Flatulence is not just a social problem but it can also be very painful. These strategies should help alleviate the flatulence problem.

Here. Pull my finger…

Blaaat! - The flatulence orchestra tunes up.

The rear-end musically inclined love to play that joke on kids. We’ve all laughed at farting jokes and suffered the unpleasant odour from someone’s released gas. You’ve probably felt the discomfort, even pain, of gas, bloating, and trying to hold flatulence in because someone is nearby.

And you’ve probably also felt the embarrassment of being caught out when you didn’t hold it in. It always happens … no one’s around so you think it’s safe to let it go … ahh what a relief! But two seconds later someone walks into the room. Sometimes it’s a bit hard to blame it on the dog.

Then of course there are the times when someone else does it and everyone looks at you! You can’t do much about theirs but you can do something about yours.

Follow these five ideas for minimizing the amount of flatulence gas your body produces.

1. Avoid laxatives

These can irritate the intestinal lining and cause bowel spasms which can trap gas and produce pain from the gas accumulation.

2. Soak and cook legumes

Legumes include peas, beans of all types, chickpeas, peanuts and lentils. Soaking and cooking reduces the concentration of alpha-galactosides (the substance apparently responsible for the gaseous distention associated with these foods.)

3. Try anti-gas agents

An anti-foaming preparation called simethicone, when swallowed, breaks down large gas bubbles into smaller ones.

A product called Beano contains an enzyme that, when added to food, can break down the complex sugars found in beans and other gas-forming foods. If milk and milk products are a gas problem you could try lactaid which assists the milk sugar to be absorbed.

4. Eat charcoal

Charcoal is a strong absorber of gas and can be effective at preventing gas accumulation. And no, you don’t have to go out and chew on an old hunk of burnt wood. Nor do you have to raid your kid’s drawing supplies. Charcoal can be obtained in tablet form. If you like to chew them up though be prepared for a hideously black mouth.

5. Avoid gas-forming foods

Complex carbs, while great for long term energy, are frequent sources of gas. We need bacteria to digest complex carbs. A very high carbohydrate or fibre diet increases the bacteria in the small intestine thus increasing the fermentation processes.

Vegetables which are known gas producers include beets, broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, lettuce, parsley, spinach and squash.

The gas-forming grains include oat, rice and wheat bran, whole-wheat flour, sesame flour, rye and barley.

So even though to many, flatulence is an endless source of amusement, self-expression and male bonding the real truth is that it is simply a by-product of digestion. Normal though it is, unless you’re producing enough to run the stove and heating appliances in your house or you somehow earn money from farting, you’ll probably want to reduce production if you can.

Therefore, if you’re prepared to lessen your entertainment value among your mates, taking these few simple precautions could help you avoid painful gaseous bloating and having to blame that stink known politely as flatulence on the dog.

Labels: Health

Temporary bouts of insomnia can be caused be many things. Stress is a frequent culprit, as is temporary illness. If you're having trouble sleeping and if neither stress nor illness are causing it then often the best place to look is at your diet. Changing your diet can have a big impact on your ability to sleep.

To make this information easier to digest, let's break it down into two sections: 1. What Not To Eat. Anything containing the stimulant, caffeine should be avoided. This includes coffee, tea, colas, chocolate candy and some headache medications. Depending on your metabolism­, you may have to give up caffeine completely, rather than just avoiding it in the evening. Alcohol is also a stimulant and should be avoided. Not only might alcohol prevent you from getting to sleep it is also likely to cause you to wake during the night. Your intake of sugar or any refined carbohydrates should be reduced as much as possible. Not only can excess sugar create a burst of energy in your system during the night which can keep you awake, it can also prevent serotonin production (a natural sleep agent). 2. Food That Can Actually Aid Sleep. Warm Milk - It's an old wife's tale but a warm glass of milk before bed can do wonders. What the old wives didn't know was that milk, when warmed, releases a chemical, trypotophan, which promotes sleep. If a mug of warm milk seems a bit bland, then consider adding a spoonful of honey. Foods containing complex carbohydrates such as pastas, cereals, oatmeal, potatos and brown rice help ward off insomnia. The body responds to complex carbs by producing serotonin, which is a sleep-inducing hormone. Poultry and fish contain niacin, a form of vitamin B3, that promotes serotonin production. Believe it or not, lettuce contains an opium-like substance that, if eaten as part of your evening meal can help the body and mind relax. Fresh lemon juice contains a natural version of some common ingredients of prescription pills Aside from substances consumed, you should also look at your consumption patterns. Try to avoid large evening meals. Eating too much close to bedtime is likely to result in an upset stomach that will either keep you awake or wake you up in the middle of deep sleep. It's not only healthier in general, but also better for insomnia sufferers, to eat a large breakfast and finish the day with a small meal. For many people, paying careful attention to your diet and eating habits can both treat and prevent insomnia.

Labels: Health, Sleep

This article provides information on why using a detoxification diet is good for you as part of a more healthy kind of lifestyle.

One of the more common cleansing diets available is a detox (detoxification) diet. This type of diet releases the toxins that have stored up in the fat cells of the body and allows the body to remove them and cleanse them out of the body’s systems.

