Bloating affects many people. There is a lot you can do yourself to put flatulence in its place. Flatulence often disappears if you follow certain dietary rules, use special spices or take high-quality mineral earth.
Tips against flatulence
When it comes to flatulence, there are an enormous number of options and tips for self-help. If there is only a little flatulence, however, the question arises as to whether you should do anything about it at all. Because flatulence can also be a good sign as it is telling us that the pipes are not blocked – after all, we should be farting up to 15 times per day.
1. Change your diet, watch out for intolerances
Avoid processed foods with their multitude of food additives and their inferior ingredients. Fried products and sweetened foods are also an impertinence for an already sensitive digestive system. Observe whether you react to certain grain and/or dairy products or fruits with increased flatulence, for example, which could indicate a food intolerance.
In this case, have your practitioner check whether you may have lactose intolerance, fructose intolerance, gluten intolerance or even histamine tolerance. An irritable bowel syndrome is also conceivable, which could actually be a mast cell activation syndrome.
It is best to prefer a plant-based diet, i.e. one that is rich in vital substances and has a wholesome base surplus.
2. Pay attention to the right combination of foods
The right combination is less about the gas-forming but more about avoiding healthy foods such as beans, types of cabbage, onions, leeks, apples, plums, cherries etc.
It is much more important – at least in the case of a digestive system that is prone to flatulence – to observe certain combination rules. Then the foods mentioned above can also be consumed without causing flatulence. In particular avoid mixing high starch-containing foods with protein foods.
So the problem is often not the food itself, but the way it is prepared and eaten.
3. Pay attention to the correct preparation
Use anti-flatulent condiments when preparing “critical” foods. Cumin goes well with lentils and the typical bread spices (fennel, aniseed, coriander, etc.) are added to bread dough.
When preparing dried legumes, soak them at least overnight, but preferably 24 to 48 hours, before cooking. The soaking water is discarded – and the legumes are boiled in fresh water. If you e.g. cook chickpeas for hummus, you also pour away the cooking water. In the soaking and cooking water, there are a particularly large number of flatulent active ingredients.
Toast bread and rolls before you eat them, especially fresh bread.
4. Drink fennel tea for gas
Drink fennel tea. Fennel tea made from freshly crushed fennel seeds (in a mortar) works better than that from the tea bag. You can also chew on the fennel seeds if you like. The ingredients in fennel seeds (and also in aniseed and dill seeds) relax the muscles in your digestive tract and allow the accumulated gas to escape unnoticed. As a bonus, this will give you fresh breath.
5. Eat ginger
Two excellent ways to prevent bloating are drinking ginger tea or eating fresh ginger root. Ginger tea is particularly effective if you simply place a piece of fresh ginger in a high-powered blender with hot water and blend thoroughly. You can drink the result strained or unsifted.
Of course, you can also add ginger (fresh or dried) to your food. It tastes – freshly grated – excellent in a fruit salad or in fruit shakes. But ginger is also wonderful in soups, sauces, dressings or vegetable dishes. Here you will find a large selection of purely plant-based and wholesome, healthy recipes.
But you can also take a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger before meals – if it is not too spicy for you.
6. Cumin and Caraway help with flatulence
Caraway seeds and cumin help prevent gas, indigestion and cramps. They also encourage healthy digestion. As in the case of fennel, the seeds can simply be chewed, added to food or drunk in the form of tea. Cumin tea can also be made like ginger tea (in a blender).
7. Parsley works against gas formation
Parsley is also a good remedy for gas formation. Add parsley – either freshly chopped or dried – to salads, soups, vegetable and potato dishes, or any other food of your choice. Fresh parsley can also be wonderfully processed in green smoothies.
8. Mineral earth before the meal prevents flatulence
Mineral clay absorbs excess air in the digestive tract and absorbs toxins that could promote gas formation. Take 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of mineral clay 30-60 minutes before meals to prevent gas and bloating before it even starts. You can do this e.g. with zeolite or bentonite.
9. A colon cleanse removes the cause of bloating
Regular intestinal cleansing benefits general intestinal health, removes fermenting food residues, harmonizes the intestinal flora and in this way alleviates flatulence. The mineral earth mentioned in tip 8 is an important part of colon cleansing.
10. Support your gut with probiotics
Probiotics are preparations made from living microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria (lactobacteria) and/or bifidobacteria, which have a health-promoting effect on the human organism. High-quality probiotic preparations can restore a healthy intestinal flora and suppress pathogenic (disease-causing) germs.
Bloating can indicate an imbalance in the composition of the intestinal flora. Probiotics can therefore act directly on site, displace flatulence-causing putrefactive bacteria and thereby curb flatulence.
11. Use garlic
Garlic is another good and natural remedy for gas and bloating. Garlic stimulates digestion and has a lasting effect against harmful bacteria and parasites. For best results, you should use fresh garlic, which unfortunately leads to the not-so-popular garlic breath. The usual tips for reducing the smell of garlic (e.g. eating parsley, chewing gum, etc.) don’t really help, and at best only temporarily.
But by mixing lemon with garlic (and heating it), you can eat garlic without developing a garlic smell.
12. Drink dandelion tea
A common wild herb, dandelion has numerous health benefits, including relieving gas and bloating. Drink dandelion tea or mix fresh dandelion into your salad or smoothie.
13. Drink hot water
Drink water – as hot as possible! Half a cup is enough for some people to achieve an anti-bloating effect.
14. Drink water with peppermint oil
Mix two drops of peppermint essential oil in half a cup of cold water and drink once or twice a day.
15. Do range-of-motion exercises
If you’re alone, try to release any trapped gas by lying on your back, stretching your legs in the air, and then “cycling.” Also, get more exercise overall. The digestive system hates constant immobility. The more active you are, the better your digestion works and the less bloating you have.
Trampoline training has a particularly positive effect on digestion. The digestive organs are loosened and moved, the gastrointestinal peristalsis is stimulated. Deposits can detach from the intestinal walls. The lymph flow and circulation get going and can of course also cheer up the intestines.
And if you have other health problems besides digestive problems, you will notice that a regular trampoline training can also help here. Because training on the trampoline strengthens the muscles, strengthens the bones, is good for the joints, gets the heart going, improves lung functions and much more.
16. Eat slowly and chew carefully
Eat slowly and chew thoroughly, especially whole grains and legumes, but also nuts, seeds and raw salads. The more thoroughly you chew, the more you relieve your digestive system and the less likely you are to develop bloating.
17. Think of pancreatic insufficiency
If there is a weakness in the pancreas, this can also lead to flatulence. It’s more widespread than you think. If you’re having mysterious bloating after your last meal, then you could be suffering from pancreatic insufficiency. In this case, Digestive Enzymes will help.
Our tips against flatulence summarized again
- Change nourishment
- Eat slowly, chew thoroughly
- Have food intolerances, irritable bowel syndrome or mast cell activation syndrome and possible pancreatic weakness clarified
- Combine foods correctly
- Prepare food properly
- Crink fennel tea
- Eat ginger root
- Use cumin and cumin
- ingest mineral soil
- Clean the intestines regularly
- Take probiotics
- Eat garlic
- Drink dandelion tea
- Drink hot water
- Add peppermint oil to drinking water
- Provide plenty of exercise
For more tips, see How to avoid post-meal bloating