is that where this is happening or are there other parts of your body involved when bloat is happening to you?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (17:33):

Yeah, from the minute you take food in, you're chewing your food, the bloating can start to happen there. We all know with gum, with sparkling drinks, these are foods that can cause bloating because you're swallowing a lot of

 

Mel Robbins (17:49):

Wait, what?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (17:50):

From the time you put it in your mouth,

 

Mel Robbins (17:51):

Did you notice gum causes bloating?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (17:53):

Yeah.

 

Mel Robbins (17:54):

Did you not know this? No. Sparkling beverages causes bloating.

 

Dr. Amy Shah (17:59):

Yeah. What? So yeah, you need to know this. This is why I'm telling you this is the reset. So sugar-free gum, which is all gum. Now you can't really get gum. I think bazooka used to be our gum when we were younger that had real sugar, but now it's all sugar substitute gum. And those sugar substitutes are very irritating to our gut bacteria. And just the act of swallowing a lot of air chewing gum can kind of push that air down into all the way. It's one tube. So from your mouth to the esophagus, to the stomach, to the small intestine and a large intestine, so it's all one tube, so it can start from up there. Then you have people like us who are always in a rush and always eating too fast. And so it can even be an issue with just eating too fast and it's going through that one system, that one tube from your mouth to your anus too fast, and you're not taking breaks and you're not chewing enough. And so it starts with, it's not just a particular food, it's just that you're eating food too fast. And then you have foods, like the foods that you consider super healthy, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Mel, you're being a great student. You're like, I want to eat all the fiber in one day.

 

(19:21):

And that is going to create a havoc in your gut because your gut bacteria are going to be like, we love this fiber, but not all at once. It's giving them too much work in one day, especially when they're not used to it. And so you're going to get a lot of gas production while they're trying to digest this. So it can happen in your mouth, it can happen in your esophagus. You're eating too fast. It can happen in your stomach because you ate too many, really hard to digest fibrous foods. It can happen in your small intestine and then in your large intestine too. So it's like all the way through, you can get bloating from different causes.

 

Mel Robbins (19:58):

Okay, can we just stop on that? I have so many questions. I am trying not to go all over the place. Now you've sparked my interest because all those things you ticked off, I did not know that sparkling beverages, gum or eating, all these things that I would say are super healthy foods like broccoli and Brussels sprouts and cabbage and that kind of stuff that actually can contribute to bloat. So thank you for explaining that. I want to focus on the foods that you just mentioned, cabbage, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. Let's just call the trifecta right there, because if I hear you correctly, you're basically saying if you're already bloated and you throw that into your system, you're going to literally inflate balloon even more.

 

Dr. Amy Shah (20:48):

Yes.

 

Mel Robbins (20:48):

However, when you de bloat and you get your gut back into balance so that your gut bacteria aren't mad at you anymore, introducing those into your diet, not as a smorgasborg, but as part of what you're eating, as part of keeping the gut bacteria healthy. Is that correct?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (21:09):

That's right. So if you're at a party and there's this raw cruciferous vegetable plate, I don't know if you've ever seen, I don't know

 

Mel Robbins (21:16):

Why people, what's cruciferous? What is that?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (21:18):

Those, that's the family that we're talking about, the cauliflowers, the broccoli, the spr, Cabot. So a lot of times

 

Mel Robbins (21:26):

Those four are related, so they're like siblings, the

 

Dr. Amy Shah (21:29):

S cruciferous family, and they have these amazing sulfur compounds that are so good for cancer reduction and inflammation reduction. So they're like powerhouse vegetables, but often at a party, they're on a tray like raw, right?

 

Mel Robbins (21:44):

Yes.

 

Dr. Amy Shah (21:44):

And I don't know about you, but I have had a few too many of those at once, and you definitely feel it. So what I would say, someone if you're already bloated, don't go to the raw vegetable tray and pick up the cauliflower and the broccoli because you're just going to really hate yourself later that night because it's going to start to digest and produce all this gas.

