07/10/2026
🥦 “CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES”
“I bloat, I can´t eat them”
I hear this quite often, not only with broccoli but with Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, beans and other fibre-rich vegetables. And I completely understand the logic. You eat something, your stomach blows up, you feel uncomfortable and perhaps your breathing becomes more difficult, so you stop eating it. Problem solved... or is it?
This came up recently when someone commented about avoiding broccoli and Brussels sprouts because they can cause bloating. It got me thinking, because these are actually some of the foods I wouldn't want to remove unnecessarily, particularly when we're trying to support our lungs and our overall health.
Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower are incredibly nutrient dense. They provide vitamin C and other antioxidants and plant compounds, including sulforaphane, which are being studied for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
They also provide fibre that feeds our gut bacteria, along with nutrients such as folate and vitamin K. A diet rich in fruit and vegetables is associated with better respiratory health, so simply removing more and more vegetables every time one produces a symptom doesn't necessarily make sense.
Producing some gas after eating cruciferous vegetables is normal. These vegetables contain fibre and carbohydrates such as raffinose that we don't completely digest in the small intestine. They travel into the large intestine, our gut bacteria ferment them and gas is produced. That's part of normal digestion.
What ISN'T the same for everyone is how strongly we react to that process. One person can eat a plate of cruciferous vegetables and barely notice it, while another can eat a small portion and become painfully bloated. Differences in our gut bacteria, gut sensitivity and how accustomed our digestive system is to fibre can all affect that response.
And this is where I think we sometimes stop looking too soon.
If cruciferous vegetables make you severely bloated, don't just look at the vegetables. Look at your digestive health and what has happened to it over the years. Has this always happened or is it relatively new? Do other vegetables and fibre-rich foods do the same thing? Do you tolerate a small, cooked portion but not a huge raw one? Have you eaten very little fibre for years? Do you have constipation, reflux or other digestive problems? What has your diet looked like? Too much processed, fried foods, seed oils? What about prolonged stress? And something that's very easily overlooked, what medications have you been taking? Side effects etc.
Repeated antibiotics, for example, can significantly alter the gut microbiome. They can be lifesaving WHEN they're needed, but while they're killing the bacteria causing the infection, they can also kill beneficial bacteria in our gut and disrupt the balance of our microbiome.. and recovery of that microbial community isn't identical in everyone.
There are other things worth considering. PPIs such as omeprazole change the acidity of the stomach and are associated with changes in the gut microbiome. Some anticholinergic medications used in COPD can cause digestive side effects such as constipation and can affect gut motility.
Corticosteroids are another area being researched in relation to changes in the microbiome. None of this automatically means your medication is responsible for your bloating, but neither does becoming bloated after eating cruciferous vegetables automatically mean the vegetables are the underlying problem.
Cruciferous vegetables are doing what cruciferous vegetables do. Their fibre and certain carbohydrates reach the large intestine where our gut bacteria ferment them and produce gas. That's normal.
What we need to look at is why YOUR digestive system is reacting so strongly to that normal process when somebody else's doesn't. There may be an underlying digestive issue, altered gut microbiome, sensitivity, constipation, previous infections, dietary history, stress, repeated antibiotics or medications affecting digestion. That's the part I'd want to understand before blaming the vegetables and permanently removing nutrient-rich foods from my diet.
Because if we simply keep removing nutritious foods, we can eventually end up with a very restricted diet while never addressing the underlying problem. And in doing so, we may also be removing valuable sources of fibre, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other nutrients our bodies need, including those that support our lung and immune health.
Because the cruciferous vegetables may be revealing the problem rather than BEING the problem.
And here's where this becomes particularly relevant to those of us with compromised lungs.
A badly bloated abdomen can make breathing feel considerably more uncomfortable because the diaphragm needs room to move. For somebody already dealing with hyperinflation, a badly bloated abdomen putting additional pressure on the diaphragm certainly isn't going to make breathing feel any easier. And if we're trying to work out what's contributing to that bloating, we need to look at everything going into the body, including medications and their possible digestive side effects, not just blame the cruciferous vegetables. 😂
So, of course I don't want someone eating a food that leaves them painfully bloated and struggling to breathe. Listen to your body. But there's a difference between recognising that a food currently triggers your symptoms and deciding that a nutritious vegetable itself must therefore be unhealthy for you.
