Flatulence: Foes and Fixes
Farting is universally hilarious. Across every culture, every religion, every language, the issuance of gas from a person’s posterior will – once the wrinkled noses have smoothed out – evoke laughter from just about everyone in earshot. I won’t try to explain why it’s so dang funny, especially when we can turn to Louis C.K. for his masterful thesis on the matter. C.K arrives at three factors: it comes out of your butt, it smells like poop, and it makes a trumpet noise. Taken separately, these things range from gross to inconsequential. After all, plenty of things sound like trumpets. Trumpets, for one. But together, they form a symphony of comedy that’s greater than the constituent parts.
But when they’re issuing out of your body uncontrollably on a regular basis, farts can be a touchy subject. I won’t name any names, but more than a few readers have written in over the past few months with questions about farting spouses, children, and even pets. These readers often admit that flatulence has comedic merit, but just as incessant quoting of Borat after the movie came out quickly got old, farting all the time is annoying. And it might even be the sign of something wrong with your diet.
So, while the pet angle may be beyond the scope of today’s post, I’m going to offer some insight into human flatulence. I’ll deal with both the causes and the potential solutions, mostly at once (because the problems and solutions are intertwined).
First, what is it?
Flatulence is the expunging of intestinal gas, which is either endogenous or exogenous. Exogenous intestinal gas comes from the outside; it is literally swallowed, usually when a person eats too fast, drinks too fast (or drinks bubbly drinks like sodas or sparkling water), or chews gum too vociferously. Exogenous flatulence isn’t too much of a problem, because it usually doesn’t smell and it isn’t caused by eating the wrong foods. It’s actually normal to have exogenous flatulence. If it’s excessive and causing you problems, simple behavior modification can fix this one pretty quickly. Chew and drink more slowly and carefully, avoid smoking, and try to avoid excessive gasping. Stressful situations can exacerbate this, too – think breathing in deeply and rubbing your temples because something just went wrong, and then do it fifty times a day and you get a picture of how you might be swallowing more air than you intend. You want to breathe your air, not ingest it.
Endogenous intestinal gas is a different beast, and it’s the one we’re going to focus on today. It comes from bacterial fermentation of carbohydrates. More specifically, it comes from fermentation of carbohydrates that we improperly or incompletely digest in the small intestine. These leftover bits make it to the colon/large intestine, and that’s where the magic happens.
To address this, first things first, pay attention to FODMAPs, or fermentable, oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. FODMAPs are carbohydrates that some people can’t totally digest in the small intestine. If that’s the case, when they hit the colon, the flora there break it down and ferment it, thus producing large amounts of endogenous intestinal gases like methane, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide, bloating, and other complications. FODMAPs can include healthy, totally Primal foods, but they also include decidedly unPrimal stuff, too. If you’re farting a lot, your first step should be to understand FODMAPs, because they are likely suspects. Let’s go through the various categories, highlighted in Jamie’s excellent piece from last year:
- Oligosaccharides include things like fructans (fructose with a single glucose molecule attached) and galactans (fructose with a molecule of galactose attached). Sources of fructans are wheat, onions, artichokes, jicama, jerusalem artichokes, chicory root, onions, garlic, and leeks. Inulin, a prebiotic fiber I’ve written about before and which can have numerous health benefits, is a fructan. Galactans are found in legumes (beans, lentils, etc), Brussels sprouts, and broccoli (hence the lovely term “broccoli fart” and the product called “Beano,” which I always found to be a disgusting name).
- The most common disaccharide is lactose, or milk sugar. Anyone who’s tried GOMAD (Gallon of Milk a Day) while being lactose intolerant (or been within a mile of someone who fits that description) understands what foul gases improperly digested lactose can produce. If there’s one thing I’m thankful for, it’s that Mark Rippetoe endogenously produces lactase. Better choices include hard, long-fermented cheeses and raw dairy, proponents of which claim it contains lactase for easier digestion. I’m not sure about that one myself, as a lactose-intolerant buddy of mine once sampled some raw milk at a Santa Monica’s farmers’ market at the vendor’s urging and suffered (we both did, albeit I did so indirectly) familiar side effects. Your mileage may vary, though. Sucrose is another disaccharide, so avoid it (which you probably already were).
