Flatulence is a common problem that is easily treated with Acupuncture and changes in your diet.
Mary Ann moved here to the US from Argentina, started a family and for the last ten years or so everything was going just fine. She felt safer living in the USA and adapted to life in America like a duck does to water. It helped that she picked the city of Miami to live, since almost everyone speaks Spanish! Mary Ann is a perfectionist in just about everything she does and has been very successful with everything she puts her mind to.
When she came to my office for an appointment, she hemmed and hawed before she even told me what was going on. She looked very healthy, young and in her late twenties, with a great looking smile. Beautiful long black hair, and she turned heads when she walked into any room!
We talked for a long time and she told me that she stopped dating and going to parties; didn’t really do much shopping, or even going out in public much. She had been going to the gym for years and loved to stay in shape, but something happened 4 or 5 months ago and she has stopped all public activities.
I scanned her energy fields to see if I could pick up something that was out of balance in her body, the meridians or chakras, but I wasn’t able to pick up much more than an imbalance in the digestive system. Mary Ann is a worrier and she is constantly uneasy. In the middle of our conversation she uncontrollably started to cry and then told me her story.
“It was a few months ago for no apparent reason I started to get uncontrollable gas. It happens every time I eat anything and it smelled so bad, and it’s really embarrassing!”
This is a problem for many of us, but to a young woman this is also a total embarrassment as well as a possible health problem. According to the National Institutes of Health, the average person passes intestinal gas 14 times a day and produces about 1 to 4 pints of the stuff a day!
The foods we eat can be a factor in the production of gas. The carbohydrates in some foods are not completely digested in the small intestine. When the undigested sugars reach the colon, they are fermented by the bacteria that normally live in the colon. This fermentation often results in gas. The most common source of undigested carbohydrate is lactose, or milk sugar, which is found in dairy products. Intestinal bacteria step in to aid the process and this fermentation causes gas.
Another common source of gas are beans. Beans contain a sugar that cannot be digested by the human intestine. Besides beans and dairy products, many fruits and vegetables are gas producers. Certain colon bacteria are capable of digesting these substances, producing hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide in the process. Excessive gas is the result.
Here’s What You Can do to Reduce Excessive Gas!
- Eat slowly and don’t talk while eating.
- Chew your food thoroughly, instead of gulping it down.
- Increase your physical activity.
- Reduce your lactose products such as milk,
skim milk and cottage cheese. Yogurt is usually well tolerated by lactose-intolerant people. - Avoid sorbitol and fructose, as well as sodas and hard candies that contain sorbitol and fructose as these items cause extra gas.
- Too much fiber will increase gas, especially if you take too much too quickly.
- Pre-soak dried beans and dispose of the water. This helps remove the gas-causing starches.
It’s been a few weeks now and Mary Ann eliminated all milk products, and beans. She reports that she walks at least 100 steps after every meal and the tooting is just about gone!
Flatulence is a common problem that is easily treated with Acupuncture and changes in your diet. I often suggest taking the Alcat test that I offer at my office for food sensitivity.
Call today to book an appointment at 305-407-0120!
I wish you the best in your Health, Wealth & Happiness!
Sherwood (Woody) Swartz AP, MMQ
AKA Dr. Wu Dhi
