Feeling Stuffed

A person’s sense of being “stuffed” or “bloated” is generally experienced during or immediately following a meal when food from the meal is still in the stomach, which is the upper part of the digestive tract. Carbohydrates are broken apart in the upper part of the digestive tract from the mouth to the stomach. This process begins the breakdown of carbohydrates. By breaking down the carbohydrates surfaces change. If you think of carbohydrates as a piece of paper, it only has four edges by which it can be absorbed or broken down further by the body’s enzymes. Now squish the paper into a ball and you increase the number of points to which the enzymes can enter. Because of this, carbohydrates, particularly complex carbs and starches, now act as a sponge absorbing more and more enzymes at a time. This sponge then resides in your stomach, which is located approximately at the lower center of your rib cage. That is why immediately after eating, especially carbohydrates, a person feels that pushed out feeling that is so uncomfortable.