The feeling of being bloated – which can range from just a slightly puffy feeling to absolute discomfort as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man – is most often attributed to excess gas production. It's fairly common, and its causes include diet, irritable bowel syndrome, lactose intolerance, reflux, and constipation.

Depending upon what prompts it, you can prevent most instances of bloating. Here are some tips:

Take Human Bites: Trying to eat too quickly – especially too much, too quickly – can result in you sucking down a lot of air alongside that linguine. Chew slowly and thoroughly. When you stuff food down your gullet you are also generating less saliva and its attendant enzymes which aid in the pre-digestion process. Be sure to sip, and not guzzle your drink.

Stay Hydrated. Fluids help reduce water retention (interestingly enough) and flush waste out of your system. And coffee is a two-for-one: It's a diuretic that helps you urinate and has the added bonus of contracting the colon, helping you move your bowels. The other drink you should not skimp upon if you are bloat-averse is peppermint tea. This elixir relaxes your digestive tract and boosts normal peristalsis – those contractions which move your meals through your body.

Get Some Exercise: We're not taking about 45 minutes on the StairMaster 9000 cranked up to 11, we're talking just a ten minute stroll after you eat. But if you're feeling a little more hardcore, do some stomach crunches. It's your stomach muscles which move the gas through your system, so get working on your abs.

Reduce Your Sodium And Raise Your Potassium: Salt, you know about: it causes you to retain water, and so feel bloated. However, you may not have known that potassium thwarts water retention by regulating the fluid balance between interstitial fluids and cells and your cells. So eat a banana.

Embrace The Fennel: Nothing gets the gas out of your intestinal tract like fennel seeds. They have been popular as a digestive aid in India for centuries, and are often chewed after meals there to both aid in digestion and to freshen breath. Modern research has discovered that compounds within fennel possess anti-spasmodic and anti-inflammatory properties that relax contracted intestinal muscles and allow trapped gas to dissipate. Anise has similar antispasmodic properties and likewise helps the digestive tract -- and now you know how Anisette came to be such a popular after-dinner drink in Mediterranean countries!