When you speak to your friends about their period, you may notice they never have excessive bloating before menstruation. How could it be that they don’t have this PMS symptom but you do? Why do you bloat and they don’t?

Is is even normal to have bloating before the period? What causes this bloating before the menstrual period?

Bloating is a sign that something is not right in the digestive tract. Several things cause bloating and it’s important to know what these are so you can discover how to reduce bloating and prevent it from happening before your next period.

Major Cause of Intestinal Bloat: Carbs That Ferment

Eating too many fermentable carbohydrates is a major cause of intestinal bloating. There is a diet now that focuses on reducing the amount of carbs that ferment in the GI tract – and it’s one that has been extensively studied. The diet is called a FODMAP diet. FODMAP stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides Disacharrides Monosaccharides and Polyols.

On this diet, eliminating foods with high amounts of these carbs in them is exceptionally important: apples, apricots, onions, garlic, Jerusalem artichokes, barley, dandelion greens, cabbage, broccoli, fennel, chicory, asparagus, chocolate, leek, pulses, beans, radicchio, plums, prunes, watermelon, peaches, pears, cauliflower and mushrooms.

But there’s another thing you should know: Fake sugars such as xylitol, mannitol, sorbitol, and maltitol are also a big problem – and these sugars may be found in many packaged foods, chewing gums, beverages, and desserts.

Thus, if you want to know what foods to limit before your period starts, it would be wise to focus on cutting out all these foods. You may find PMS relief the very first time you eliminate these foods.

5 Natural Remedies for Intestinal Bloating Before or During Your Period

So if you’re looking for 5 things to do to be proactive and want to seriously get rid of bloating with your cycle, here’s a short 1-2-3-4-5 steps of what to do.

1. FODMAP Diet

Month 1 – Eliminate all the fake sugars from your diet. This may be enough to eliminate all the bloating and gas you have at the female time of the month.

2. FODMAP Diet – Month 2 – Eliminate all the fruits and vegetables that are linked to causing bloating and gas in the digestive tract.

3. Herbal Treatment for PMS Gas and Bloating

One of the best herbal remedies for this problem whether or not it’s related to your period or not – is peppermint tea. The chemical composition of peppermint’s active ingredient called menthol includes a lot of –OH groups that will easily diffuse into the system, ‘eating up’ all the gas. This works wonderfully well.

4. Reduce the time that food stays in the intestines.

One of the answers to the question, why do you bloat is that you have too much food in your intestinal tract to begin with. Are you eliminating food as often as you eat it? Every meal that goes in should be accompanied by one meal out.

Good colon function means that everything is passing through the intestinal tract at a good rate – not too slow and not too fast. The greater the amount of time that food sits in the intestinal tract, the more that food will ferment.

And if you’ve ever had a compost pile, you know that food that is degrading will ferment and cause gas. It’s the same thing in your intestinal tract. Don’t believe that it’s good to only have one bowel movement every week, or even every day! This breeds fermentation and excess gas in the intestines.

5. Period Vitamin

Vitamins and minerals play an important part in how your intestinal tract and uterus work.

You need every one of them so don’t think that one is your magic solution. A period vitamin contains all the vitamins and minerals that support your reproductive organs during your period. These same vitamins and minerals are also helpful for the intestinal tract. For example, magnesium is crucial for the intestinal tract to propel its contents through at a decent pace, thus keeping intestinal gas and bloating to a minimum.

Taking a period vitamin is a one a day vitamin so it’s easy to take.

These are several ways you can start to make a big difference with your bloating during your period.