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Vita with Alita
Vita with Alita is your go-to podcast for all things life, strength, and self-growth. Hosted by fitness enthusiast and kinesiology expert Alita Gideon, M.Sc., this show goes beyond reps and routines to explore the full spectrum of vita — Latin for “life.” From physical wellness to mental clarity, confidence, and purpose, Alita brings real talk, real tips, and empowerment to the table.
Whether you're lifting weights, lifting your spirits, or navigating the ups and downs in between, Vita with Alita is here to help you thrive. With a passion for empowering young women, Alita shares smart fitness strategies, lifestyle hacks, and unfiltered conversations designed to inspire a healthy, active, and confident life — inside and out.
More than just a podcast, Vita with Alita is a growing community of women showing up for themselves and for each other — one episode at a time. Because building a strong body is great, but building a strong life and lifting up those around you? That’s the real flex.
Pull up a chair — or a barbell — and let’s get into it :)
No content on this podcast, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
Vita with Alita
Flat Tummy Fallacy: Why Morning Abs Don't Last All Day
Ever woken up with that perfect flat stomach only to feel like you've swallowed a beach ball by lunchtime? You're not alone, and contrary to what social media might have you believe, this experience is completely normal.
The pressure to maintain that "morning skinny" appearance throughout the day has created unnecessary anxiety around a natural bodily function. In this revealing episode, we unpack what bloating really means and why it deserves to be normalized rather than demonized. From the five common signs of bloating to understanding how even the simple act of breathing can cause your stomach to expand, we're breaking down the science behind this universal experience.
Beyond just food triggers, we explore the surprising gut-brain axis that connects your digestive system directly to your emotional state. Stress, anxiety, and even day-to-day emotions can significantly impact how your body processes food and whether you experience bloating afterward. Research shows when your cortisol levels rise, your body shifts from "rest and digest" to "fight or flight" mode, slowing digestion and potentially causing that uncomfortable fullness.
This doesn't mean you have to accept constant discomfort. We share practical, evidence-based strategies to support your gut health without extreme diets or expensive supplements. From mindful eating techniques to gradually introducing fiber and supporting your microbiome with probiotic-rich foods, these small changes can help you find your personal balance.
Whether you're dealing with hormonal fluctuations, food sensitivities, or stress-induced bloating, this episode will transform how you view your body's natural digestive processes. Stop fighting against your biology and start appreciating the complex, efficient system that keeps you thriving—occasional bloating and all. Your relationship with your body deserves this healthier perspective.
Let's get in touch! You can email any inquiries (or just say hello) at hello@vitawithalita.com or visit vitawithalita.com
Paper discussed in this episode: Mayer, E.A., Ryu, H.J. & Bhatt, R.R. The neurobiology of irritable bowel syndrome. Mol Psychiatry 28, 1451–1465 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-023-01972-w
Hello, beautiful people, what's up? It's good to see you all. Welcome back to Vida with Alita. This is your go-to space for honest, evidence-based conversations on women's health, fitness and the science behind it all. Welcome, I'm your host, alita, and today we're diving into something that, honestly, I think so many of us deal with, but we don't really ever talk about it or real solutions to the problem or why it may happen. And this, my friends, is bloating. We all know the feeling. You wake up, you have a flat stomach, you know that morning, skinny, everything's great, and then by midday you're suddenly like inflamed, puffy, and you're just uncomfortable in how you feel, maybe in how you look. It can feel like your body's working against you and it's gonna be really frustrating, especially if you're taking all the right steps in theory to be your best self and to look your best and you're just maybe not feeling it. But here is the honest truth I would like to share with everyone today, and this is that bloating is so completely normal and it needs to become more normalized, and this is a truth that I, despite knowing it, I'm still learning to accept and to, yeah, to accept in my life. So in today's episode, we're going to unpack what bloating really means. We're going to investigate the surprising link between your gut and stress and how you can start maybe taking steps towards feeling lighter, clearer, maybe a little more control, and maybe you can even leave this episode loving your bloat. So let's get into it.
Speaker 1:What is bloating? Well, bloating is often described as feeling swollen or overly full in the belly. So five signs of bloating can be things like feeling of fullness or like a pressure in your abdomen. There can be an observable increase in the size of your stomach area, any sort of abdominal pain or discomfort, excessive gas or even burping more frequently than normal. So these are all things that we are talking about when we say bloating. After we eat, our stomachs expand, right, and I hope we understand that this is normal.