 

Mel Robbins (22:09):

And I'll tell you who else is going to hate you, the person you're sleeping next to, because you're going to be lifting the sheets up as you're farting, so you don't create a hot box in there. But what's great about you telling us that is because if I'm feeling uncomfortable in my pants and if I'm feeling bloated, especially if you're in wedding season or the holiday seasons or you're on a vacation, I would walk up to a raw vegetable plate and I would go, oh, I should clearly have some broccoli and some cauliflower because I feel bloated right now. And I didn't know until you just said it that that would literally stoke the flames and make me feel worse if I'm already feeling bloated and my gut bacteria is mad, so what do I eat instead?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (22:54):

Okay. And then I want to tell you another one that will do the same thing. So say you're at a party and you wake up the next day and you're like, oh, I feel so bloated. I feel hungover or whatever. I feel bad. And you take a whole bunch of ibuprofen or aspirin that is going to make you more bloated. And a lot of people wake,

 

Mel Robbins (23:14):

This is my morning routine after a party. What are you talking about?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (23:17):

So medications are a big cause of bloating, especially NSAIDs. So for what's

 

Mel Robbins (23:23):

An nsaid? What do you mean an nsaid?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (23:26):

Ibuprofen and Motrin and naproxen, those are kind of a class, again, cousins in a group of medications called NSAIDs, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication. So NSAIDs all have kind of the same mechanism of action. So some people like naproxen, some people like ibuprofen, some people like Motrin and all these different versions, but they're all the same parent medication. Same with aspirin, aspirin's very similar to all of them, but their side effect is bloating. And so you ate a bunch of cruciferous vegetables, you took a bunch of ibuprofen, and it's the week before your period, and then you wake up and you're like, oh my God, I look six months pregnant. And that's what is happening. And so I'm going to tell you what you need to do to kind of reset that.

 

Mel Robbins (24:20):

Thank God I hear a lot about gluten and bloating. So is there a connection? What are the foods other than the cruciferous that you just explained, what are the foods that tend to cause bloating in people?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (24:39):

Gluten is definitely one of them. I mean, we all know there's so many people out there who feel bloated after pizza and bread and pasta, and sometimes it's not necessarily a gluten. You can have a sourdough bread and be okay, but you have pizza and you're not, so it's not necessarily sometimes the gluten itself, but the way it's prepared. There's also, I think 68% of the world population is lactose intolerant.

 

Mel Robbins (25:06):

What's that mean?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (25:07):

That means that when you eat dairy foods, you get bloated because your body can't break down the lactose sugar. Oh, I don't know. Are you one of those people? So everybody's different, right? I have no idea. So 68% of the world population can't digest a glass of milk or a big scoop of ice cream. They get bloated from it.

 

Mel Robbins (25:28):

What are some other symptoms or things that you've seen in helping people to reset their gut? Dr. Shah,

 

Dr. Amy Shah (25:37):

Well, I talk about this all the time, but your mood and cravings has a huge connection to your gut. So we talk about this gut brain connection. And so just to bring it back to hormones again is like when you're bloated or it's right before your period, you feel bloated or you're in menopause, you feel bloated, but you also feel really sad and you feel like you're craving certain foods. And so what we're learning now is that this disorder, gut bacteria that's happening, and for that it's hormone-based situational, but is disrupting things in our brain. And we have this gut brain connection. And so if you are feeling kind of down fatigued, having cravings for strange things, that could be your gut bacteria talking to you and saying, I don't feel good. And we're sending signals to your brain that we need to be healed and mount.

Mel Robbins (27:22):

So Dr. Shah, what foods make you bloated?

 

Dr. Amy Shah (27:26):

So we talked about cruciferous vegetables, including your broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, okay, we talked about artificial sweeteners like in your diet coke and in your gum, et cetera. Those are huge causes of bloating. We talked about sparkling drinks being a cause of bloating. We talked about dairy for so many people, gluten for so many people, high amounts of sugar for so many people. I actually,