But why do people use a cleansing or detox diet. It is really simple really, they use a cleansing/detox diet to eliminate the toxins and other contaminants from their bodies and they do this to for the following reasons:-

1. It helps to improve their health.

2. It makes them feel more energetic.

3. It helps to improve their immunity system.

4. Many people have found that it improves their mental processes.

5. It aides their body’s digestive system.

6. Has helped with weight loss .

There are many ways in which you can carry out a cleansing diet and below are a few you could try.

Firstly there is the complete fast. This would mean that you do not eat or drink at all; in fact all you do is drink just water. Or if you want you could just drink water and juice

There are various ways to do this.

Then there are other diets where you only eat certain foods, but it will have to consist of fresh fruit and vegetables and then there are some that will consist of you just drinking liquids. There seems to be a number of variations on these sorts of detox diets around.

Another way of carrying out a detox diet is to use herbs. In fact herbal cleansing has been around since ancient times and there are certain herbs that can be used to help release and excrete the toxins from our bodies.

There are other detox diets that you can use which are known as reduction calorie diets as they specifically designed for reducing calories and so aid weight loss.

But the most common sort of detox diets that are available is those that are composed mainly of fruit and vegetables, and preferably they should be eaten raw and unmodified or processed. It is also recommended that you drink more water and you should abstain from drinking alcohol.

But you must be careful as a detox diet can cause some side effects. For example if you use a diet where the toxins are rapidly released into the bloodstream, this could result that your body is more likely to have problems getting rid of them and this is known as the Herxheimer reaction.

Some of the symptoms you will feel if this occurs are headaches, pains in your muscles, weakness, difficulty sleeping (insomnia) and irritability.

This name is given to the body’s condition when detoxification occurs quickly and your body does not have enough time to actually release the toxins and you will find that some detox diets will produce this effect. Very often a lot of people will stop such detox diets as they think it is making them worse rather than better, when in fact if they continue with the diet the symptoms they are feeling will soon reduce and they will start to feel healthier.

There are a number of ways that people have used which seem to help lessen the symptoms of this reaction and they are:-

1. They drink as much pure water as they can as this helps to flush out the toxins.

2. They start taking more exercise as this will help to improve the circulation of the body and to help it work more efficiently. Because the body is able to work for efficiently it is able to remove the toxins faster.

3. Ensure that they get as much natural sunlight as they can.

4. Look at taking a detox bath.

5. Look at using saunas, baths and various herbs to increase sweating.

6. Always where possible avoid refined processed foods and toxic environmental chemicals.

7. Use aromatherapy oils that are used by many to help with the relief of aches and pains which can be brought on by rapid detoxification.

As previously mentionedon reduce and they will start experience a when in fact that detox diets have been used since ancient times and they can regularly help to improve your health and make you feel better. Although some people will do a detox diet on a regular basis there are others will only use them seldomly. However, if you should wish to use a detox diet, you should always exercise with care and if you need to consult your doctor before starting one as occasionally the side effects can be severe. You should especially consult your doctor if you suffer from any metabolic disease such as diabetes.

Labels: Detoxification Diet, Health, Heatlhy Food

The key to having good low carbohydrate recipes, and sticking with it, is to vary your diet as much as possible. This means having different meats with different meals, eating several kinds of vegetables a day (as long as there low carb vegetables),and even varying the way that you cook and prepare your food. Remember, your biggest enemy is not the difficulty of preparing low carbohydrate recipes, but your own bodies inclination to eat carbs even when you know that they are not good for you and will ruin your low carbohydrate diet. If you can resist the temptation, you are home free

Trust me, starting to have a low carb lifestyle is one of the toughest things that you'll ever do. Of course there are thousands of low carb recipes out there, so that is not the problem. The problem is that we are taught to crave carbohydrates above everything else except for fat. We can cook low carbohydrate recipes until we are blue in the face, but that does not mean that we will like them. Until you get used to eating a low carbohydrate recipe for every meal, it will be very very difficult to stick with your diet. Trust me, I know. It took me months of eating low carbohydrate meals before I was no longer tempted to gorge on potatoes, white race, and other high carb foods.

The key to having good low carbohydrate recipes, and sticking with it, is to vary your diet as much as possible. This means having different meats with different meals, eating several kinds of vegetables a day (as long as there low carb vegetables), and even varying the way that you cook and prepare your food. Remember, your biggest enemy is not the difficulty of preparing low carbohydrate recipes, but your own bodies inclination to eat carbs even when you know that they are not good for you and will ruin your low carbohydrate diet. If you can resist the temptation, you are home free.

Of course, the easiest way to continued to keep low carbohydrate recipes is to have other friends to cook with. If you can trade low carbohydrate recipes, and both get excited about the diet and lifestyle changes that you are making, it will be easy for both of you to stay with a more healthy and active way of living. You will even have a good exercise partner to help you along the way. This is an invaluable asset. According to many of the experts who are out there, the easiest way for you to succeed in any of your goals is to have other people to work with who are as excited about them as you are. Having partners, whether they are buddies in low carbohydrate recipes, or colleagues in your professional life, will always help you to push yourself further and live a better and more fulfilling existence. It is just a matter of finding the perfect people to work with. You do not need a whole group to trade low carbohydrate recipes with. One or two good friends will do.

Labels: Carbohydrate, Health