Prevent Flatulence
Flatulence, commonly known as farting or breaking wind or letting gas, is a function of the human digestive system. Preventing such gaseous buildup in your system is not a laughing matter. Here are some steps to prevent flatulence, which can lead to less embarrassment when out in public.
Belch repeatedly until you feel comfortable, if it returns then continue.
Contents
Steps
Understand Flatulence
- Understand what is happening inside your body when you eat. Undigested once food gets sent to the large intestine, where gas enzymes break it down and produce flatulence . The process is described in depth below:
- First, you place food in your mouth where saliva and chewing break down the food into small, manageable pieces. The food travels from your mouth through your esophagus. The esophagus does little to break down food, merely serving as a "pusher" moving the food down to your stomach.
- Next, your stomach breaks the food down into a liquid mess. What it can break down is usually absorbed through the stomach walls such as sugars and energy.
- Third, the food travels into your small intestine where it is further broken down and the rest of chemicals and compounds are absorbed into your bloodstream.
- Finally, whatever is left over — at this point, waste — moves into your large intestine and is essentially sorted into liquid and solid waste, ready to be expelled from the body.
- Understand that flatulence is the gas that is generated when the solid waste is separated in the large intestine. Enzymes break down the food on a molecular level, creating gas as a by-product. Over time, this gas will build up and must be expelled as it will not absorb into the body.
Prevent Flatulence
- Learn to avoid classes of foods that create excessive amounts of gas in your system. These include (but are certainly not limited to):
- Starches: potatoes, wheat, corn, and most noodles. Rice is the only exception in this area.
- Beans: In this case, jokes about beans causing excess gas is true. It has been determined that soaking beans for several hours before cooking can reduce this effect, but such a process also rids the beans of many nutrients.
- Carbonated beverages: Most carbonated beverages — drinks that have carbon dioxide forced into the liquid to make it fizzy — cause gas because you are actually consuming gas in small bubbles. Just drinking one glass of a carbonated beverage isn't usually enough to cause major problems, but consuming large quantities of carbonated drinks can cause excessive gas.
- On occasion, stay away from other gas-producing foods. In addition to starches, legumes, and carbonated beverages, the following foods might also be avoided in order to prevent gas, although wholesale rejection of these foods is not advised, because they can be extremely healthy:
- Vegetables including artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, green peppers, onions, peas, and radishes
- Fruits like apricots, bananas, melons, peaches, pears, prunes, and raw apples
- Eggs
- Milk and other dairy products, like yogurt
- Fried foods
- As a rule, be cautious of carbs. Some carbs are bad for you (simple) and others are good (complex). But all carbs tend to produce flatulence, because carbs ferment easier than, say, proteins. If you're going to eat carbs, stick with unprocessed carbs. Our bodies prefer unprocessed carbs, which translates to less flatulence.
- Learn to replace gas-causing foods with ones that aren't gas causing:
- Probiotics: This type of food includes a special acid that is more easily digested and breaks down simply. Examples of probiotics include soy sauce, yogurt, and pickles (and other pickled vegetables).
- Fermented foods: This has marginal effects, and greatly reduces the nutritional values of certain food. Beans, for example, can be fermented with alcohol, but their nutritional value is lowered.
- Take digestive enzyme supplements if adjusting your food intake doesn't help or isn't doable. Popular brands include Activa (prescription) or Beano (over-the-counter).
- Chew slowly and don't chew gum. If you're famished of you're a fast eater, tone it down a little bit: people who chew slowly produce less gas because they're not swallowing as much air. The same thing goes for gum. The act of chewing stimulates the digestive enzymes, and air that gets caught in your stomach has to go out one of two ways; if it doesn't get burped up, it has to come out the other way.
- Stop smoking. Air gets sucked into the body, along with smoke, and swallowed. If you needed another reason to finally quit, here's a compelling one.
Tips
- Replace carbonated beverages with other drinks like water, milk, or small quantities of fruit juice. Avoid excessive amounts of sugar when making your selection.
- Avoid startling your digestive system with a new diet. Gradually remove gas-causing foods and add non-gas-causing foods.
- Avoid foods with excess sulfur in them, such as eggs, meat, and cauliflower.
- Take it easy on high-fructose corn syrup, as this could cause excessive flatulence as well.
- Drink lots of water.
- Pancakes can cause very bad gas.
- Some dairy products like milk also cause gas.
Warnings
- Always talk to your doctor before changing your diet or taking new medications. There may be health risks that are beyond the scope of this article that you need to consider.
