In this video Victoria S. Dorsano, a health and nutrition behavior‑change coach, explains why people often experience increased bloating when they switch to healthier, weight‑loss‑focused eating patterns. She introduces FODMAPs—short‑chain carbohydrates (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols) that are poorly absorbed in the small intestine—and describes how they can cause digestive discomfort through two main mechanisms: osmotic water draw into the intestines and bacterial fermentation that produces gas. Dorsano outlines common high‑FODMAP foods (e.g., sprouted whole‑wheat breads, apples, garlic, honey, beans, avocados, yogurts) and emphasizes that sensitivity varies per individual. She advises a gradual, selective elimination approach to identify personal triggers rather than cutting all high‑FODMAP foods. To maintain fiber intake while staying low‑FODMAP, she recommends psyllium husk (highlighting Bellway’s flavored powders, some with added collagen) and lists other low‑FODMAP fiber sources such as oranges, berries, green beans, spinach, carrots, oats, brown rice, quinoa, and flaxseeds. The video includes a medical disclaimer urging viewers to consult healthcare professionals for persistent or severe symptoms, and concludes with calls to action for subscribing and accessing free resources.
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Spring is here and summer is around the corner, which means you might be trying to shed a few pounds that you've unintentionally gained over the fall and wintertime. And with that goal of fat loss comes some changes in nutrition. You might be looking to add more protein to your diet, good sources of fiber, healthier foods, things like that, right? But you start to notice as you're eating healthier, you're also getting more bloated. What gives? Like, shouldn't eating healthy make your body feel good at the same time? Why does eating healthy food tend to make you feel bloated? And is there something you can do about it? So that's why in today's video I'm going to talk a little bit about why this happens and how you can mitigate some of the bloating effects that happen when you try to eat healthier and try to eat for weight loss. So as you guys know, I'm a health and nutrition behavior change coach, so I work with a lot of my clients on changing their nutrition patterns, and a lot of the times we're working on weight loss. And even when we're not working on weight loss and we're trying to just incorporate healthier eating patterns, it can still lead to some bloating, and no one likes to feel bloated. Now I do want to say that bloating and gas, that's a normal part of healthy digestion. A lot of the times it's just our gut bacteria eating and processing the food that we've eaten and producing some gas as a byproduct of their digestion, which is kind of cute. They're like down there like burping and, you know, releasing gas because they're all satisfied and happy. I like to think about my gut microbiome as like cool little cute creatures down there, just like hanging out, having picnics all the time, eating all the food that I'm eating, you know, cool stuff. This normal kind of bloating and gas production can very easily teeter into not so normal gas production bloating when it starts to feel uncomfortable, or you might be changing your social plans because you feel so distended and the bloating is so painful and that sort of thing. And that's not fun. But there are some typical, like, healthy foods that can be more gas-producing than others, and certain people are more sensitive to them. And if you're watching this video, you're probably one of them. And these healthy foods that I'm talking about in particular are high FODMAP foods. What are FODMAPs, you ask? Well, sit back and relax for today's lesson all about FODMAPs. So FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. And these are all short-chain carbohydrates or sugars that are poorly absorbed by the small intestine. And some folks have much more of a difficulty with that absorption than others, including myself. Now, I do want to note that high FODMAP foods may only be a singular cause of some excessive gas and bloating, and it may not be the end-all be-all for everybody. So please do not take this video as medical advice that is personalized your exact situation. If you suspect that something deeper is going on and you really want to get something checked out, definitely see your primary care doc or a GI doc and get that checked out. This is just something that can be a potential cause of some uncomfortable gas and bloating that I feel like needs to be talked about, especially when the goal is to eat healthier. And this can be a big deterrent for people. All right, so to break FODMAPs down even further into their subcategories, let's talk about what each of those subcategories are and what's included in there. So first off, we got our oligosaccharides. This group includes things like wheat, rye, various fruits and vegetables, pulses, and legumes. Then we got our disaccharides, and the main FODMAP in this group is really just lactose. So think milk, yogurt, soft cheese, you know, most dairy things. And then we have the monosaccharide category, which a lot of fruits fall under, including apples, which I love so much and have had to cut back on a little bit. So I don't explode like a balloon. This also includes honey and agave nectar. And then we have our polyol group, which includes like our sorbitols, mannitols, xylitols. And some of these things are included in some fruits and vegetables, as well as some sugar-free sweeteners that you commonly find in like sugar-free gum. Now I'm not gonna go through an extensive list of high FODMAP food items, but I will go through some of the common