If you are vegan you probably have a very active colon. I know how you feel, I understand the eye-rolling agitation with farting like a non-stop brass band. However, it needn’t actually be as bad as it is.
It’s all about the diet you see, and just a few adjustments can fix you right up!
The fastest solution to endless farting as a vegan is to start taking enzymes, such as vegan Bean-zymes, with your meals. You could also avoid specific problem foods, rinse your beans and such before cooking, and so on.
We will go over some facts and tips today to ensure your colon behaves as YOU want it to. No more stinking up the room!
Farting In The Long Term Vs Short Term As A Vegan
As you shift onto a vegan diet, you are going to be gassy, it is just due to you increasing your fiber intake. But, once your body is used to it, your gut might adjust, with your flatulence decreasing naturally, or, you may just need to wait it out.
Or perhaps add high-fiber foods to your diet bit by bit instead.
If you can pinpoint a specific problem food, simply remove it as you adjust, then gradually reintroduce it to your diet.
However, some vegans experience long-term flatulence from some very common vegan foods, this type of flatulence will not always go away on its own either.
The Main Culprit: Fiber
So, what causes all this farting? Well, the average American only eats a measly 15 grams of fiber each day, this is well below the daily intake of 30 grams or more (subject to body mass). A good vegan diet can take you from 15 grams to 30 or even 100!
Remember, meat has no fiber, so for new vegans changing to high fiber can be very dramatic. If you change the chicken to beans or steak to another legume, you go from 0 to 20 grams just for one meal!
Of course, fiber increases have great effects on your health, helping you to better manage your weight, increase your sensitivity to insulin, reduce your cholesterol, and help you better absorb minerals, but it will make you fart a lot too!
Fiber can help with long-term health too, it reduces type-2 diabetes and cancer likelihood.
So, yes it makes you fart, but in the grand scheme of things does it really matter that much?
Why Do High Fiber Diets Cause Gas?
Fiber isn’t actually digestible as a calorie source, instead, it just goes right through your body, cleaning everything out. It gets to your large intestines, at the last stop before the toilet bowl.
However, having that extra fiber, with other carbs, you can create food for the good bacteria hiding out inside of your gut. When they eat this fiber, they produce gas as a part of this.
This is why you get gassy, as well as bloated and full feeling. Your body will eventually adjust to this, digesting more of it before it gets to your large intestine. The bacteria inside your gut will also adapt to your diet.
Making changes should decrease how gassy you are, but it won’t be an immediate change.
Soluble & Insoluble Fibers
Note that not all fibers actually make us fart in excess. You will often see things listed as being soluble fibers or insoluble fibers. It is the soluble fibers that cause more gas.
Insoluble fiber is the type that will not absorb water, passing through your gut before it becomes food for the aforementioned bacteria. However, soluble fibers will absorb water and let the bacteria feast on it.
There are many foods in which you will find soluble fibers in, such as:
- Beets.
- Beans.
- Carrots.
- Fruits.
- Oats.
- Psyllium fiber supplements.
However, before you decide to cut these out of your diet, you want to consider how prebiotic soluble fibers will help to reduce how bad your farts smell when you are on a vegan diet.
What you actually need is a perfect balance between too much and not enough soluble fibers.
Smelly Farts As A Vegan
How badly farts smell tends to affect us more than how much we fart. We are often self-conscious of odorous farts more than how much we are farting.
One of the main causes of bad-smelling farts is how much sulfur you eat. Sulfur is the thing that smells like rotten eggs and it is very common in farts.
Sulfur is found in plenty of vegan foods such as:
- Wine and fruit juices.
- Almonds.
- Dates & dried fruits.
- Peanuts.
- Wheat pasta,
- Cruciferous vegetables.
So, if you want to stop your farts from smelling so bad, you want to try and cut down on how many of these foods you are eating.
The other thing that can influence sulfur-smelling farts is prebiotics, and if you are getting enough of them. These are foods for those gut bacteria, and it can benefit them a lot.
How this all works is a bit complicated because there is a whole chain of cause-effect between prebiotics and how you fart.
Prebiotics also tend to overlap with soluble fibers and oligosaccharides which end up causing you to fart more.
While it is so complicated, I can actually tell you that you do want to have some prebiotic soluble fibers in your diet to reduce how badly your farts smell, so, it is best to be cautious about cutting out fibers from your diet. You still need them!
Tips To Stop Farting So Much As A Vegan
I’m not going to go into detail about how you should eat, or what you should be including in your diet, that is up to you.
But, I will give you some tips to get you going in the direction of less flatulence.
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- Introduce high-fiber foods gradually.
- Try taking digestive enzymes.
- EatProbiotics and fermented food types.
- Also, eat prebiotics they support the probiotics.
- Get a food journal to help you catch onto what is causing the farting.
- Soak your beans during food prep, and get rid of the water.
- Rinse canned beans.
- Always cook cruciferous vegetables.
- Stay hydrated and drink more water.
- When eating fruits, choose ones that have a lesser sugar count.
- Eat little but often, try to make smaller meals. Eating too much of a problem food at once will make it worse.
- Eat slowly and always chew food up well, even if it is really good.
- Cook beans well.
- Introduce exercise into your life.
- Keep stress levels down.
- Note and eliminate any food sensitivities.
Summary:
Farting more than usual on a vegan diet is totally normal, as your body is adjusting to the new lifestyle, especially with the increased fiber intake.
However, if you have been a vegan for a while and still experience frequent farting, you may need to find out what type of triggers you have, and potentially cut down on these. For some people, it’s legumes.
Also, consider introducing fiber gradually, try not to do it all at once and shock your system.
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