Perhaps change the portion. Cook it rather than eating it raw. Notice whether other foods cause the same reaction. Look at your overall diet and digestive health. Look at your medication history. Look at what changed before the problem began.
When I completely changed my own lifestyle, I actually began with a three-day gut cleanse. For me it was about drawing a line under the way I'd been living, giving my digestive system a break and giving my body a clean start before beginning my new way of life. At the same time, I stopped all my medications and inhalers and began changing everything: what I ate, how I moved, breathed, slept, rested and managed stress.
I wanted to clear out the old, start afresh and then give my body what it needed rather than continually adding more things for it to deal with. Did the three-day cleanse alone create the changes that followed? I couldn't possibly say because I changed everything at once. 😂 But as the starting point of my lifestyle transformation, it worked beautifully for me.
SO, WHAT CAN WE DO TO SUPPORT OUR GUT?
If your digestive system is struggling, don't immediately declare war on every vegetable that makes you bloat. 😂 Start looking at how you can support your digestive system instead.
You might begin with smaller portions of these vegetables and cook them well rather than eating huge amounts raw. Steaming, roasting or adding them to soups and stews can make them easier for some people to tolerate. Chew properly too. Digestion starts before that food ever reaches your stomach.
Then look at the variety of foods you're feeding your gut. Our gut bacteria thrive on different types of fibre and plant foods, so continually narrowing the diet isn't necessarily helping. If you've eaten very little fibre for years, suddenly throwing enormous bowls of raw vegetables at your digestive system probably isn't the greatest introduction either. 😂 Build up gradually and see how your body responds.
Hydration matters, movement matters, and so does stress. Even a simple walk can help normal bowel movement, while chronic stress can affect gut function through the gut-brain connection. And if constipation is part of the picture, don't ignore it. Food sitting around in an already sluggish digestive system isn't going to help that bloated, uncomfortable feeling.
And look at your whole history, not just yesterday's dinner. Have you had repeated antibiotics? Do you regularly take PPIs such as omeprazole? Are any of your medications known to cause constipation, nausea, bloating or changes in gut motility? I am not saying to suddenly stop them, but it IS information worth knowing when you're trying to understand what is happening in your own body.
And before automatically reaching for another supplement or another medication to settle the stomach, ask yourself something very simple:
Is what I'm taking actually helping me?
Some medicines and supplements themselves can contribute to digestive problems, including constipation, indigestion and bloating. NIDDK
Even omeprazole, which many people take for digestive problems such as reflux and heartburn, lists stomach pain, constipation or diarrhoea and increased wind amongst its common side effects. NHS – Omeprazole
And here's something else I found interesting. The NHS itself says that antacids can relieve symptoms for a few hours, but they don't treat the underlying cause.
Think about that for a moment...
We can get into a cycle of having a symptom, taking something to suppress that symptom, developing another symptom and then taking something else for that one. But have we ever stopped and looked at the whole picture, the root cause?
What caused the original digestive problem? Has that ever actually been established? Is what you're taking resolving the problem, simply controlling the symptom, or could it even be contributing to another digestive issue?
I'm not saying throw your medications or supplements in the bin. 😂 I'm saying KNOW what you're putting into your body, WHY you're taking it and whether it's actually helping you or not.
So, before we automatically blame cruciferous vegetables, perhaps we need to look at the whole digestive environment: our food, fibre, hydration, movement, stress, sleep, previous antibiotic use, medications, supplements and our overall gut health.
Instead of always asking “What can I take for this?”, perhaps sometimes we need to ask ourselves “What is causing this, and what can I DO about it?”
The goal is to understand why your digestive system is struggling in the first place, support it, and hopefully keep as much variety and nutrition in your diet as your body comfortably allows.
Maybe the cruciferous veggies aren't always the villains after all. 😂🥦💚
Certified in Food for Lung Therapy
Let´s get Back to Breathing
