Bloating.

Bloating is a nightmare, there are so many myths about bloating and so many products which claim to prevent it. I'm trying to get my head around healthy living and separate the facts from the fiction.

The main thing I need to re-iterate here is that people are very different. Different people lack different vitamins and therefore need to take supplements for different things. Also, something that is missing from many health blogs and medical information is that there is no "right" way to do health, it's not all facts and figures and so much of the research that goes into everything is so restrictive.

Bloating is definitely an area where there are so many lies about it that personally I don't know what to believe anymore, so here are some things which I think work and very general.

• Water, the simple matter of this is: bloating is not caused by excessive water consumption. It can actually be a strong sign of dehydration and too much salt in the diet, and the only way to overcome this? Hydration - water or green tea.
• Natural food, this is not an advertisement for clean eating, but if you eat over-processed, complex foods then your body can't break everything down as easily. Eat natural fruit and veg and brown carbohydrates, this seems to keep my bloat down and my skin much happier.
• Avoid dairy. A significant amount of people (figures vary but can be as high as 1/3) are dairy intolerant. In not too much detail most people think that dairy is a clean product and would categorise it as a natural food, but it is processed - if you're avoiding bloating - avoid this.
• Exercise, keep things moving around and the anti-bloat follows. Remember if you're exercising then you need to drink even more water.
• Salt. Salt makes you retain water because it dehydrates your body. 

A few things which help me, and all of these have the added bonus of aiding weight loss, clearing up your skin and generally improving your head health.

(Image taken by myself at the Damien Hurst Exhibition at the Tate Gallery).