Speaker 1:Of course, I would like to just put it out there. There can be abnormal bloating, where your body is honestly trying to tell you that something's wrong. So if you're not sure, always, always check with your doctor. Now, that's not the type of bloating I'm talking about. I'm talking about the normal bloating that for some reason in today's world has been demonized, so it's becoming a problem when it really shouldn't be. Now there are things to look out for to maybe help reduce the amount of bloating that you are experiencing and maybe ultimately improve your overall gut health. But keep in mind that some bloating is completely normal and we can't really avoid it Like it's not. You're never going to not be bloated and people who are claiming that they are never bloated, they're just lying. They probably have their bloating under control or they have it to a minimum, but it's always going to be there. Before we get into like gut health and how you can try to reduce the bloating, I kind of want to tell you why it's always going to be there.
Speaker 1:Like, what can cause bloating? Okay, so, of course, eating. You know you eat. That's one of the main things that are that's causing your bloating, but it's not always about, like, the quantity of food. So, yes, of course, if you are overeating, you have limited capacity space in your stomach, so it's going to expand, cause you to feel that pressure and fullness. So overeating, of course, is one of those reasons. But let's just say that you're eating. You're eating a normal amount and you're still feeling bloated. It's usually a few things. It could be how your digestive system is actually responding to what you ate. It could even be how you ate it. So let's get into that. Of course, the most common thing you'll hear about what's causing bloating is food intolerances. You're allergic to the food. Your body is not responding to the food. Well, this can be true, yes. So food intolerances the main ones are things like dairy or gluten.
Speaker 1:You may or may not have heard about high FODMAP foods. Fodmap stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols. Now, I'm not going to get into all the details about all that, but basically the main takeaway here is that these are foods that may not be fully absorbed in the small intestine. So because of this, they are fermented or they're used up by the bacteria in your gut and the process of fermentation leads to like production of gas and you know some of the signs that we see. That can lead to bloating.
Speaker 1:And I'm bringing up these foods because I kind of have seen this thing where people are going on these low FODMAP food diets and for some people that might work, especially if you're someone with, like a condition such as IBS or irritable bowel syndrome, where you're. You know it's just aggravating the symptoms for you, but for the most part these high FODMAP foods are not bad for you. If anything, they're the healthy foods that we think about. Think of. Okay, let's talk about what is a high FODMAP food. These are literally things like apples, like fruits such as apples, vegetables like cauliflower and asparagus. It could even be the grains that you find in, like your bread or cereal. So, food, these FODMAP foods are not bad.
Speaker 1:Don't avoid them, but they are foods that are probably being fermented because they're not easily absorbed by your small intestine, which can lead to bloating. Again, not to avoid these foods, but to be aware I mentioned this you may need to avoid in like certain cases. Again, this is something you would speak to with, like your doctor or registered dietician, to tailor it to you. But don't just go on this trend of low FODMAP food diet just because these foods are still healthy. And again, we're talking here about overall health and something to be aware of.
Speaker 1:Anyway, the point is that some foods can cause bloating. I think we know that, but keep in mind that even things like artificial sweeteners can lead to bloating. So maybe you are consuming too many artificial sweeteners and that's probably just the main reason you're experiencing some bloating, but sometimes, surprisingly, it's not even the food at all. You know, it's just how your gut is processing it. Anyway, like a few minutes into this, I hope you're realizing why I'm saying that bloating is normal. Like what are you going to do? Not eat? Literally just foods. If you're someone looking to live a healthier lifestyle and you're consuming these quote-unquote foods to help you with that are causing bloating, then bloating is just completely normal. The way your food is processing your small intestine, the bacteria in it is literally making gas, causing the bloating as a result of you eating these foods, which is a normal process. So bloating is normal.
Speaker 1:It's important to be aware how your body may feel after you eat certain foods and if you notice anything abnormal. Of course, these are things that maybe you can avoid. You may even want to avoid foods that make you feel this way, just for your own comfort, but not something to be like neurotic about. Bloating is normal. Besides, like the obvious culprits of like food and and the foods we eat, other culprits of bloating can literally be things like constipation. You, you honestly, probably you just need to go uh. Hormone fluctuations. This is a big one like hello women. We literally have an average 28 day cycle where all our hormones do is fluctuate, like our whole biological identity is hormone fluctuation, all right, and hormone fluctuation can literally be the reason you're bloated. And I'm bringing this up because, especially for bloating, it's just what are you going to do? Change your hormones, you know? So sometimes it's things we just can't control.
Speaker 1:Another thing that can make you feel like that bloated feeling can literally be fluid retention. Fluid retention your body is just holding on to a little bit more water than usual and you want to know what can cause fluid retention. Well, I'm glad you asked. Well, if you worked out a little too hard, you might get fluid retention. You didn't really sleep right, you might have fluid retention. You ate something salty, or you went out and you drank some alcohol fluid retention. You sat for too long fluid retention. You stood for too long fluid retention. I know it seems like everything can cause fluid retention and ultimately that bloating feeling, but that's the point. That's the point.
