5 Sure-shot Remedies for Flatulence

If you thought you need some gas (read air) only to breath and be alive, you may be wrong enough! You also need to release gas (read fart) from your body to stay healthy! Yes, farting is what all do howsoever embarrassing it may be. All human beings have to pass wind (gas generated in the intestinal tract) through anus so that they are not a victim of some really nasty gases produced during digestion. So, whether you pass gas with a sound or fart silently, you do it and all do it. The problem begins when farts stink. Not only the people around but also the person who farts can get uncomfortable with the stench released with this bodily gas. So home remedies for farting are actually remedies to get rid of the nasty smell from your fart and sometimes to make you comfortably release gas avoiding the bloating and cramps in your abdomen. There are no home remedies to stop farting because you cannot ever stop flatulence! It is natural to fart for every human being.

Understanding Flatulence and why do we fart!

Passing wind is very much a normal biological process just like sweating, burping or breathing. We pass gas from our anus that comes in our intestines due to various reasons- swallowing air, gas produced due to chemical reactions while the food is digested and also the gas produced by bacteria that live in our stomachs.

To be precise about why do we fart, when we eat or drink, along with our saliva, we also swallow little amounts of air which then gets accumulated in our gut. There are gases in our digestive system like nitrogen and oxygen. Some other gases like hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide too are released when we digest food.

Why do farts stink?

If flatulence is a natural process, why do the farts smell so bad? The culprits are the small amounts of sulfur gases and mercaptans in the mixture of gases that we pass out of the body. When we have foods that are rich in sulfur, the gut bacteria produce more sulfides and mercaptans which results in stinking farts. Thus foods like cauliflower, eggs, meat etc. produce smelly farts, while beans generate larger amounts of gases that do not particularly stink.

Also when we eat in larger amounts or eat wrong foods in a wrong manner, the food doesn’t get digested properly and rots inside our digestive system where the bacteria acts upon them releasing unpleasant gases.

Home Remedies for Flatulence

With little changes in diet and lifestyle, we can always remove the foul smell from the gases we release as farts.

1. Have food in a proper manner

We will talk about what foods can lead to stinking farts later. As of now, some rules to eat and drink your things in the right manner so that you digest them properly and do not produce foul smelling farts.

• Always have smaller bites. Larger bites will need you to open your mouth wide which leads to more swallowing of air. Also, larger bites mean more saliva produced while chewing and more saliva means more bubbles that trap air which goes into your system.
• Eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly so that all of what you eat gets digested. Do not gulp your food.
• While having lots of water during the day is good for health, do not have water half an hour before and after meals. This interferes with proper digestion of food.
• Avoid junk food and have healthy diet complete with fiber-rich fruits and vegetables. Fibres are the great way to digest food. Indigestion leads to the formation of smelly gases.
• Avoid sulphur rich foods like beans, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, yeast-laden foods such as bread, cheese and even carbonated drinks.
• Do not have cold drinks just after meals. If you need to have something then have warm healthy liquids such as certain herbal teas (like anise tea, chamomile tea, spearmint tea, and caraway tea). Hot water or liquids help in digestion thus eliminating even the bad gases.

2. Avoid having gassy foods

The best thing for getting rid of gas is to avoid gas-forming foods. Avoid the following foods if you suffer a lot from flatulence:

• Beans and other legumes
• Wheat and wheat bran
• Cabbage
• Onions
• Brussels sprouts
• Apricots
• bananas
• Prunes
• Milk and other dairy products (they can cause gas if you are lactose intolerant or have lesser amounts of the enzyme called lactase needed to digest dairy products)
• Fatty meats
• Fried foods
• Cream sauces as well as gravies
• Sugar substitutes (not all but many people cannot absorb sorbitol contained in sugar-free products)

3. Have lots of Ginger

Ginger helps stimulate saliva, bile and gastric juice production and thus aid in better digestion. This is due to many phenolic compounds in ginger mainly gingerol and shagaol as well as other volatile oils. This herb cum spice has muscle relaxant properties which help relieve gases trapped in the digestive system. Sometimes, farting is accompanied with bloating and intestinal cramps due to tension and spasms in the gastrointestinal tract. Ginger relieves these constrictions thus helping in a passing of trapped gas. You can have ginger in various ways- as ginger tea, by using in cooking like making cookies or just grating a little and adding to salads and stir-fries, or you can just chew a little ginger root as they are! Here is a very good recipe of ginger tea that you may like to have daily in order to get rid of farting.

