The knowledge I have found is for faces, but I think it applies to puffing anywhere as it is the same sort of food.
Tips on reducing puffiness
1 Reduce Water Retention
How do you reduce water retention?
Water retention is a completely natural thing for the body to do when it gets dehydrated.
Instead of using what little water it does have to keep you hydrated, it sometimes gets stored instead, which can cause things, such as bloating and swelling in your body and face.
When this happens, one of the best things you can do to combat water retention is increase your water intake, which will help boost your lymphatic drainage.
The most common reasons for water retention include eating too much salt, allergies, getting up early, hot showers, alcohol and premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
Reducing water retention (edema) involves lowering salt intake, increasing hydration, and regular movement to encourage circulation. Key strategies include eating potassium-rich foods (bananas, spinach), limiting processed foods, increasing natural diuretics (dandelion, parsley, celery), and wearing comfortable clothes to avoid tightening around limbs.
Dietary Adjustments
- Reduce Sodium: Avoid processed foods, ready-made meals, and excessive salt, as sodium causes fluid retention.
- Increase Potassium: Eat foods like bananas, beans, and avocados to balance sodium levels.
- Stay Hydrated: Drink plenty of water; paradoxically, this helps kidneys eliminate excess fluid.
- Magnesium-Rich Foods: Consume nuts, dark chocolate, and whole grains to support healthy fluid balance.
- Limit Carbs: Reducing carb intake can help reduce water retention, as bodies store water along with glycogen.
Lifestyle Habits
- Exercise Daily: Regular movement like walking or cycling helps move fluids back to the heart.
- Elevate Limbs: Raise legs or swollen areas on pillows to reduce fluid buildup.
- Avoid Prolonged Sitting/Standing: Walk around for 5 minutes every hour to encourage circulation.
- Natural Diuretics: Incorporate foods with high water content (cucumber, watermelon) and herbal teas (dandelion, parsley) to boost kidney function.
Other Considerations
- Comfortable Clothing: Avoid tight clothing, socks, or belts that restrict blood flow.
- Manage Stress: Relaxation techniques like yoga or massage may help.
2 Cut down on salt/salty snacks
3 Cut down on alcohol
Already have done this and am planning on drinking less still.
Try the Spring Detox to give your system a break from alcohol.
4 Address poor gut health
How do you address poor gut health?
Addressing poor gut health involves a combination of dietary adjustments, lifestyle changes, and, when necessary, professional medical advice to foster a diverse and balanced microbiome. Key strategies include increasing fiber intake, consuming fermented foods, managing stress, and reducing processed food consumption.
Dietary Changes to Improve Gut Health
- Increase Fiber Intake: Consume a variety of vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.
- Add Prebiotic Foods: Feed good bacteria by eating prebiotic-rich foods like garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, and bananas.
- Reduce Processed Foods: Limit intake of refined sugars, artificial sweeteners, and highly processed foods, which can promote harmful bacteria growth.
- Identify Food Sensitivities: Record symptoms in a diary to identify triggers, such as lactose or gluten, which may cause inflammation and digestive distress.
- Stay Hydrated: Drink plenty of water to aid digestion and help fiber work effectively.
Lifestyle Adjustments
- Manage Stress: Stress can severely impact digestion, leading to symptoms like bloating. Practice stress-reduction techniques such as yoga, meditation, or deep breathing.
- Get Sufficient Sleep: Aim for 7–9 hours of quality sleep per night to support a healthy, balanced microbiome.
- Exercise Regularly: Physical activity helps move food through the digestive system and reduces constipation.
- Eat Slowly: Eat slowly and chew food thoroughly to aid digestion and allow the body to properly absorb nutrients.
5 Reduce Bloat caused by Diet
6 Identify Food Sensitivities
Record symptoms in a diary to identify triggers, such as lactose or gluten, which may cause inflammation and digestive distress.
This might be my eureka moment ~ forgot I had a slight intolerence to wheat. I used to do a month on wheatfree and a month off wheatfree.
What you do to test for food sensitivity is stop eating the food you think you might be allergic to for a month, the re introduce it.
You can then tell if it was making you bloat etc.
If your not too bad you can do the food one month on and one month off.
If you react really badly you might want to seek professional guidance or ask in a health food shop, there are loads of alternatives these days.
For Instance:
Rye bread is wheatfree.
Almost got this right, except the gherkins and pastrami have salt. The pastrami has collagen though ~ also trying to work collagen out.