Speaker 1:Bloating is normal. Why is it being demonized? I want us to normalize some bloating. I keep saying this there are instances where bloating is abnormal, and do check with your doctor. But I think for the most part, when folks are googling why am I bloated, they're not experiencing the abnormal bloating that is of concern. We're talking about just bloating in everyday life for existing and living, and everyday life for existing and living. So it's completely normal. What is not normal, actually? No-transcript when you haven't eaten or you haven't drank anything for the past like eight, nine, ten hours and all you did was lay there all night and you're waking up looking super flat. Expected to be expecting yourself to look like that all day is what's not normal. And women are being tricked into thinking that that's what's normal, when it's really not.
Speaker 1:And just to add, like the cherry on top of all of this, there is literally a condition, okay, called aerofagia, fagia fagia. There's a condition all right, aero means air fagia, whatever, okay, and it's where you can literally swallow too much air which can lead to bloating-like symptoms. You can swallow too much air that can make you feel bloated. Okay, how does one swallow too much air, you may ask. Well, you swallow air every time you breathe, every time you talk and every time you eat. So, basically, when you live your life, you are swallowing air.
Speaker 1:So simple things, even things like sucking on candy or using straws, even eating too quickly, can cause too much air to go into your body and cause all that discomfort and things that we are calling bloating and, interestingly, up to 25% of adults may experience aerophagia at some point in their life, so it's not really anything to worry about. I know I called it like a condition it has a fancy name, but it's just something that happens. So why are we demonizing bloating and making people feel like it's something wrong with them and that it's something that's not normal, when, honestly, something like breathing too much air can be the reason you're bloated? Just something to think about Now. With all that being said, I am all for being accountable, taking responsibility for your actions and yada, yada, ya.
Speaker 1:So this is not a free pass to just say that bloating is normal and you can't do anything about it and now you can go, do and eat whatever you want, because whatever bloating is going to happen anyway. I want us to take a step back and think beyond. Like the physical bloat, what about your gut health? What about fueling your body with the foods it needs to optimally function? Honestly, while some bloating is normal and it means that your body is working normally and this is something that you should be thankful and appreciate about your body it can also mean that something might be off. Okay, we got to think of bloating like a spectrum, like you're going to be bloated because it's normal, but you can be over bloated because you're maybe eating the wrong foods for your body, you're stressed or whatever we're going to discuss, and you can just be normally bloated and within a healthy range. So that's something to think about.
Speaker 1:Now, of course, food intolerances and paying attention to what you're eating and what may be disrupting that like homeostasis in your gut is important. But I would like to talk now about something beyond just like food intolerances. Eating the right food for you can help. But let's shift away from food for a second.
Speaker 1:There's a powerful communication channel between your brain and your gut, called the gut-brain axis. You don't believe me? Well, haven't you ever experienced something that, like, made you nauseous or butterflies in your stomach? When you're nervous, I don't know, before a presentation, before a first date? All these feelings are triggering a response in your gut and, in the same fashion, emotions like anxiety or stress and depression can also cause gut distress. Yes, like, sometimes the gut distress comes first and then your brain is aware of it and yada, yada. But this is a reciprocal relationship. So this just highlights the connection that we have between our brain and our gut, that we all kind of experience and our gut that we all kind of experience.
Speaker 1:So this is where I'm going to highlight an expert review by Mayer and colleagues. In this review they kind of highlight the link between psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression, with symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome or IBS. Now, ibs is like an extreme case of people who are experiencing that sort of bloating and discomfort in their intestinal tract. But there is a link here, because individuals with IBS often have heightened stress response that can worsen their symptoms. Their bodies aren't reacting to food the way it should. Normally. It's reacting to how they're feeling about the food or life in general. But also there's this reciprocal relationship where folks who are more likely to have these higher psychiatric kind of conditions can worsen their IBS symptoms. Okay, so why does this connection exist? Very, very, very simply.
Speaker 1:I'm not gonna get into all the details about it, but you have to just think about this. When you're under stress, your cortisol levels rise. This slows down your digestion. This reduces your stomach acid, increases gas buildup. So chronic stress could lead to chronic bloating. So no, like it's not all in your head, but your head definitely is involved in the process. Think about this logically, it makes sense.
Speaker 1:So I think we've heard of like your fight or flight and your rest and digest response. These are kind of two opposite responses and your body will activate one over the other depending on a multitude of things, but your environment, the way you're thinking, how your hormone levels play a role in which branch is activated. The rest and digest is literally promoting digestion and resting, as the name implies, and the complete opposite. When you're stressed and your cortisol levels are high and you know things are not going maybe very well for you, is your fight or flight, where digestion is no longer a priority for your body, so that slows down. Your body is no longer focused on digesting food. So imagine if you know you just ate, or every time you eat when your body's supposed to be focusing on digesting, but you're in a rush, you're stressed, your cortisol levels are high, your body is not focused on digesting that food, it's rewiring that focus. Evolutionarily, this makes sense. Like you know, your body is going to use its resources where it's needed most and if in a moment you are Like you know, think back in the day of our ancestors, if there was suddenly a predator that came to attack their body is going to right away react to go and run away from the predator. They don't care about the food, they just ate right now, they care about their life. We don't live in a world anymore where you know you have to suddenly turn on that fight or flight switch and run away, but we still have that same mechanism. So that's just something to think about.
