We’ve all experienced that feeling of being uncomfortably full.

It feels horribly annoying and can cause you to feel tired, lethargic and experience flatulence pain; your jeans, at the end of the day, feel too tight around your abdominal area.

Bloating commonly occurs after eating or during menstruation.

It is also caused by excess air in the intestines. The good news is that bloating can be prevented and treated with various foods and other healthy habits.

To fight bloat naturally try eating the foods that flatten your stomach.

To do this successfully, we need to abstain from foods and drinks that commonly cause bloating symptoms. Some of the key items to avoid are, salty foods, alcohol, sugary drinks, carbonated beverages and some raw vegetables.

Here are a few tips to get your jeans back to feeling normal all throughout the day.

1. Skip the salt

Salty foods cause your body to retain water, which will give you the classic bloated belly. If you are feeling puffy after a client lunch, try and avoid salty foods for the rest of the day to deflate quickly. These include processed foods such as frozen dinners, chips, pretzels, sandwich meat, bacon, hot dogs and cheese.

2. Cut back on the coleslaw

If you are prone to bloating, reducing your intake of fibre-containing vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts can help to reduce the symptoms.

3. Eat beans in small portions

Eating beans can lead to increased gas production. Beans are also high in fibre and protein, so try not to remove them from your diet completely.

Try eating smaller portions or speak to your doctor about a gas reducing supplement.

4. Limit the chewing gum

Chewing gum can cause excess air to enter your intestine. In addition, artificial sweeteners such as sorbitol that is found in gum can give you gas.

5. Avoid carbonated drinks

Just like gum, a glass of carbonated soda will puff up your stomach. They release carbon dioxide gas. Try drinking lots of plain water to deflate. Add lemon or lime if you need a little extra flavour.

6. Eat more fruit to avoid constipation

Fibre helps to maintain bowel regularity.

Avoiding constipation is one way to avoid bloating.

Apples, pears and strawberries contain soluble fibre that can aid in avoiding constipation.

Pineapples contain potassium that helps combat water retention caused by eating foods high in salt.

Don’t forget to watch what you eat, try some bloat-busting foods, and B-Active For Life.

• Betty Doyling is a certified fitness trainer and figure competitor with more than eight years of experience. Check her out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/B.ActiveForLife