- Monosaccharides refer primarily to fructose. That means avoiding HFCS, obviously, but even “healthier” choices like honey, and dried fruit like dates and raisins. Eat low fructose fruits like berries.
- Polyols are sugar alcohols. Xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, pretty much any -ol. Naturally occuring polyols can also be found in certain fruits, like blackberries, stone fruits, pears, and watermelon.
For a complete and handy table of FODMAPs friendly and unfriendly foods, check out the bottom of this post.
So, yeah, right off the bat, avoid FODMAPs. Do this for a week or two and see if your farting subsides. If it does, try reintroducing small amounts of select FODMAPs. Pick a category and start there. Eat a few slices of jicama, some Brussels sprouts, or some onion. Be systematic about it and limit yourself to a single food from a single FODMAP category at a time.
Keep a detailed food journal for a month and keep tabs on your digestive symptoms. If you fart, mark when, where, and what you just ate. You can even note the severity of the flatulence, including odor, volume, and number of laughs received (partly kidding here). Over time, you should be able to note correlations between certain foods and the severity and incidence of your flatulence.
Eat simple meals. Instead of having crazy curries and stews all the time with dozens of ingredients, stick to meat and vegetable. Note the singular “vegetable” and don’t eat broccoli, brussel sprouts, and cabbage in the same meal. Give your gut a chance to get its bearings and you’ll have a clearer picture of what’s causing the gas.
Add some digestive enzymes. Robb Wolf is a big proponent of NOW Foods brand digestive enzymes, and I’d definitely trust his judgment. Remember, a lot of flatulence is caused by bacterial fermentation of undigested food. If you lack the right digestive enzymes, more food bits will make it to the colon for fermentation. According to Robb, you want to take the enzymes shortly before the meal. Start with five or six capsules and stop when you start feeling warmth in your belly – that means it’s working.
Chew your food thoroughly. The more you chew, the greater the surface area of the food and the better you digest it. The better you digest your food, the less food will make it through to your colon. This will also help with exogenous gas flatulence.
Add some probiotics or fermented foods. Note, though, that you’ll want to limit FODMAPs before adding probiotics, as otherwise you’ll just be providing more fuel for the fire.
Limit prebiotic supplements for now. Until you get a handle on things, you don’t want to introduce more FODMAPs. I know that when I was doing daily extensive testing of Primal Fuel, including changing the ratios of prebiotic inulin to achieve the perfect texture, I had some mild flatulence at first (TMI?). A bit of flatulence from prebiotics is completely normal, especially early on, but if it gets worse or doesn’t improve, it’s probably worth watching.
All in all, some mild flatulence is nothing to worry about. It may hurt your social health, but it’s not a medical condition. Severe, continuous flatulence, however, accompanied by painful bloating? Yeah, you need to fix that. Try these fixes, pay attention to potentially offensive foods listed, and keep that food journal. It’s all fun and games and cups o’ cheese (NSFW) until you get bacterial overgrowth (from feeding the colonic flora) and, possibly, Crohn’s disease. So get a handle on it.
Of course, if you can’t, you might consider pursuing a career as a flatulist. Saint Augustine himself had nothing but high praise for the men who possessed such “command of their bowels, that they can break wind continuously at will, so as to produce the effect of singing.” Whatever your spiritual inclination (or non-inclination), I think we can all appreciate a religious man who admires professional fart artists.
Take care, folks, and happy digesting. If you’ve had success or failure with defeating flatulence, let us know in the comment section. I’m always all ears for more input from you guys, and I know we have plenty of readers who could use assistance from someone who’s been there.
Grab a Copy of The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation and Start Getting Primal Today!
Posted By: Mark Sisson
This was a darn tootin’ good article!
