Natural Ways to Deal With Gas From Eating Beans

Beans are a very nutritious food to eat, not to mention very delicious to enjoy. However, they are notorious for causing excessive and embarrassing intestinal gas. Fortunately, rather than avoiding eating them, you can try to employ one of these natural remedies to help prevent the gas that comes from eating beans.

Cooking Methods

• There are certain ways that you can cook your beans to help reduce the amount of gas they cause. For starters, always rinse beans thoroughly before cooking them, both dried and canned varieties. This helps get rid of some of the gas-causing agents. Dried beans should also be soaked for a length of time (the time varies, but a good rule of thumb is the bean should double in size). The more slowly the beans are cooked, the better as well. When cooking, you can add fennel, cumin, epazote (sometimes referred to as Mexican tea), ginger, anise, coriander seeds, dill, basil, oregano or bay leaf to help make the beans softer and easier to digest. You can also add apple cider vinegar toward the end of the cooking process or lemon juice before serving. Eating beans in mashed form can also help, as in the case of falafel, hummus or refried beans. The mashing process breaks down the difficult to digest fibers.

Different Types of Beans

• Some types of beans are easier to digest and cause less gas than other types. Black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, chickpeas, adzuki beans and black-eyed peas are very mild varieties. Others that are easy to digest and will cause less gas include red lentils and split mung beans. Notorious gas-causing bean varieties are soybeans, green and yellow split peas, navy beans and brown lentils. These varieties can still be tolerated but it is advised that you eat them in smaller amounts. It should also be noted that canned beans tend to cause more gas than dried beans.

Herbal and Natural Remedies

• There are some substances you can take before, during or after your meal (depending on the substance) that can help prevent, curb or relieve the gas caused by beans. Such substances are folic acid, vitamin C, B vitamins, probiotics and mint. The over-the-counter remedy Beano contains natural enzymes and is also effective.

How You Eat and Drink

• There are also certain behaviors you can avoid to keep excess gas from entering your system and minimize the problem. Things that you do that allow excess air inside of your body can have an effect. Avoid activities such as chewing gum, smoking, drinking carbonated beverages and gulping down drinks, which all allow excess air in. Also take care to chew your food thoroughly and avoid overeating.