Have you ever looked at your stomach and thought I feel fat? You try to eat better, and get more exercise, but you still have days where your belly looks and feels huge? What if that bulge (or at least some of it) is actually bloating and not fat? That's what I discovered about 2 years ago.

After having my second baby, I wanted to get my body back. I was walking a lot and eating better, but I still had extra weight around my stomach, butt and thighs. I thought I was on the right track, but I would have days where my stomach was so big that when I looked at my profile, it looked like I was about 4 months pregnant.

I plodded along and continued to improve my diet and even did a few detoxes, with the support of my naturopath. My whole family even tried an elimination diet to determine if there were any foods that we were sensitive to, but we didn't uncover any intolerances.

It wasn't until about two years later that I figured out what was happening. I went for a massage, and the massage therapist commented that I had a lot of trigger points and inflammation. She asked if she could share this with my naturopath. I scheduled a follow-up appointment with my naturopath to discuss the potential issue. She recommended doing an IGG blood test to see if I had any food sensitivities. (Note: this is different than the typical scratch test that looks for immediate reactions to foods. The IGG test looks for a delayed reaction in the blood).

After doing the test, I was absolutely floored with the results. I have a sensitivity to gluten, dairy, eggs, almonds, peanuts, kidney beans and pinto beans (you can see my results here). So here I was thinking I was doing well, incorporating more beans into my diet for an alternative source of protein, and it was causing me more harm than good.

After eliminating these foods from my diet, I noticed a lot of changes. I had less gas, no bloating, and my hives (I thought they were pimples!) went away.

Now, I'm not perfect. I do indulge sometimes. And when I do I can see what these foods do to me. Eggs give me hives, almonds make my throat tighten a bit and gluten makes me bloated. In fact, my waist can bloat up to 4 inches bigger. And then it goes back down again after a day or so. But what exactly is happening?

Dr. Bradley Williams, Chiropractic Neurologist and Certified Clinical Nutritionist explains "the body uses water/fluids as a buffering agent for any toxic substances and inflammatory reactions.  Allergens, hypersensitivities and intolerances all create inflammation and toxicity.  Where those chemicals/molecules accumulate determines where the bloating/swelling occurs.  And since the gut has a huge immune system that responds to these foreign substances, namely things that we consume, the abdomen is a common site for bloating."

While people can potentially have a sensitivity to any food, I've noticed more and more people I know have been diagnosed with gluten sensitivity. Digestive Health Expert Megan Groves, who also has celiac, explains part of the cause, "it has been shown that the wheat products we now consume have about 70% more gluten than they used to. In order to preserve the shelf life and to sell more food at cheap prices, a lot of the food industry manufacturers are using lower quality gluten ingredients. Ultimately, our bodies are having troubles tackling these proteins, which means more if it goes undigested and we experience various (physiological) reactions as a result. The wheat our ancestors used was also lower in gluten because they soaked their grains before preparing them to consume. This process helps grow a kind of bacteria beneficial to our body, and converts the gluten protein into a more digestible form."

And when bacterial balance is key for good digestive health, it is no wonder that our increased consumption of modern forms of gluten disrupts that balance.

So how can you find out if your belly is caused by bloating? Speak with a natural healthcare practitioner. Although a common first step is an elimination diet to eliminate common "trigger" foods, if you have multiple intolerances, it may be harder to determine what the cause is. An IGG blood test can give you a lot of information and help you identify food sensitivities. Another option is seeing a holistic allergist to be diagnosed and potentially "cleared" of your sensitivity.

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