ones that I see a lot of folks and a lot of my clients dive into when we are trying to transition into healthier eating and that tend to elicit more of a sensitivity to these items. And by sensitivity, I mean more bloating, more gas. So things like sprouted whole wheat breads, apples, some fiber-enriched products, especially ones that contain like chicory root fiber, garlic, honey, most beans, chickpeas, avocados, yogurts, and those types of foods. But don't fret, just because those foods tend to produce more gas for some people doesn't mean that they are completely off limits forever. or that we can't find some really healthy alternatives to still continue your weight loss goals or your healthy eating goals. But before I get to that point, I wanna answer the question as to why these particular types of foods that are high in FODMAPs tend to produce more of this gas, bloating, distension, and pain in the stomach. So really there's two main reasons that high FODMAP foods end up causing digestive distress. Number one, FODMAPs tend to draw fluid into the intestines. Because FODMAPs are short-chain sugars, they are considered osmotically active, which is a fancy phrase for basically saying it pulls water from the surrounding tissues into your small intestines, which can lead to bloating and diarrhea for some folks. The second reason why high FODMAP foods tend to cause digestive distress is because of bacterial fermentation. When you eat carbs, they need to be broken down further into simple sugars in order to be absorbed by your small intestine and then used by your body. However, our human bodies cannot produce some of the enzymes that are needed to break down these carbohydrate sources into simple sugars. And then this can lead to some undigested FODMAPs traveling through the small intestine and into the large intestine, aka the colon. And the large intestine is where all of our beautiful, amazing gut bacteria live, literally trillions of bacteria. These bacteria feed on those FODMAPs and in the process end up fermenting them as a byproduct of their own digestion, which then ends up releasing gas into your colon. And some people are only sensitive to Specific FODMAPs. There's definitely a cross between high FODMAP sensitivity and IBS and other digestive issues. So if you suspect that this is a major issue for you, again, definitely worth getting it checked out by your doctor. But aside from that, what do you do now? What do you do if you are still trying to eat healthy, you want to lose weight, so you're still trying to get sources of lean protein and high fiber containing foods that some of them had previously been FODMAPs, but now what do you do? You don't want to be gassy all the time. First off, try eliminating certain high FODMAP foods from your diet, but not all of them at once. Like I said, sometimes you can be more sensitive to certain FODMAPs than others. Like in my case, apples really seem to be a big culprit for me. I love them so much, but I've had to part ways and have just a little bit here and there. But am I still able to eat some of these other high FODMAP foods and have no issues? Yeah, you have to find which particular FODMAPs are your trigger area. You don't want to eliminate all high FODMAP foods forever and ever because a lot of these foods are really, really good for our gut microbiome. Since fiber is really, really important for overall health, but also for the weight loss process in terms of feeling full and satisfied while you are in a calorie deficit, you want to find sources of fiber that are not as high of FODMAP while you're still sorting out which FODMAPs are a little bit more triggering. One of my favorite sources of low FODMAP fiber is psyllium husk, and I've gone through a lot of psyllium husk products, but one of my favorites has been from Bellway. There's a couple of reasons why I love Bellway versus some other brands of psyllium husk powder. Number one is their flavors. The flavors are amazing. They have options like raspberry lemon, lemon lime, mixed berry, and pineapple passion fruit. They also have a version of the psyllium husk that has collagen blended into it, so you can get both the low FODMAP fiber plus a source of protein, which is beautiful and keeps you nice and full for a quick afternoon snack. Bellway's psyllium husk powders have really, really helped me to make sure that I'm still getting my fiber in during the day while I am still trying to eat lower FODMAP items as well. And I'll be sure to drop the link down in the description if you want to learn more about Bellway's fiber powders. Now, of course, there are options for still getting your fiber in while going low FODMAP, but just The psyllium husk powder makes it so, so easy. But some of my other low FODMAP sources of fiber are oranges, raspberries, strawberries, green beans. I eat so many green beans, spinach, carrots, oats, brown rice, quinoa, flaxseeds. So you got options. So eating healthier and trying to lose weight and reaching your health goals through your nutrition doesn't have to be an uncomfortable process. Sometimes it just takes a few tweaks here and there and learning your body and figuring out what works best for you. And I know for me personally, and for a lot of my clients, adjusting Reducing your FODMAP intake can really make a big, big difference and still make it easy to follow a healthy diet. And if you need some additional support, don't forget to check out the links down below. I have some free resources down there for you. All right, you guys, I hope you found this video helpful. And if you did, go ahead and give this video a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel. I greatly appreciate it each and every time. And until then, I will see you guys next time. Bye.
