{"id":18674,"date":"2022-01-25T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=18674"},"modified":"2022-01-13T14:11:28","modified_gmt":"2022-01-13T19:11:28","slug":"gastrointestinal-distress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2022\/01\/25\/gastrointestinal-distress\/","title":{"rendered":"Gastrointestinal Distress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the\nyears, we\u2019ve gotten emails that sound something like this: \u201cI\u2019d like to eat more beans but \u2026 I get a lot\nof gas\/I feel bloated\/I have uncomfortable cramping.\u201d <\/em> While some people experience an increase in\ngas production when they eat beans, it varies from person to person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


\nBeans contain a type of carbohydrate that humans can\u2019t digest. This\ncarbohydrate moves through our intestinal tract and is fermented by bacteria in\nour large intestine. The result of this fermentation is gas. Beans aren\u2019t the\nonly food known to cause gas production. The list is long and includes\nvegetables in the cabbage family, sorbitol (a sugar substitute), carbonated\nbeverages, and bran.  Individuals may be\naware of other foods that are triggers for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of\nthese foods, like sorbitol and carbonated beverages, are easily avoided. Beans,\nhowever, are a significant part of many vegans\u2019 diets. Fortunately, there are\nways that you can reduce the effects of beans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve\nabruptly increased the amount of beans that you eat, take a step back. Start\nwith \u00bd cup of beans a day and after several weeks, add another \u00bd cup, gradually\nfinding the amount that you can tolerate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try experimenting with different types of beans \u2013 lentils,\nchickpeas, and split peas are often said to be less gas-producing although this\nvaries from person to person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you cook beans from scratch, soak them overnight and\ndiscard the soaking water. A lot of the indigestible carbohydrates end up in\nthe soaking water so that discarding it, reduces the amount of \u201cfood\u201d for\nintestinal bacteria to ferment. Adding a tiny pinch of baking soda to the water\nwhen you cook beans can also help reduce their indigestible carbohydrate content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a look at your eating habits. I\u2019ve found that gulping\ndown a bean burrito or quickly eating a bowl of lentil soup when I\u2019m stressed\nleaves me with a bellyache that I don\u2019t get when I slow down and eat in a more\nrelaxed way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try keeping food records \u2013 writing down what you ate and how\nyou feel. You may find that you can tolerate beans by themselves but not beans\nwith a big plate of cabbage. Or maybe every time you\u2019ve had serious gas, you\nhad eaten a large apple or drank black coffee on an empty stomach. Your food\nrecord will help you to see more about the ways that the foods you eat and\ndrink affect the way you feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your diet is especially high fiber, try cutting down on\nfiber a bit \u2013 eat more cooked and fewer raw foods \u2013  and see if that helps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avoid notorious gas triggers like carbonated beverages,\ndrinking from a straw, chewing gum, eating rapidly, using sorbitol or other\nsugar alcohols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, if you\u2019ve been able to eat beans without their\nhaving much of an effect and suddenly find yourself with a great deal of gas or\ncramping after eating an amount of beans you used to tolerate, it\u2019s worth\ncontacting your health care provider. Sometimes this type of change in food\ntolerance can be symptomatic of another issue. Additionally, some research\nsuggests that aging could result in a reduced ability to handle the indigestible\ncarbohydrates found in beans. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD Over the years, we\u2019ve gotten emails that sound something like this: \u201cI\u2019d like to eat more beans but \u2026 I get a lot of gas\/I feel bloated\/I have uncomfortable cramping.\u201d  While some people experience an increase in gas production when they eat beans, it varies from person to person. Beans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18674"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18676,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18674\/revisions\/18676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}