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The feeling of intestines at breaking point

There are lots of things that threaten our health more than so-called stomach bloating. It is said that food intolerance is not life threatening: it is lifestyle threatening. Like when you are sitting in a meeting and strange rumbling noises below your waist start to compete with the speaker's presentation.

In the larger scheme of things a breakdown in the normal digestive process is small. If it's temporary, then okay. But if your stomach bloating happens every week or every day then it's chronic – and it could be a symptom of something more serious.

Many auto-immune diseases like diabetes, and bowel cancers, along with a raft of other medical conditions are now linked to food intolerance. See list with medical journal references.

Substances like Gluten, Dairy, Fructose and Yeast cause food intolerance and appear as all kinds of symptoms like stomach bloating, eczema, coughing and headache. For a full list of symptoms check the Symptoms Matrix (you must register – free)

Few things cause more nagging, background distress than the bloating of the abdomen. Almost always the result of a glitch in the digestive process, by far the majority of suffering can be connected to an inability to properly process certain foods - or food intolerance.

And we suffer in silence. Because the results of bloating (flatulence and sometimes diarrhea) are rather unmentionable we find it difficult to discuss this subject with anyone or even to mention it to our doctor.

We all know what it's like: being unable to wear a fitted jacket, a snappy belt or a favourite pair of jeans. This is not exclusively a women's issue, but seems to cause more stress to us than our male counterparts. A woman in her thirties, forties or fifties is typically a sufferer of abdominal bloating.

It might be time to consider the most common causes of bloating:

• Dairy intolerance, which affects ~75% of the world's population (1)
• Fructose sensitivity from sugars and artificial sweeteners
• An overgrowth of Candida or yeast infection (Yeast Sensitivity)
• Gluten intolerance (Gluten Sensitivity) from wheat and other grains

Check your symptoms in the Symptoms Matrix (you must register first).

The Miracle of Digestion
The digestive process routinely produces gases in moderate volume that are odourless or almost so. Different foods are digested at different rates and with different chemicals present. Briefly, the biochemical process for digesting meat is different from the process to break down sugars, starches or fats. Each food has its own ideal requirements.

Most of the time our amazing human body provides the enzymes, acids and other substances that are needed in the right concentration and at exactly the right moment. Most of the time the foods we eat are successfully transformed by our brilliantly designed digestive tract into energy and waste materials. Most of the time.

This alone should be regarded as a minor miracle. After all, we eat a huge variety of different foods. We eat walking around. We get up and run after eating. We eat too much. We eat indiscriminately. And sometimes we eat when we are not hungry.

In addition we eat foods that are not suitable for us, we drink alcohol and we take drugs. The body still goes ahead trying to process it, but the waste products may not be the same. Different gases may be produced, in larger quantities and at higher temperatures than usual.

Think about it: hot gases cause pressure and ballooning in some parts of the small and large intestines causing pockets of moving pain and gurgling, rumbling noises. Of course these gases are not the usual odourless ones. They are the result of incomplete or abnormal digestion, but that is the best the body can do with the foods you have given it to digest.

This kind of gaseous waste is often hot, smelly, noisy, painful and highly toxic. Not to mention embarrassing.

To reiterate, abdominal distension (or bloating) is the result of the digestive system having trouble with what you gave it to do. The bloating or expansion is caused by excessive toxic gases, the result of changed biochemical reactions in the gut.

But I've Never Had This Before. Why Now?
With age our whole body matures and begins a process of natural decline. We could digest anything in our twenties: pizza, fried foods, milk shakes, beer, chocolates, hard boiled eggs, scotch whisky, lots of salt and sugar - and this was just breakfast. Or was it just because our bodies were young and resilient enough to resist or compensate for the continuous abuse?

It may be that in the past you never had trouble digesting dairy foods, yeasts, grains or artificial sweeteners. However, suddenly you find yourself bloating up after certain foods, or really uncomfortable in a favourite skirt.

The Tuesday Club has the solution. First narrow down the possibilities of your problem food using the Symptoms Matrix (must register first).

Then properly identify your food intolerance using the Detection Diet, only in The Tuesday Club. With membership you get online access to the purpose-designed journal and a series of comprehensive food guides - the Compleat Guides to Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Fructose Yeast-free etc. More about The Tuesday Club.

Frequent stomach bloating is a sign. . . a symptom. There is a reason. It is likely to be a certain food which no longer agrees with you; a food to which your digestive system has said No more! I refuse!

You wouldn't put heavy diesel fuel in a Ferrari would you? And you wouldn't feed the dog on fruit salad.

So why fuel your precious human body inappropriate foods? Your body is giving you a signal. Don't suffer in silence! Get started! Find out more about the benefits of joining The Tuesday Club

Remember - for great tips and info on Food Intolerance sign up for our newsletter - it's free!

Medical journal references

More information

Symptoms Matrix (must register first)
The Tuesday Club.