Do you have thin arms? Do you have thin legs? Do you count calories? Are you always depressed because your tummy is constantly bloated making it impossible to look good in your clothes?

Start a food journal today and watch the bloating fade away. By keeping track of what you eat and when and monitoring the bloat you'll start to see patterns emerge how your body responds to certain foods.

We are what we eat and certain foods are known to cause bloating in middle aged women. These include white carbs such as bread, rice, potatoes, so you must never eat anything white and replace with something delicious and brown. Swap white rice for brown rice and have mixed vegetable with some light soy sauce. Eat wholemeal or granary bread instead of white, to help keep bloating at bay. Cut out fizzy drinks including fizzy water because the gas they contain ends up in your tummy and avoid all sugar free or low carb diet products like sweeteners because they contain sorbitol or mannitol which can act as a laxative leaving you full of unwanted wind.

Keeping a food diary will help you work out what you are eating and when you are bloated, so you are easily be able to eliminate these foods on the days you need to have a flat tummy to fit in your party frock. Some fruits eaten at the wrong time of day, like first thing in the morning can cause unwanted bloating so be open to being wrong about what's good for you and what's not.

If you want to look good in middle age, you have to be good. A top tip for helping with bloating is to drink plenty of peppermint tea which is really good for your digestive system and can help stop bloating.

Photo by: Shane Unsplash