Jerusalem Post
ByDR. MAYA ROSMAN
If your belly puffs up every evening, it’s not fate. Which foods and habits cause intestinal fermentation, and what small changes can bring quick relief?
You surely know the feeling: In the morning, your stomach is flat and light, but as the day progresses, it swells, and sometimes by evening you feel tight and heavy. The phenomenon of increased evening bloating is one of the most common complaints I hear.
The good news: In most cases, bloating does not indicate a serious medical problem, but rather a direct response of the digestive system to specific foods consumed during the day or to incorrect eating habits. One small change can bring dramatic improvement.
Coffee with evaporated milk (Nes Café)
Milk contains a large amount of lactose (milk sugar). In about 75% of the population, there is a significant decrease in the enzyme lactase (responsible for breaking down lactose) after infancy. If lactose is not broken down, it passes to the large intestine, where gut bacteria ferment it—a process that produces gases (methane, hydrogen) and bloating.
The difference between dairy products: Hard (yellow) cheeses contain almost no lactose. White cheeses or yogurt contain less lactose than evaporated milk.
Practical solution: Try switching for two to three days to black coffee, espresso, or coffee with lactose-free milk/soy drink and see if there is improvement.
Light breads and industrial pastries
Not many people know this: In the ingredient list of light breads, you will sometimes see the word “gluten.” Not because it is part of the flour, but because extra gluten has been intentionally added.
Light breads sometimes require the addition of artificial gluten to “inflate” and maintain an airy texture, even though they contain fewer calories. Gluten is a protein that is harder to digest. If there is a mild sensitivity to gluten (not full celiac disease), the undigested protein causes a mild inflammatory reaction in the intestines, leading to bloating.
Practical solution: Try avoiding all types of wheat for a week, including light bread, pastries, and pasta. Additionally, replace your carbohydrate sources with natural gluten-free options such as: Rice, oats, quinoa, buckwheat, legumes, or sweet potato.
Carbonated drinks (especially diet) and chewing gum
This mechanism is double: Trapped gases—carbon dioxide (CO2) bubbles in drinks cause immediate and temporary bloating, which increases the more you drink.
Sweeteners like aspartame and sugar alcohols (such as xylitol or sorbitol) are not absorbed in the small intestine. Instead, they reach the large intestine, where bacteria ferment them intensively—leading to gas and bloating. This is why sugar-free gum and candies containing sugar alcohols cause severe bloating.
Practical solution: Stop drinking carbonated beverages for a few days and prefer water or water with a little lemon.
The mechanism: Healthy vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onion, garlic, and legumes (lentils, beans, chickpeas) contain complex carbohydrates that some of us struggle to digest, and as a result, they ferment in the large intestine and produce gas.
Practical solution: Do not stop eating them! These are essential foods.
Cooking: Cooked vegetables (in water or oven) produce less gas than raw vegetables.
Soaking: Soaking legumes for a long time before cooking reduces gas-inducing compounds.
Slow intake: Make sure to eat vegetables and legumes gradually and in smaller quantities in the evening.
If bloating bothers you, I recommend starting a short “bloating diary”: Try reducing one factor from the list (for example, Nes Café with milk) for 2–5 days. If you feel improvement, it means you have identified the “culprit.”
A small change in habits can ensure a flat and comfortable stomach even at the end of the day.
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