Some Ideas to Help Reduce Flatulence April 28 2014
As much as we love eating, we have been known to evacuate a room when filling the air with stinky gas bombs. In some cases it becomes nearly unbearable, and family and friends find themselves searching desperately for an escape, a breath of fresh air.
First, chronic flatulence can be a sign of illness. You should make a trip to the doc and take a stool sample with you. The doctor can determine if there are any serious issues you need to be concerned with. If not, there are other steps that can help alleviate flatulence.
Diet Effects Your Flatulence Levels
What you eat plays a major role in determining how much gas you will pass. Eating high quality snacks and foods is an important step in reducing gas levels. Cheaper foods contain fillers that are hard to digest and upset the digestive system. Avoid foods that have corn, soy, wheat, and other hard to digest grains or ingredients in them. Other foods that may be guilty of causing gas include most dairy products, peas, and especially beans.
The addition of probiotics, prebiotics, and certain herbs will also assist in proper digestion.
How much you eats at a time plays into the flatulence factor as well. Reducing the amount of food served at one time and eating more frequent small meals can help ease the problem. If you eat just once a day, split that into two or three meals. If you already eat twice a day, make it three times instead. Don’t increase the amount of food, just split it into smaller portions.
Try to Eat Slower
If you are an enthusiastic eater and gulp down your food, you are also gulping down air which in turn causes gas. There are special ‘slow feeder bowls’ (smaller plates) available that may help or you can try this old trick: eat with a rock in your mouth and/or put that clean rock on your plate to take the place of otherwise food on your plate. Looks nice and decorative and does not make you feel so bad visually, thinking your portion is too small. It will slow you down. pour the kibble around it. It will force you to eat smaller bites at a slower rate reducing your air intake.
Eliminate Left Over Eating - snacks
There are many foods that we can eat that our digestive system doesn’t handle well. Even though you may beg for more foods, don’t give in to those pleading temptations. Be sure family and friends respect the fact that your diet is limited for your own good. After all, gas isn’t just unpleasant for those who have to smell it, it can also create pain and discomfort for you.
Exercise Reduces Flatulence
One major cause for gas is undigested food laying in the digestive tract. Going for a walk can help promote the digestive process and push the gas out of the intestines. This is of special importance for older folks that are more prone to be flatulent when they lack exercise.
One thing you can do to help reduce gassiness is make yourself anti-flatulence smoothies. I do recommend pouring the smoothie into an ice cube tray and freezing individual treats for you to chew on. That way you won’t be able to gulp it and ingest more air, adding to the problem, and it limits the amount of dairy you are consuming.
This is simple to make in a high-powered blender and you will love it.
Gas Reducing Smoothie Recipe for Your Dogs
1 small container plain low fat yogurt (a good source of probiotics)
1/3 cup low fat cottage cheese (also supplies probiotics)
½ cup canned pumpkin (plain pumpkin, not pie mix)
½ cup peppermint leaves
½ cup parsley
2 tbsps Apple cider vinegar
12 ice cubes
Place all ingredients in your smoothie blender and blend until creamy. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze. Take one ice cube a day and you should soon be a much better smelling companion.
This article was originally written for flatulence in dogs. Well, it's been converted for human application. Why not? After all, the reasons we fart are the same.
