Natural yogurt at breakfast can ease evening bloating: Experts

When bloating issues arise, we usually focus on dinner. This is because the stomach tends to resemble a balloon only in the evening. However, a doctor and a dietitian who spoke to Vogue magazine recommend paying attention to what you eat in the morning at breakfast.

Dr. Fermín Mearin Manrique from Teknon Medical Center, a member of the Top Doctors association, claims that bloating often intensifies throughout the day but is least noticeable upon waking and most bothersome in the evening. This may be because gases gradually accumulate in the abdominal cavity during the day, filling it and weakening the abdominal muscles. Therefore, to ease bloating, it is good to start preventing it in the morning.

How can you do this? You must start strengthening your gut flora in the morning. There's a simple way to do this—enrich your breakfast with natural yogurt.

— Many scientific studies show that a diet rich in natural probiotics, including yogurts, enables the diversification of gut flora and alleviates bloating. Yogurts contain live bacterial cultures that inhabit the digestive tract, facilitating digestive processes, and therefore play an extremely important role in gut health care — explains dietitian Paula Martín Clares.

The specialist recommends natural yogurts, especially those with a very short list of ingredients. She also warns that fruit yogurts are not as effective.

— You should be careful with flavored yogurts because they contain sugar, sweeteners, and dyes. To enhance the taste, as a dietitian, I recommend buying 100% natural yogurt and adding fruit to it — she adds.

Yogurt can alternatively be consumed with kefir. This is another product that greatly benefits gut flora. Kefir is one of the best probiotic products, contributing to the balance of gut flora, facilitating digestion, and regulating constipation, bloating, and gas.