## 8 main reasons Hunger: You smell delicious food and immediately have a rumbling in your stomach. Your brain signals your stomach to produce the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin, which causes your intestines and stomach to contract. This is what causes the rumbling sounds. - Overeating: Food, liquid, and digestive juices mix with the air we breathe in. Together, they pass through the digestive tract, causing the rumbling sound. This most often occurs when we overeat. - Liquid after eating: Drinking too much makes it harder to produce gastric juice and impairs digestion. - Lack of fluids: Water saturates the body with moisture, cleanses it, and prevents unpleasant sounds in the stomach. - Eating foods that cause gas: Some foods are hard to digest and cause flatulence and rumbling. These include peas, lentils, white cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and foods with artificial sweeteners. - Stress: Nervous tension can cause issues with the stomach. - Eating fast food: Fatty and high-carbohydrate food negatively affects the work of the GI tract and provokes unpleasant sounds. - Consuming alcohol: The body can similarly react to alcoholic beverages, especially if you have GI problems. > If you suffer from food intolerances, avoid foods with triggering agents such as lactose, gluten, and histamine, as they can provoke stomach rumbling. ## Sound as a symptom Unpleasant sounds in the stomach caused by one of the listed reasons do not pose a special threat to health. However, rumbling in the stomach can be a symptom of a serious disease. If the sounds in the abdomen are stronger than usual and are accompanied by ===fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, bloody stools, heartburn, or sudden weight loss, you should immediately undergo an examination by a gastroenterologist. ## What to do Even if rumbling in the abdomen is not associated with a disease, it causes a lot of discomfort and can put you in an embarrassing situation. Lifestyle and dietary changes can help, including the following. - Eliminate foods that cause flatulence. Add more fiber to your menu such as greens, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. - Eat small meals. - Chew your food thoroughly. - Do not allow long breaks between meals, and snack on fruit, dried fruit, cottage cheese, or nuts. - Drink more water – 1 oz. for every 0.5 lb of body weight. - Take probiotics, which will improve digestion and help with dysbiosis. - Do not drink anything immediately after eating. - Eat sweets no sooner than 1-2 hours after main meals. - Reduce caffeinated beverages to 1-2 cups a day. - Move more – it is especially helpful to take a walk after a meal.