“We’re all guilty of it, we are all human and we have at one time or another found ourselves in that awkward situation where we need to ‘relieve’ ourselves yet there isn’t a noisy corner in sight! Farting. For some reason, the word also makes me giggle as much as it did when I was 12.

I think most women would be the first to point the finger at the males in their life when asked the question who in the household are the main ‘offenders’.

The reality is (or so I once heard) that apparently women actually fart more than men.

Foods that make you, well – fart.
Some foods can trigger us to produce gas more than others. Take beans for example. The enzymes needed to digest beans aren’t ordinarily produced in the digestive tract but rather, in the large intestine. This means your body begins to produce the by-product gas, because they hit your digestive tract first. But did you know, almost any food that set you off may be doing so for one of two reasons.

Firstly, you may not be preparing it correctly. If we take beans again as the example, you can avoid the gas inducing nature of these little guys simply by soaking the beans before cooking them. Secondly, we must look at the health of the gut. Obviously a healthy digestive system means that foods can be properly digested. As we digest food, gas (think hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide) is all released. As this builds up, there comes a point where it all gets way too much and, that’s when we find ourselves releasing hot air. Farting is one way this air can escape, as is burping.

When the gut health is average or there are poor food combinations, sulfur gases may build more readily. This is because food starts to rot in the gut, releasing sulfur. From a Chinese Medicine sense, this can be amplified when there is too much heat in the digestive system or not enough energy to drive the digestive system. In any case, there are simple solutions you can implement into your daily regime to help alleviate your gassy habits.

This is also one of the main reasons why so many of our customers report less bloating and flatulence when they are using many of our tea blends. These herbs in our blends traditionally go to work on maximising your body’s digestive ability meaning it is breaking down your food well, leaving less chance for food to sit and rot leading to sulphur gas being released. Liver Cleanse or Digestive Herbs, formerly Tiny Tea would be the obvious and first choice to help support a healthy, happy gut.

So next time you find yourself with more air than you can cope with, think about two things.

1. What have you eaten and could you prepare it better?

2. Is your gut happy? Remembering things like medications, stress, too much alcohol or sugar could impact your digestive health.

Often simple solutions can be enough to fix what seems like a lot of hot air!

Love,

Nat