Flatulence, especially bad flatulence can cause people some embarrassment. This embarrassment or fear of farting may stem from negative childhood experiences such as being reprimanded by parants for “cutting the cheese” in Church, especially if the flatulence was extremely loud and smelly.
Personally, I find that cutting a huge ripper can be extremely satisfying yet most would find my thoughts on the subject appauling. Intestinal gas remeides may be in order if you suffer from frequent or severe intestinal gas that causes a case of continued, bad flatulence and intestinal gas discomfort.
Did you know that on average humans pass gas approximately 14 times per day? I wonder how many of you reading this post will now begin counting the times you actually fart or belch during a day. 🙂
And here’s another gas tidbit for you. People experience passing gas more while flying. In fact “holding it in” while in confined spaces, such as closets, planes, Church etc, could result in more serious consequences such as stress, discomfort, pain, bloating, dyspepsia and other symptoms.
When gas doesn’t pass via belching or flatulence (farting) it can cause bloating which only compounds the suffering of the person trying studiously to “hold it in” until the proper facilities can be found to relieve their misery. As you may surmise it is much better to simply “let go.” Cut that butt cheek flapping ripper and enjoy the release!
What Causes Gas and Flatulence?
Flatulence is caused by gas, intestinal gas. Gas is caused by several things. The two main causes of gas are:
1) Swallowed air usually due to either unconsciously swallowing (gulping) air or wolfing food which causes one to swallow air. Other activities that cause a person to swallow air include rapid (guzzling) drinking, chewing gum, smoking, sucking on something (hard candy etc), drinking carbonated beverages (soda, beer etc), loose dentures and hyperventilation.
2) The breakdown of undigested foods. When the gut doesn’t breakdown, digest and abosorb some carbs (sugar, starches and fiber) in the small intestine due to the shortage of certain enzymes, the undigested food then passes from the small intestine into the large intestine (colon) where normal, harmless bacteria breakedown the food producing hydrogen (the bomb gas), carbon dioxide and in about 33% of people methane (dirty bomb gas). The gas has to escape somewhere so when it has built up sufficient pressure it’s expelled out the rectum in either the silent, deadly fashion or as an ear splitting eruption (similar to an explosion).
3) Medical conditions can cause intestinal gas and flatulence. Any intestinal condition such as:
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Celiac Disease, IBS, Crohn’s Disease)
- Lactose intolerance (inability to digest lactose a sugar found in dairy)
- An intestinal cancer
The above types of disease that result in improper digestion of foods can create flatulence. IF you have continuous, bad flatulence that can not be traced to something like a huge helping or two of beans you should probably inform your doctor.
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As you can see flatulence caused by intestinal gas can be dangerous, causing fireball explosions when subjected to flame. So never light a cigarrette while experiencing an intestinal gas attack in confined spaces such as automobiles and elevators.
Foods That Cause Gas and Flatulence
There are certain foods that are notorious for producing wonderful quanties of intestinal gas. Many of these excellent foods are highly nutritous and perfectly safe for consumption by those of us who have been diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis. I recommend that people enjoy large amounts of these nutritious, safe foods for pancreatitis.
- Legumes (beans, lentils, peas) are an excellent source of vegetable protein, fiber, are nutrient dense and produce copious quantities of intestinal gas. Beans are especially great for producing butt cheek flapping rippers!
- Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, califlower) are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytonutrients. The best way to eat them is raw or steamed for less than 10 minutes. The more they are cooked the less nutritous they become. So keep cooking to a minimum in order to maintain the nturient value.
- Eggs can produce some nasty smelling intestinal gas. The yolks contain a large amount of fat (5 grams per yolk) so for many people with chronic pancreatitis egg whites will prove to be a much better choice. The whites are fat free and seem to produce less intestinal gas.
- Garlic is an awesome food. It adds exceptional flavor to almost any recipe. Eaten raw it is a natural antibacterial agent. Cooking kills this natural antibacterial benefit but doesn’t seem to affect garlic’s ability to produce some great farts. The benefits of garlic far out weigh the side effects.
- Onions also produce intestinal gas but like garlic onions are full of goodies your body needs and also like garlic they add exceptional flavor to foods. So don’t go stingy on the onions!
- Starches (potatoes, corn, pasta, wheat etc) produce gas as they are brokendown in the large intestine. Rice is the only starch that does NOT produce intestinal gas.
- Fruits such as apples, peaches and pears can also produce gas. The more fiber the fruit conatins the more intestinal gas it is likely to produce.
I would not recommend that you abstain from the above foods because that would ruin your variety of safe foods for your own personal pancreatitis diet.
It is more important to eat, safe, nutritious, fat free foods than it is to avoid intestinal gas and the occassional fart. I much prefer farting, even farting often to going hungry don’t you?
Must Have Eaten Something That Produced Intestinal Gas Resulting In Flatulence!
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As you can now probably surmise, healthy, nutritious foods that are usually safe for a pancreatitis diet produce intestinal gas. So the question you may have is: “What can a person do to avoid an intestinal gas explosion and the resulting humiliation?”
Intestinal Gas Remedies
When it comes to intestinal gas remedies the field is narrow. Over-the-counter remedies like Gas X and probiotics may help. In other words there isn’t much you can do naturally to eleviate the intestinal gas produced by most foods except with beans. If you love beans you can almost eliminate intestinal gas from beans by doing certain things.
- Pre-cook the beans in about 3 times as much water as beans, at a boil for 5 minutes (no salt, nothing in the water). Then let them sit in the hot water for an hour before you refer them. Soak the beans in the water over night before you continue to cook them. This seems to release the indigestable carbs.
- When ready to cook the beans drain them, use fresh water (about 3 times as much water as beans) and cook them without salt until nice and tender. Salt toughens the beans and prolongs cooking time.
- Drain the beans. The soaking and cooking breakdown the carbs and by discarding the water at each stage you’ll get rid of about 90% of the indigestable carbs that create the intestinal gas.
- Add in spices that reduce gas. Ginger, cumin and fennel all reduce the gas in beans.
Note: IF you add garlic and onions to your beans those foods will produce gas but without them your beans will be somewhat bland.
Learn To Live With Flatulence!
Unless you intend to starve you should learn to live with normal flatulence. It isn’t going to kill you to fart a little more often. Now …
Remember IF you suffer continuous, bad flatulence, for no apparent reason you really should check with your doctor. There may be an underlying issue you need to address. But …
If you have already been diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis or some other intestinal condition that can create digestive problems you are simply going to need to live with flatulence.
If Gas X or probiotics help you deal with intestinal gas and flatulence that’s a good thing right?
i have chronic pancreatitis and my gas is awful smelling. very embarrassing. is there any way to at least lessen this problem. i don’t eat much and am very careful about what i do eat. please tell me there is some way to eleveate this problem. thank you Belle
Hey Belle – I gave some ideas to lessen gas in the article. Since you have chronic pancreatitis it could very well be that enzymes may be needed to help digest your food. You can get quality enzymes over-the-counter or you could check with your doctor about Creon.