Does potatoes cause gas and why does the stomach swell from it?

You eat your usual dishes slowly, chewing food thoroughly, and after 20 minutes you feel that you are inflated like a balloon. The belt is pressing on the stomach or it seems that the skirt has suddenly become small. Sound familiar? It looks like you are suffering from flatulence. And it is caused by familiar products, for example, potatoes.

Today we will figure out why the stomach swells from potatoes. How to find out the causes of flatulence, get rid of an unpleasant condition and other useful information - in our article.

Symptoms of flatulence

Flatulence is bloating due to an abundance of intestinal gas. Food in the intestines "gets stuck" and begins to rot, and the beneficial microbes that digest it cannot cope with this process.

The symptoms of flatulence are pronounced:

1. Gas passing, sometimes uncontrolled, more than 21 times a day.
2. Bloating, bulging, and rumbling.
3. Dull, aching, cramping pains in the abdomen can be localized near the navel, in the hypochondrium (left or right), at the very bottom of the abdomen, radiating to the lower back. The pains disappear after passing gas.
4. Constipation or diarrhea.
5. Belching, nausea, bad breath that does not go away after brushing your teeth.
6. Lack of appetite.

The reasons

Since increased gas production is caused by a certain set of foods, the main cause of flatulence is violation of dietary rules.

Other causes of flatulence:

• dysbiosis;
• violation of digestive processes in the intestine;
• decreased motor activity of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT);
• excess gaseous bacteria in the intestine;
• impaired excretory function of the intestine;
• diseases that provoke increased gas formation: enzymatic insufficiency, dyspepsia, pancreatitis, intoxication, condition after surgery, scleroderma (connective tissue disease);
• violation of the psycho-emotional state (hysteria, tic, neurosis);
• increased pressure in the gastrointestinal tract when climbing to a height;
• aerophagia - the ingress of a large amount of air into the body while talking over food, eating, smoking, drinking carbonated drinks, candy, chewing gum.

Foods that can cause bloating and gas:

If you eat these foods regularly, in addition, eat fatty foods daily and eat large portions 1-2 times a day, the load on the digestive tract increases, and increased gas production is guaranteed.

Why can it swell from potatoes

Gases from potatoes are due to their high starch content. The starch is digested to sugars, which are poorly absorbed by the intestines, create an astringent effect, and the peristalsis of the tract decreases. The remnants of food move worse through the intestines, it is harder for beneficial microorganisms to affect them. All conditions are created for bloating.

How to prevent the problem

No matter how healthy tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini are, no one will eat less potatoes. This is due to both your favorite taste and the low price.

Attention! Cook and eat potatoes correctly, then it will benefit the body.

Helpful hints:

1. Least of all starch in boiled potatoes and mashed. Puree is best done in water, without oil and eggs. Then, in terms of usefulness, there are potatoes baked in the oven or boiled in their uniforms.
2. It is best to leave the potatoes in cold water overnight before cooking. By morning, there will be a minimum of harmful starch.
3. You can hold an already prepared dish in the cold for 24 hours, it will contain more so-called healthy starch. These potatoes can be reheated and eaten, or added to a salad.
4. You need to add vinegar to potato salads. It will act as a kind of defoamer for gases in the intestines. Or there are cooked potatoes with a vinegar-based sauce - the effect is the same.

The healthiest potato variety is purple... It contains a maximum of useful anthocyanins - plant pigments with antioxidant properties (protecting cells from aging, inflammation and cancer).

What to do if your stomach is already swollen and swollen after eating potatoes

It is not so easy to establish for yourself that the stomach is swollen precisely from the potatoes. To know this for sure, you need to follow the method of elimination. For example, remove potatoes from the diet altogether. If within 2-3 days there are no signs of flatulence, it means that it is swelling exactly from potatoes.

Folk remedies

Before turning to medicines, it is worth trying to eliminate the problem with environmentally friendly folk remedies that are harmless to the body:

1. Infusion of fennel or dill seeds... Pour 200 ml of boiling water over a teaspoon of seeds, leave for 20 minutes, drain. Drink 200 ml before meals for 10 days, then take a break for 7 days and repeat another course.
2. Infusion of parsley. Take a bunch of parsley, chop the leaves, pour a liter of boiling water, leave for 8 hours. Strain the solution. Drink half a glass after meals.
3. Tea with ginger and mint... Take a teaspoon each of mint leaves and chopped ginger root. Pour 250 ml of boiling water, leave for 30 minutes under the lid, drain. Drink before every meal.
4. Tea with chamomile, St. John's wort or sage, a decoction of pumpkin seeds and bird cherry fruits, plantain leaves and coltsfoot. However, it should be remembered that all infusions and medicinal teas can provoke complications for the body. Therefore, it is advisable to consult with your doctor before using them.

Medicines

Attention! Do not forget that you cannot take medicine without prescribing and consulting a doctor.

What a doctor can prescribe:

1. Sorbents - preparations that absorb toxins and harmful substances formed in the intestines. These include "Enterosgel", activated carbon, "Smecta", "Polysorb".
2. Defoamers - funds that eliminate increased gas formation: "Espumisan", "Simetikon", "Mezim Forte".
3. Antispasmodics - drugs that eliminate cramps in case of bloating: "Buscopan", "Drotaverin".
4. Enzymes - means that improve digestion and eliminate flatulence: "Pancreatin", "Festal", "Creon".
5. Pro- and prebiotics will help with dysbiosis: "Linex", "Bifiform", "Bifidumbacterin" and others.

Let's sum up

To eat or not eat potatoes, everyone decides for himself or with a doctor. Potatoes cause gassing if cooked and eaten incorrectly. It is necessary to give up this vegetable when the doctor determines that the cause of flatulence was precisely the potato and it can no longer be consumed.

Increased gas production is not a disease, but a symptom of many diseases, poor nutrition and lifestyle. Medicines or folk remedies, which will be selected by a specialist, will help get rid of unpleasant sensations in the abdomen.