I think one of my favorite things about being primal is not having the bloated gas feeling. Definitely little to no gas since going primal on most days.
Great article. Here’s a bit more info On Digestive Enzymes:
“If you lack the right digestive enzymes, more food bits will make it to the colon for fermentation. According to Robb, you want to take the enzymes shortly before the meal. Start with five or six capsules and stop when you start feeling warmth in your belly – that means it’s working.”
There are actually two different things here:
1) Betaine HCl (plus or minus pepsin) which is acid, and helps your stomach get used to producing enough acid to digest your food, particularly proteins. This is what causes the “feeling of warmth” in your belly. A deficit of stomach acid is very common as we age, or even more so from proton pump inhibitor use, such as Zantac or Prilosec.
2) Digestive enzymes — you will recognize these from looking at the label and seeing “ase” at the end of the word — like lipase or cellulase. Digestive enzymes may also be in more natural form, such as papaya powder. As far as I know, none of these cause that “heat in the belly” feeling that Betaine HCl does.
3) Another digestive aid is Ox Bile — definitely consider using it if you have had your gall bladder removed (as I did.)
Man I wish I had wrote about this topic on my blog first…It’s a great day when a man can make a difference in this world by writing about Farts (and have the science to support it).
Great Read Mark!
As to the general humor involving flatulence — in my experience it is mostly a guy-thing, along the same line as the Three Stooges. What women find most amusing is men acting like little boys and laughing at them (both the Stooges and the Farts.)
Back in my pre primal days I used to enjoy a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch daily. I would go to the gym a couple hours later and would be farting up a storm at the gym. It was embarassing as can be.
Today, I rarely fart if I am eating strictly primal foods. When I have a not so primal day I know farts are to follow. I decided to eat pizza this past Sunday night… the farting began that night and continued into Monday afternoon.
I’ve been fart free all day today! It helps when I eat 100% primal foods!!
Growing up in an overweight/obese extended family, I remember farting being a common topic of conversation. Everyone treated farting or “blowing up the toilet” (sorry gang) as something that was a part of life for most men. Overeating and farting were sort of branded as symbols of virility. I suppose it was somehow a defense mechanism.
I’ll take my new life of incredibly rare farts and abs (optimism!).
i “found” Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) this last year, and it’s proverbial how they’re supposed to produce “foul wynd”. the first time i ate them, yeah — it was pretty bad. the second time it was hardly noticeable. i wondered if one’s body doesn’t have the right bugs for it at first, but develops them as needed. i DID taste them raw that time, as well as cooked. also, the second time i scrubbed instead of peeling the things, so probably got some soil along with my food. we all know what a good idea it is to eat a little dirt….
I am starting to get lactose intolerent these days. Heavy Cream causes me to smell like a backed up sewer and blow like a hurricane. Cheese fortunately is not an issue at this point, but I am avoiding milk products as much as I can.
Not much lactose in heavy cream (~0.1g/cup)!
Check ingredients for carragenan. Buy only carragenan-free milk products and you’re probably good to go!
My tips for a flatulence-free life:
1. Cut the grains (and beans).
2. Soak your nuts.
Seriously, since going full Primal and cutting the grains (especially oats, which I’ve written about before), I literally have no gas. And, I never did like beans, and they never liked me. In addition, soaking nuts, and then dehydrating them at a low temp, has done the trick there. And, I find I have to limit dried fruit which is another offender for me – but let’s face it, we should be limiting that anyway if we’re going Primal.
Love the Louis C.K. reference… classic!
I just love that you referenced Louis CK in one of your articles.
For what it’s worth…My cure for a lot of flatulence (and it did start around my 40s) was cutting out wheat and most sugar. I do have half a piece of sourdough toast in the am with lots of butter, but really try to avoid the rest. I don’t think I am gluten intolerant, but I do seem to have a gluten sensitivity of some kind. I eat fruit, cheese, cream, etc with no problems.
Primal has certainly reduced/virtually eliminated gas. It’s also been pretty easy to identify the triggers.
