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Bloating, Gas & Indigestion
Gas means different things to different people. It may refer to belching, abdominal bloating, or rectal gas. For some it may be simply an embarrassment, while for others it can be quite uncomfortable. However, it is rarely a serious medical problem. Working with a physician, a person suffering from gas can usually find simple solutions to significantly reduce the weight of the problem.
When your system is working well, with regular cleansing and a lighter load of food on a daily basis, many of the symptoms of gas, bloating and indigestion will become a thing of the past.
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Bloating: Gas buildup in the stomach and intestines
Bloating is the common term for gas buildup in the stomach and intestines. It's often accompanied by abdominal pain — either mild and dull or sharp and intense. Passing gas or having a bowel movement may relieve the pain.
Fatty food is often the culprit. Fat delays stomach emptying and can increase the sensation of fullness or bloating.
Bloating may also be related to:
• Stress or anxiety
• A gastrointestinal infection or blockage
• Irritable bowel syndrome, a condition characterized by abdominal pain or cramping and changes in bowel function
• Conditions in which the intestines aren't able to digest and absorb certain parts of food, such as celiac disease or lactose intolerance
To reduce bloating, it may help to not eat fatty foods and gas-producing items such as:
• Broccoli
• Baked beans
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Salads
• Carbonated drinks
• Chewing gum
• Hard candy
Bloating, gas and indigestion
Flatulence: Gas buildup in the colon
Intestinal gas is typically caused by the fermentation of undigested food, such as plant fiber, in the colon. Gas can also form when your intestines have difficulty breaking down certain components in foods, such as the sugar in dairy products and fruit.
Other sources of intestinal gas may include:
• Food residue in your colon
• Swallowed air that migrates to your colon
• Constipation (The longer food products remain in your colon, the more time they have to ferment.)
Sometimes, gas indicates a digestive disorder such as irritable bowel syndrome or celiac disease.
To prevent excessive gas, it may help to:
• Avoid the foods that affect you most. Common gas offenders include beans, peas, lentils, cabbage, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, bananas, raisins, whole-wheat bread, salads and carbonated drinks. If dairy products are a problem, try low-lactose or lactose-free varieties.
• Eat less fatty food. Fat slows digestion, giving food more time to ferment.
• Temporarily cut back on high fiber foods. Fiber aids digestion, but many high-fiber foods are also great gas producers. After a break, slowly add fiber back to your diet. Add products such as Beano to high fiber foods to help reduce the amount of gas they produce.
• Eat slowly. Try to make meals relaxed occasions. Eating food when you're stressed or on the run can create indigestion.
• Get moving. It may help to take a short walk after you eat.
• Try an over-the-counter remedy. Products such as Lactaid or Dairy Ease can help digest lactose.
Foods That Contribute to Gas Production
• Legumes: Especially dried beans and peas, baked beans, soy beans, lima beans
• Milk Products: Milk, ice cream, cheese
• Vegetables: Cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cucumbers, sauerkraut, kohlrabi, asparagus
• Root Vegetables: Potatoes, rutabaga, turnips, radishes, onions
• Fruits: Prunes, apricots, apples, raisins, bananas
• Cereals & Breads: Cereals, breads, pastries, and all food containing wheat and wheat products. Check labels
• Fatty Food: Pan-fried or deep-fried foods, fatty meats, rich cream sauces and gravies, pastries, and any high-fat food. Check labels.
• Liquids: Carbonated beverages, fizzy medicine
The Miracles of Digestion & Indigestion
The digestive process routinely produces gases in moderate weight that are odorless or almost so. Different foods are digested at different rates and with different chemicals present. Briefly, the biochemical process for digesting meat is different from the process to break down sugars, starches or fats. Each food has its own ideal requirements. If it is not working well, you may experience indigestion.
Most of the time our amazing human body provides the enzymes, acids and other substances that are needed in the right concentration and at exactly the right moment. Most of the time whatever we eat is successfully transformed by our brilliantly designed digestive tract into energy and waste products. Most of the time.
This alone should be regarded as a minor miracle that goes on inside our bodies every day of our lives. After all, we eat a huge variety of different foods. We eat walking around. We get up and run after eating. We eat too much. We eat indiscriminately. And sometimes we eat when we are not hungry.
In addition we eat foods that are not suitable for us. The body still goes ahead and processes it, but the waste products may not be the same. Different gases may be produced, in larger quantities and at higher temperatures than usual.
Think about it: hot gases cause pressure and ballooning in some parts of the small intestine causing pockets of moving pain and gurgling, rumbling noises, bloating. Of course these gases are not the usual odorless ones. They are the result of incomplete or abnormal indigestion, but that is the best the body can do with the foods you have given it to digest. We experience it as indigestion. These kinds of gaseous products are often hot, smelly, noisy, painful and highly toxic. Not to mention embarrassing.
To reiterate indigestion, abdominal distention (or bloating) is the result of the digestive system having trouble with what products you gave it to do. The bloating or expansion is caused by excessive toxic gases, the result of changed biochemical reactions in the small and large intestine.
But I've Never Had This Before. Why Now?
With age our whole body matures and begins a process of natural decline. We could digest all products in our twenties: pizza, fried foods, milk shakes, beer, chocolates, hard boiled eggs, scotch, lots of salt and sugar, low fiber - and this was just breakfast. Or was it just because our bodies were young and resilient enough to resist or compensate for the continuous gentle abuse?
It may be that in the past you never had trouble digesting dairy foods, yeast, grains or artificial sweeteners. However, suddenly you find yourself bloating up after certain foods, or really uncomfortable in a favourite skirt like you’ve put on weight.
You'll probably have to live with some indigestion, but try these suggestions to lessen the frequency and severity of your symptoms:
• Wear loose, comfortable clothing; avoid any tightness around your waist and tummy, specially when you feel the weight of indigestion.
• Don't eat big meals. Instead, eat several small meals throughout the day. Take your time eating, and chew thoroughly.
• Avoid products that cause you indigestion. The usual suspects are fizzy drinks; alcohol; processed meats; and spicy, highly seasoned, fried, and fatty foods.
• Don't smoke.
• Bend at the knees instead of at the waist to avoid heartburn.
• Wait at least an hour after meals before lying down.
• Sleep with your upper body propped up with several pillows.
• Try eating a peppermint after meals or take a cup of peppermint tea to ease indigestion.
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