Speaker 1:Overall, your mental state and the way that you are approaching how you eat can have an impact on your bloat. So so, like what does this all mean? I think it's something that we see again and again with everything related to health, like everything is connected, even your gut, and this is where I want to encourage women to look at like their health as an overall thing for their lives, like an overall healthy lifestyle. Hyperfixating on one thing such as your bloat kind of eliminates all those other connections and overall health. If you're hyperfixating on bloating and just eliminating a bunch of foods that you think are making you bloated, when in reality you're just stress eating or you're constantly stressed and you're not sleeping well, that might be contributing to your bloat. You're not going to see that because of that hyperfixation. So you know something to.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I threw out a lot of information at you, but now what are some actionable steps? What can you do? Well, first, I think it always goes back to being mindful. Just start eating more mindfully, if you can, chew slower. Step away from your phone, your laptop or TV while you're eating. Appreciate the food you're eating. Stop eating when you're full, even if there's still food on your plate. This will allow you to maybe not swallow more air while you're breathing, not eat more than you have to, and also chew to allow your body to better digest that food, potentially helping to reduce your bloating, potentially helping to reduce your bloating.
Speaker 1:Secondly, let's support our gut microbiome. I didn't really get into the microbiome and like the whole microbiota thing, but just know that it's important for your overall health in general. You can kind of there are foods that will support your. Let me rephrase that there are foods that are more probiotic, so these probiotic foods will increase the number of good bacteria in your gut that are going to help with this whole process, and these can be in foods such as yogurt. There are also foods known as prebiotics and these you can think of as like the food for your gut bacteria, so these are feeding your good bacteria in your stomach, things like avocados and bananas and I'm putting this here because I just want to remind everyone that you don't really you don't need an expensive probiotic supplement for your gut health and bloating and whatever yada yada. If you're eating a balanced diet that is tailored to you, that you understand what foods maybe your body is more sensitive to and you're eating until you feel full and you know you're eating the rainbow, then you don't need a probiotic supplement right now. Just focus on supporting your overall gut microbiome.
Speaker 1:Third, I didn't really discuss fiber here, but fiber, as we know, or maybe as you have heard, can be found in fruits, vegetables, legumes. Think again of the FODMAP foods that we talked about earlier. Um, they probably do fall under this category because they're not very easily digestible. I guess you can say fiber is good for you, um, good again for your, for your gut. But many people can under eat fiber which you're not feeding the gut in your micro and you which you're not feeding the gut in your micro and you're not feeding the bacteria in your gut, or a lot of folks. What they do is go from eating like no fiber and then suddenly they want to take on this like radical healthy lifestyle change, which is good for you, but then they go to eating too much fiber and your body is just not used to it. So gradually introduce fiber into your diet, get your body used to it, see how you feel, see what fiber sources you prefer over others. You can add things like chia seeds, cooked vegetables and oats. Foods high in fiber are good for you and can help aid digestion.
Speaker 1:Finally, I think it's always important to journal your symptoms. I don't want to say journal, like write down your symptoms. Write down after you eat something how you feel. If you are somebody who is very regular eater, good, stick to the regular foods that you know sit well with your stomach. If not, I know you. I don't want to say avoid, like I don't like avoiding things, but you know, try to stay away from things that might make you feel uncomfortable. Of course, it's not always going to be perfect. You might have something when you go out somewhere and you can't control that you're going to eat.
Speaker 1:But the point here is just to notice patterns between what you eat and how you feel and maybe what happens when bloating happens, like maybe what may have led to that bloating. So that's what we're kind of talking about here. Anyway, here's the bottom line and this is what I want you to take away. Bloating is completely normal. It's, honestly, just your body trying to talk to you, trying to tell you, hey, something's wrong or hey, thank you for feeding me, I'm taking care of it, you know.
Speaker 1:And by tuning into your stress, by looking at your habits, by looking at what your gut needs, you can start to feel better without cutting everything out of your diet, without having to go on these extreme diets and taking 30 supplements just to feel better about yourself and, honestly, you may even learn to appreciate your bloat. So if today's episode helped you out in any way, feel free to share it with a friend who's been googling like why am I bloated after lunch, and be sure to subscribe, rate, leave a review. It helps me keep bringing you some science-backed content. It helps me know what you like, what you don't like, and I hope to see you all next week on Vida with Alita. Thank you for tuning in and just keep thriving. Everybody. See you. Outro Music you.