Maybe Pickled onions are better ~ they are medium in sugar.
They go better with beef which is low in salt.
Think I need to go back to health and wholefoods.
Fat: the facts
Why we need some fat
A small amount of fat is an essential part of a healthy, balanced diet. Fat is a source of essential fatty acids, which the body cannot make itself.
Fat helps the body absorb vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin E. These vitamins are fat-soluble, which means they can only be absorbed with the help of fats.
Any fat that’s not used by your body’s cells or turned into energy is converted into body fat. Likewise, unused carbohydrates and proteins are also converted into body fat.
All types of fat are high in energy. A gram of fat, whether it’s saturated or unsaturated, provides 9kcal (37kJ) of energy compared with 4kcal (17kJ) for carbohydrate and protein.
I think this is right as the olive oil is a healthy fat and it hasn’t got salt.
Today I had rye bread, 1 boiled egg and a tomato with Philadelphia light as we can’t get lightest for some reason.
Was really nice.
I even tried it without sea salt. Although we should have some salt, especially after exercise to replace lost fluids.
Sea salt is supposed to be bloat free as far as I know, I think I eat too much sea salt assuming it is allright. Decided to reduce my sea salt on the Spring detox but not reduce it completely.
Reduce meaning
verb
- 1.make smaller or less in amount, degree, or size.
example, ‘ she reduced her sea salt intake per day in order to reduce the bloat in her face.’
Hopefully
7 Don’t have salt before going to bed
To avoid getting a puffy face from food, eat as little of certain items as you can.
This is especially important before you go to sleep as you won’t be drinking any fluids when you’re off in the land of nod. Things to steer clear of include:
- Cheese and dairy products – as we age, we have fewer enzymes that enable our bodies to digest lactose effectively. This can cause our immune systems to trigger the release of inflammatory chemicals, causing redness and swelling, as well as puffy eyelids, under-eye bags and dark circles on the face.2
- Salty snacks – like pretzels, crisps or salted nuts – when we eat lots of salty, dehydrating foods, it can lead to our body retaining water to try and dilute the salt. This may cause facial swelling in the process.
- Alcohol – is extremely dehydrating and makes your blood vessels widen, which can lead to a red, swollen, puffy appearance. Over time, these blood vessels can burst over time, making any redness more permanent.
- Certain high-sodium condiments, such as soy sauce – as is the case with salty snacks, rather than hydrating the body, high sodium foods dehydrate the body and skin. They also trigger our bodies to try and retain any moisture that may be present, which can cause puffiness. People aged 50 and under should eat 2,300 mg or less of sodium per day. Adults aged 51 and over should consume 1,500 mg of sodium or less per day.4
8 Choose your snacks wisely
Just like there are foods that can contribute to water retention and puffiness, there are also foods that can help you avoid it.
Try switching up,
(What is the definition of switching up?
Definition of ‘switch up’
1. to alter, vary, or reverse (a pattern, routine, etc) noun switch-up. 2. an act or instance of altering, varying, or reversing a pattern or routine.)
your salty snacks for fresh fruit and veg, swapping ice cream for a probiotic yoghurt or cooking with wholegrains instead of processed products.
9 Drink green tea
Sipping away on green tea can help kickstart your system.
The additional water will help give your body a hydration boost and, depending on how much of it you drink, flush out your system.
At the same time, the polyphenol compounds that are found in green tea will help your body attack fat cells, helping protect your skin against free radical damage.
Polyphenols may also prevent the sebaceous glands from producing excess sebum, or oil, which can lead to inflammation.
Staying hydrated throughout the day is a given regardless of your face’s puffiness.
Nevertheless, if you do experience swelling that is down to water retention, drinking lots of H2O may help reduce it.
Ideally, we should all be consuming six to eight glasses (roughly 1.2 litres) of
Conclusion
If you are doing the Spring detox these food ideas are worth trying for a month.
If you drink more water from March in March and 5 fruit and veg you might feel like improving your diet more.
It is worth it for a month.
The wheat free food testing is something I’d forgot to do so guessing what my bloat problem is.
Easy to forget what we used to eat that was healthy when at the moment you are just happy to even get food.
Hope this idea helps if you’ve got a bloated face like me.
Bit unhappy that I’ve got like this, but it says you can turn it around and it is do – able.
I’ve collated this knowledge off the internet, will edit it more if any of it works.
Saphire
SAPHIRE LIFESTYLE BLOG 