You will need:

• Hot water- 1 cup
• Ground cinnamon- ¼ teaspoon
• Ground ginger- ½ teaspoon
• Honey – 1 tsp (optional)

Directions for making ginger tea

• Put cinnamon powder in a cup
• Pour hot water over it
• Add ground ginger to it
• Mix well and let it steep for 5-10 minutes
• Strain and add honey if you want to otherwise have this ginger-cinnamon tea without additional sweetness.

4. Make easy Yoga postures to comfortably pass wind

Exercising is a must for our body. Make it a point to exercise even to get rid of flatulence. While walking is the easiest exercise and sure-shot remedy to keep farting at bay (even doctors advice walking for avoiding flatulence), a couple of Yoga postures too can be made to help yourself pass wind without any problem. These include ‘Virasana’ yoga pose and ‘Pawan Muktasana’ yoga posture.

How to do Pawan Muktasana Yoga Pose?

Pawanmuktasana literally means ‘wind-relieving-pose’ (Pawan means wind, Mukta means to release and asana means posture). There’s nothing more that can convince you about this posture’s capability of passing wind without any hassle!

• Lie on your back while keeping your feet together and your arms beside your body.
• Breathe in deeply and while you exhale, with the help of both your hands, take your right knee towards your chest
• Press your thigh gently on your abdomen with your clasped hands.
• Now breathe in again and while you exhale, lift your head and chest off the floor to touch the chin to your right knee.
• Hold the posture for few second breathing in and out
• While exhaling, come back to the ground and relax.
• Repeat the steps with the left leg and then with both the legs.

How to do Virasana Yoga?

Virasana yoga pose is a basic, seated posture which is adapted for meditation by Yoga experts. One of the many benefits, however, of Virasana is that it helps in digesting food in a very efficient manner thus giving you relief from flatulence. After having your meals, sit in Virasana pose for about 5-10 minutes (or even longer if you wish to) and that’s it. Here are the steps to sit in Virasana pose:

• Kneel down on your mat or floor keeping your thighs perpendicular to the floor
• Ensure that your feet’s top is flat on the floor.
• Bring together both the inner knees together and then slide your feet little away from each other (they should remain a little wider than hips). Point your feet in line with your shins.
• Gently pull back your calf muscles and sit between your feet.
• See that your pelvis is at a ninety-degree angle with your thighs.
• Your hands should rest in your lap or on your thighs.
• Sit straight with a firm back.
• Sit in this posture initially for a minute and increase the time period as you get used to sitting like this.

5. Take digestive substances after meals

Make it a point to have something that supports digestion after every meal. This is actually a tradition followed in many cultures. For example, in China, people have some hot drink like tea or even hot water after meals. This practice helps them digest food fast and properly. In India, people have anise seeds or carom seeds and some of them even chew beetle leaves to support their digestive systems. Here is a list of certain things that you can have after meals so that your digestive system works efficiently and you are able to get rid of farting.

• Have two pinches of anise seeds (saunf) after meals. While you can have any type of anise seeds, you will find the fine anise seeds (the thick seeds are used for cooking) with a little sweet taste good for your taste buds too. Scented and slightly sweet flavored anise seeds are one of the best refreshing things to freshen up your breath too.
• Cut ginger into fine slices. Soak these ginger slices in lemon juice and store in an airtight container. Chew one or two pieces of this after every meal. It cures gas.
• Mix a teaspoon of honey and a drop of dill oil. Take this after every meal to treat flatulence.
• Take equal amounts of pepper, dry ginger and green cardamom seeds. Grind them to make their powder. Have ½ to 1 tsp of this dry mixture after mixing it with some water after every meal.
• You may also have peppermint after meals. It refreshes your breath and helps in digestion too.
• Have some tea like peppermint tea, anise tea, spearmint tea, chamomile tea or caraway tea after meals to cure farting due to flatulence.