"Your belly isn't just reacting to dinner," is the line that finally made sense of it for me.
Chronic bloating is usually driven by an imbalance of gas-producing microbes in the gut. And here is the part nobody mentions: those microbes shelter under a slick, oily film called a biofilm.
Think of it as a shield. Let me show you what that means.
First, the microbes sit under an oily shield. It is slick, it is sticky, and it keeps the colony protected from whatever you swallow.
Second, everything on your shelf is water-based. Probiotics, fiber powders, gas pills. Water and oil do not mix, so they simply bounce off the film.
And third, the bloating refills. You cut a food, you feel better for an evening, and by the next meal the belly is tight again, because nothing ever reached what was producing the gas.
"Wait," I said. "So I've been buying water-based products for something hiding under oil?"
"Exactly." That is why probiotics and fiber keep falling short. They are not reaching it.