Thanks for the article!
Amazing the things we learn here:
Saint Augustine himself had nothing but high praise for the men who possessed such “command of their bowels, that they can break wind continuously at will, so as to produce the effect of singing.”
Interesting artical but where does garlic, blueberries rasberries and califlower fit in.I have noticed that I have problems in 3 out of the 4 catogories.
If Louis C.K. is the king of making farts funny, then Mark Sisson is the king of making farts interesting. Not an easy thing to do.
Get your gall bladder checked for gall stones. Regular gas problems can be a symptom of gall stones. You’ll know if you have gall stones you’re having intense stomach cramps (worse than labor pains) that wrap from the middle right of your back around to the front. Gall stones are sometimes the result of a fatty diet — but sometimes they’re just genetic. Failure to seek treatment can result in pancreatitis, so see your doctor if this sounds like you.
Just to lighten things up a little bit, go to YouTube.com.
The same folks who brought you the Engineer’s Guide to Cats has a special video on flatulence, feline and otherwise. Cracks me up every time! Enjoy!
Processed foods, caused one of my kids to sound like a trumpet all day. He only has fresh/home cooked food at home now and the issue is much better.
With me I find that sweeteners and sugar not to mention any type of gluten cause bloating and trumpeting not to mention IBS.
Good old real food.
Fantastic article!
It’s definitely fructans for me. Jerusalem artichokes with asparagus and roast onions followed by apple pie? Parp parp!
x x x
Great post Mark thanks. If I recall from Robb’s podcast I thought he recommended starting at ONE and moving up to 2, 3…until you feel the warmth in your belly then coming off one moving forward. I dont remember him recommending starting at 5 or 6.
This is one of the great benefits of going Primal – no gas! I was on Weight Watchers for a couple of years and always, ALWAYS, had gas. Like others, I thought that was just a way of life. So glad to have found it ain’t so.
Something that I noticed quite soon after starting to change how I eat was that I hardly ever fart any more – yahoo! I think that my husband is glad too
So here’s a stinker…(heehee). I just started primal a week ago, and maybe its just my body cleansing itself but after almost every primal meal…especially meatballs, I get the most god awful gas. Like knock you over gas..usually when it happens, i’ll just sit really still to cover it up with my butt but sometimes it doesn’t work and I get exclaimations and looks of horror. Is this just my colon freeing itself like Free Willy, or am i eating too many onions?
It was bad. REEEALLY bad. Because I have Crohns I have digestive issues anyway… I have to limit my intake of raw veggies and cook most things. Fortunately since I eliminated my morning bowl of porridge and grains from my diet it is MUCH better. And beans? Forget about it! The outcome is like hell on earth for myself and the people around me.
A few weeks after going Primal, the constant farting was gone. That was one of the first changes I noticed.
There has been very little ‘male bonding’ in our house since my husband and I gave up the grains.
2 years ago eating Kashi lean, I would fart so bad, the dog would leave the room. After I gave up grains, the whole gas thing has improved ten fold. The only time I have gas is when I go off my primal diet, or take a prebiotic.
Everyone thinks I’m nuts, but at least they don’t have to smell my gas anymore
Onions for me! Even in homemade stock! It only took me 40 years to figure it out but I am ever so grateful I know now. Though I do miss them…
I’ve definitely experienced less gas and smelliness (even in my poo – tmi?) since giving up grains and other processed foods. Gas used to be a normal occurance, but now I’m very aware when I’ve eaten something inappropriate because I’m gassy, or my poop smells badly. It’s amazing, really… Our bodies work SO well wen we treat them right, that even our sh#t don’t stank!
I used to fart after eating candy, sometimes after eating a lot of fruit too. And lets not talk about what happened when I tried probiotic vanilla tasting “candy” sweetened with inulin… I did notice that I rarely ever fart now (3 weeks primal soon), but I wasn’t used to it being a problem so I didn’t think much about it.
Now I’m just trying to figure out how to get rid of the constipation I’ve had since starting primal…