Erin Oprea owns Oprea Personal Fitness, an in-home personal training business in the Nashville area. Her clients include Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Nettles.

We have often talked about keeping sodium levels in your diet low to reduce bloating. But what if you have been working super hard to quit the processed foods and still feel that your clothes are hugging your stomach a little too tight? Read through these bloat-causing habits and maybe you will find the key to calming your stomach.

1. Fiber rich foods like beans, bran, and berries can be great for your diet. However, when you start enjoying those foods a little too often you could get yourself into a very gaseous state. As with all good things, eat them in moderation.

2. Broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cabbage are some of the best green super foods. They also break down very slowly in your belly. This is one reason they can keep you feeling full. But they will also bloat your body. They are especially gas-inducing when raw, as the heating process starts the breakdown before they even go in your mouth.

3. For some people, dairy and gluten are bloat- and pain-inducing foods. Most people know their tolerances of these foods, but some aren’t paying attention to what might be causing the belly pain. Which leads me too…

4. Keeping a food journal. Everyone reacts differently to the foods mentioned above, and it is up to you to figure out how your body works. Paying attention to what you eat by writing everything down for anywhere from a week to three months will get you in the habit of knowing exactly what preceded the bloat.

5. Eating too rapidly can also cause a stomach issue. An influx of food in the stomach will create a backup for the enzymes trying to break everything down. And the excess air that you consume with all that gulping causes bloat too. Take your time eating! You may just find that you feel full before your plate is clean.

6. Fatty foods are the slowest to move through your digestion. If you have ever had acid reflux, this very well might have been the type of food you ate before it happened! Junk food is a double whammy when it comes to this, as it is usually loaded with fat and sugar. Both can cause bloat and weight gain.

My best advice is pay attention. If you have ever looked back at your day and not really remembered what you ate, then you could be in for a variety of dietary discomforts, including bloating.

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