Gas

Yesterday, I got back on the wagon of my healthy greens-and-whole-grains diet. A banana for breakfast, my favorite salad for lunch, and a Gardenburger for dinner.

Mondays are yoga days and since I had a salad for lunch, I knew I'd want to eat an early, pre-yoga dinner. Yoga starts at 7:15, so I needed to eat around 4:30. Because you're not supposed to do yoga on a full stomach. Though I can tell you that doing yoga while you have gas is not great fun, either.

Now gas isn't much of a topic of conversation for most people, but it is among vegetarians and vegans because carbohydrates cause more gas in the digestive tract than proteins because they're broken down more completely (and you therefore get more health benefits from them). Beano can frequently be found near the checkout at most natural food supermarkets for a reason (though not all forms are vegetarian--check the label). But we shouldn't really need it. See, the problem for most of us isn't what we eat as much as how we eat.

A lot of people don't realize that what goes on inside your mouth is a very important part of the digestive process. If you chew your food completely (anywhere from twenty to forty chews per bite), the food breaks down inside your mouth rather than inside your digestive tract, thereby reducing the amount of gas produced. A nice side effect is that you're more satisfied and eat less. Chewing more is one of several things, but the most important one that you can do to reduce gas. If you have problems with gas, try any or all of these things to reduce belching and flatulence:

• Eat more slowly

• Take smaller bites

• Don't talk and eat/drink at the same time--taking in air while you're eating or drinking introduces air into the digestive system. And it has to be expelled somehow. Even chewing gum will make you take in air. Though a lot of times, this will just result in belching rather than flatulence (which is nowhere near as big a problem in yoga). And keep your mouth closed while you eat.

• Chew your food until it's pulverized. Digest it as much as you can inside your mouth. You'll enjoy it more, too (though all bets are off with broccoli; if I could just open a chute into my stomach to bypass all tastebuds, that's how I'd eat broccoli).

If you do all of these things and still have a problem, you might investigate a little more into what you eat. Diet foods contain a lot of indigestible sugars that cause a lot of gas (I avoid maltitol at all costs) and some people have lactose intolerance that produces gas. Try avoiding foods with these ingredients and see if your gas is reduced. Because unless you're Le Petomane, you probably would like to have less flatus in your life.

Ref. Wikipedia: Flatulence and Burping.