Starting the day with a puffed out belly isn’t anyone’s idea of fun. But that’s exactly what can happen when you eat the wrong morning meal.
Even though you might not think to worry about bloating at breakfast time, there are plenty of AM options that can have you wanting to unbutton your pants before you’ve even made it to your desk.
And we're not talking about stuff like beans or cruciferous veggies. (Though if you love eating chickpeas and broccoli as soon as you wake up, kudos to you.) Here are 8 everyday breakfasts that could be making your stomach churn. (Never diet again and still lose weight with this cutting-edge plan that naturally retrains your fat cells! Here’s how.)
A greasy breakfast sandwich
These morning monstrosities tend to pack loads of salty cheese and processed meats like bacon, sausage, or ham. All that sodium can cause your body to hang onto extra water, leaving you bloated, says registered dietician Alissa Rumsey. The high fat count is another culprit. Because fatty foods get digested at a slower rate, that rock of a sandwich will literally sit in your belly for longer than lighter fare, explains Orange Coast Memorial Center gastroenterologist Ashkan Farhadi, MD.
MORE: 6 “Healthy” Foods With Sky-High Sodium Counts
A gigantic smoothie
Even if your smoothie is made with legitimately clean ingredients, it can still leave you with a pooch. In part, that's because all that liquid simply takes up a lot of space in your stomach. Sipping through a straw makes things even worse—it causes you to swallow more air, which also ends up in your belly, Rumsey says. (Want blended bliss without the bloat? Check out these 5 delicious smoothie bowls from Prevention Premium.)
A big bowl of fruit
A generous helping of fruit might seem virtuous. But it's possible to go overboard—especially with sugary fruits like plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries, apples, and pears. These sweet picks are loaded with fructose, a type of sugar that many people have trouble digesting. When that happens, bacteria in the gut feed on the sugars and create gas that can leave you bloated and uncomfortable, Farhadi says.
MORE: 51 Foods That May Be Making Your Gut Miserable
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A skinny latte
Chances are, you’ll feel anything but skinny after downing a coffee drink made with sugar-free syrup. Like fructose, the bacteria in your gut love to feast on compounds found in low- or no-calorie sweeteners like sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol. That means you'll be left feeling gassy and uncomfortable.
A sugary pastry
Muffins, scones, croissants, donuts, you name it. They're all loaded with refined carbs, which your body stores as sugar. And that sugar, like salt, loves grabbing onto water to make you puffy, Rumsey says. (Try this protein-packed blueberry muffin parfait from Prevention Premium for a flat belly and happy taste buds.)
Pancakes or waffles
Unless they're made with whole-wheat flour and have a clean, low-sugar topping (like fresh berries), these are basically pastries in disguise. Which means they'll signal your body to hold onto extra water and make your pants feel uncomfortably tight. Pouring on the sugary syrup, as you might expect, only makes it worse.
MORE: 7 Foods You Should Never Eat For Breakfast
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Porridge made with whole milk
If dairy gives you trouble, cooking your oats or barley in whole milk might not be the best way to start your day. (As one of our own editors recently found out.) Difficulty digesting dairy tends to cause gas and bloating—especially when you consume a lot of it at once, Farhadi says.
Protein bars
If your protein bar is made with soybeans, it might give you a gut. Like other beans, soybeans are loaded with oligosaccharides, another tough-to-digest sugar that can lead to gas and bloating. And if your bar contains low- or no-calorie sweeteners, that'll only add to the bellyache.
MORE: Why Meat Bars Are the New Protein Bars
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Marygrace Taylor
Marygrace Taylor is a health and wellness writer for Prevention, Parade, Women’s Health, Redbook, and others. She’s also the co-author of Prevention’s Eat Clean, Stay Lean: The Diet and Prevention’s Mediterranean Kitchen. Visit her at marygracetaylor.com.
