Welcome to Built For Life, the twice-weekly newsletter designed to help you look, feel and perform better every day.
You wake up with a flat stomach.
By 1pm, you look three months pregnant.
Your jeans fit fine in the morning. By dinner, the button's digging in and you're contemplating sweatpants.
Most people blame the food. "I can't eat dairy." "Gluten destroys me." "Vegetables make me bloat."
Sometimes that's true. Usually it's not.
Stop blaming the food. Start looking at how you're eating it.
I see this constantly. Clients come in convinced they have food intolerances.
They've cut out gluten. Then dairy. Then anything remotely "inflammatory." Living like they have celiac disease when they don't.
And they're still bloated.
Here's what's really going on: you're either dumping massive amounts of fiber into your system at once without enough water, eating foods that ferment quickly in your gut, or you're inhaling your food in 5 minutes flat while answering emails.
Your digestive system needs two things: the right foods in the right amounts, and time to actually process them.
When you suddenly dump a massive load of high-fiber food into your system without the water to process it, things back up. Gas builds. Bloating happens.
When you eat foods that your gut bacteria ferment quickly? Same thing. (Fibre is actually performance nutrition - it controls blood sugar, affects hormones, influences energy. But too much too fast = bloating.)
When you're eating while stressed or rushed? Your body's in fight-or-flight mode. Digestion literally shuts down. The food just sits there.
Fixing bloating isn't about eliminating entire food groups. It's about spreading fiber throughout the day, slowing down when you eat, and giving your digestive system time to work.
1. Spread fiber throughout the day, not all at once.
If you're going from minimal fiber to high fiber, don't load all your fiber into one meal. Instead, distribute fiber throughout the day to avoid digestive discomfort.
Instead of dumping 40g of fiber in one massive salad at lunch, spread it across meals: 10g at breakfast (oats), 10g at lunch (smaller salad), 10g at dinner (vegetables + sweet potato).
Same total fiber. Way less bloating.
2. Slow down and actually chew your food.
Most people inhale their food. Digestion starts in your mouth. When you don't chew properly, larger food particles hit your stomach harder, making them tougher to break down.
You should be able to put your fork down between bites. If you can't, you're eating too fast.
Aim for 15-20 minutes minimum per meal. 20-30 chews per bite for dense foods.
3. Don't eat while stressed or distracted.
When you're stressed, blood diverts away from digestion. Eating while working or scrolling means your food sits in your stomach longer and ferments.
Even just 3-5 deep breaths before eating helps switch your nervous system into "rest and digest" mode.
4. Choose the right vegetables when bloating is bad.
Some vegetables ferment faster than others. When you're already bloated, stick with these:
Carrots, zucchini, spinach, bok choy, bell peppers, cucumber
Avoid temporarily:
Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, onions, garlic (these ferment fast and produce more gas)
You're not cutting them out forever. Just giving your gut a break while things settle.
5. Drink water with your fiber.
Fiber needs water to move through your system. Think of fiber as a sponge. Without water, it can't swell or do its job.
When you eat a lot of fiber without enough water, it sits and ferments.
Target: 500ml of water with each high-fiber meal.
6. Don't eat massive portions late at night.
Large meals late at night can cause food to ferment and leave you feeling bloated in the morning. A huge fiber-heavy meal at 9pm that you're trying to digest before bed at 11pm? It's fermenting while you sleep.
Eat your biggest meals earlier. Keep dinner lighter if you're prone to bloating.
Most clients who think they're "intolerant" to everything aren't. They just need to adjust how they're eating.
I had a client, Priya, convinced she couldn't eat vegetables without bloating. She'd cut out broccoli, cauliflower, beans, onions, garlic. Living on chicken, rice, and spinach.
Here's what we changed:
Reintroduced vegetables slowly (carrots and zucchini first, then gradually added back others)
Spread fiber across meals instead of one massive lunch
Increased water to 2L per day
Switched to cooked vegetables instead of raw (easier to digest)
Made her put her phone away during meals and actually sit down
Within two weeks, bloating dropped 70%. Within a month, she was eating broccoli again without issues.
The kicker? Half her bloating was from eating salad in 5 minutes while replying to Slack messages.If you want actual results:
Total daily protein is adequate (hit it every day)
You're training consistently (same time, same intensity)
You're sleeping (7-9 hours)
You're in a reasonable calorie deficit or surplus (for your goal)
That's 99% of the equation.
Protein timing? 1% at best.
Yet people obsess over timing and ignore sleep. Backwards.
Stop treating your food like an enemy.
Your bloating isn't because you're intolerant to vegetables or carbs or whatever you've convinced yourself. It's because you're eating them wrong.
Slow down. Spread the fiber. Drink water. Put your phone away.
That's 90% of the fix right there.
The other 10% is patience. Your gut needs 2-3 weeks to adjust when you change how you're eating. Don't panic if you're still a bit bloated on day 3. That's normal. Keep going.
How to eat more fiber without the bloating and gas - The science behind fiber, water, and digestive health
FODMAPs and fermentation: Which vegetables cause bloating and why - Understanding which foods ferment fast in your gut
Listen to this episode on the pod on why you’re always bloated and what actually fixes it
See you Tuesday.
— Akash