Water Retention

If you suffer from a bloated, swollen tummy, you are probably wondering what causes it. If your tummy is both tight and swollen, this is known as bloating. But not all bloating is caused by water retention. Water retention in the stomach (abdomen) can cause either a tight, bloated feeling, or a puffy, ‘squashy’ feeling. The Waterfall Diet can help with both types of problem.

Bloating due to water retention

Water retention in the tummy has two main causes. Women often become bloated before their period, due to water retention caused by hormonal changes. This type of water retention can make your tummy feel either ‘tight’ or ‘squashy’. It has several potential causes.

If you are not eating enough of the right foods such as oats and leafy green vegetables, you may be lacking in nutrients such as B vitamins and magnesium, which are very important for keeping your hormones balanced.

If you have been on a very low-calorie diet, or if you have anorexia nervosa, you can develop bloating and water retention through not eating enough food. This bloating can expand your stomach (and sometimes other parts of your body such as your face) even while the rest of you remains relatively thin. It happens when your food intake is so low that there is not enough protein in your blood to draw fluid out of your tissues. So the fluid is retained in your tissues and makes them expand.

You have probably seen pictures of African children with very bloated tummies. This bloating is water retention caused by starvation. These children are retaining fluid because they are not getting enough protein-rich food.

I have had clients whose tummies were swollen for the same reason. Not because they couldn’t get enough food, but because they had been eating less than 1,000 Calories a day for months or years in order to avoid gaining weight. This type of bloating tends to make your tummy feel quite tight rather than ‘squashy’.

Bloating is not always due to water retention

Bloating also has other causes such as irritation in your intestines. If you get a lot of flatulence (tummy gas) even when you haven’t eaten beans, then your bloating may be due to bad digestion rather than to water retention. When food is not digested properly, it causes irritation, swelling and bloating in the lower part of the intestines. Bacteria seize and ferment the undigested food, and  produce gas (flatulence), which increases the bloating sensation.

If you suffer from a combination of gas and bloating, then the best book for you is Linda’s Flat Stomach Secrets. This e-book explains more about the causes of bloating and includes a deep cleansing routine to get rid of the causes of bloating and improve the digestion.

The main cause of this type of bad digestion is irritation to the lining of the intestines, which is why doctors tend to refer to bloating as ‘irritable bowel syndrome’. There isn’t really any effective medical treatment for it. To get rid of this bloating you have to stop eating the foods which are hard to digest, and control the bacteria which are contributing to the irritation. The diet, tea remedies and herbs recommended in Linda’s Flat Stomach Secrets are especially designed to help this type of bloating.

To find out more about the causes of water retention and how to get rid of it, read Linda Lazarides’ book The Waterfall Diet.
Or if you’re in a hurry, download her E-book Low Carb Dieting and the Waterfall Diet, which also gives full instructions for the diet.

Water retention can be caused by heart, kidney or liver disease. If you have severe or persistent symptoms, always get them checked by a doctor.

Related posts:

1. Can stress cause bloating or water retention?
2. Water Retention Stomach
3. Causes Of Water Retention

Tags: bloating, flatulence, water retention in tummy