Farting

[Cirion Spellbinder]

Kind of a gross and weird question, but:

Does anyone have any tips on how to decrease how often you fart? My immediate family thinks I fart a lot more now that I'm vegan.

[brimstoneSalad]

I would say just avoid farting in front of them unless it's bothering you.

All of the healthiest foods are kind of flatulence inducing. Part of the reason they're healthy is because they are prebiotic and feed an active ecosystem of good gut microbes.

You can eliminate the gas with bean-zyme, which makes a vegan version too:
http://www.bean-zyme.com/Bean-zyme%20same%20as%20Beano%20info.htm

This will reduce the health benefits, but if it's awkward it's not like switching to the S.A.D. or anything. Veggies are still good for you. There are also less gassy veggies you can choose.
Or just eating less fiber and more heavily processed protein. Tempeh is gas-free, because the fermentation already metabolized the gas causing substances, so that's a good protein option if you can afford it.

Jack Norris linked to this, which looks helpful too, and mostly what I said:
http://www.vegfamily.com/dietician/0806b.htm

Swallowing air may lead to gas. To reduce the amount of air swallowed, chew and swallow slowly, and take small sips of beverages. Avoid carbonated beverages like soda, seltzer, and beer. Chewing gum and sucking on candy may also increase the amount of air swallowed.
Some foods are "gassier" than others. For example, cabbage typically leads to more gas production than carrots. Keep track of which foods give you the most and least gas, and adjust your diet accordingly.
In general, smaller beans (lentils, split peas) produce less gas than larger beans (like fava beans and lima beans), so choose smaller beans more often.
If you use canned beans, rinse them very well before eating them.
If you make beans from scratch, soak them overnight first, rinse them well, and rinse them several times during the cooking process, as this will help get rid of more of the gas-causing oligosaccharides. Also, the longer you cook beans (with rinsing), the better.
Eat small, frequent meals rather than few large meals. Avoid overeating.
For those situations where you need a little extra digestive help, try Bean-zyme, which is a vegan form of Beano.

[cornivore]

Here's some more info I looked up for a family member having gas pains...

Reduce gas by limiting or avoiding gas-forming foods. Many normally desirable foods, including high-fiber fruits and vegetables, can cause gas and pain. Raw salads, raw vegetables, the cabbage family of vegetables, and beans may cause more gas to be produced in your digestive tract. Other gas-forming foods to avoid include carbonated beverages and chewing gum. Also, avoid sipping any beverages with straws.

Most foods that contain carbohydrates can cause gas. By contrast, fats and proteins cause little gas. Carbohydrates that commonly cause gas are raffinose and stachyose, found in large quantities in beans; lactose, the natural sugar in milk, fructose, a common sweetener in soft drinks and fruit drinks; and sorbitol, found naturally in fruits and used as an artificial sweetener. Most starches, including potatoes, corn, noodles, and wheat, produce gas as they are broken down in the large intestine. Rice is the only starch that does not cause gas. The fiber in oat bran, beans, peas, and most fruits is not broken down until it reaches the large intestine, where digestion causes gas. In contrast, the fiber in wheat bran and some vegetables passes essentially unchanged through the intestines and produces little gas.

Antacids create gas when they neutralize stomach acid. If you commonly take antacids, consider buying products that also contain ingredients for gas.

Problem: excessive gas (abnormal amount of air in the intestinal tract).

Signs: Bloating of the abdomen. Frequent passing of gas that may or may not result in a bowel accident. Abdominal pain.

Causes: Consumption of gas-forming foods. Constipation. Swallowing air while eating or drinking. Artificial sweeteners (mannitol, sorbitol). Carbonated beverages.

What to do: Eat food slowly, chew with mouth closed. Establish a bowel care program. Certain foods may cause gas (especially fruits such as apples, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon, or vegetables such as beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, onion, also carbonated beverages). Trial periods of omitting food one at a time can help determine the cause.

Foods and agents that cause gas vary greatly between individuals; and because of the highly individualized nature of such a condition, there is not one blanket diet therapy that will be beneficial for all who experience this uncomfortable GI problem.

High-fiber diets can cause gas and bloating, but in general this goes away when your body adapts to the change. Add these foods gradually to prevent bloating and gas. Eating smaller portions may help symptoms. Drinking lots of plain water is important no matter what condition you are in. Drink six to eight glassfuls a day. And don't confuse other liquids with water. Caffeinated drinks such as coffee, tea, or cola, while made with water, actually dehydrate you.

[cornivore]

As for myself, I think that all the black magic for casting spells on beans with the soaking, partially cooking, rinsing, or doing a modified rain/fart dance over them is a bit much. Because it takes too long, and I don't want to toss half of the nutrients out with the broth to make them tolerable.

I just tried cooking different kinds of legumes straight up, after getting some clues from info on the topic. Peas are good (and green beans of course). Black eyed peas too. Mayocoba are as well, which is kind of surprising, since they are common beans like pinto beans, but pintos cause more gas, it seems. I didn't have luck with lentils, so I don't think the size makes any difference. Chickpeas gave me mixed results, since cooking dry ones caused more gas than eating canned ones. Canned kidney beans or refried beans cause too much though. It's down to trial and error, and it doesn't seem like I'd build up a tolerance either, because I've had some of those often enough to tell. But I don't need to eat every bean anyway (pick your battles, as they say).

By the way, what ever happened to fava beans? I got some used cookbooks, and it seems like they used to be common in most places, or sold frozen at least. I'm guessing there's some kind of trade sanction on them these days and they've disappeared. Well I don't know, I hadn't looked for them until lately, because they were said to be one of the mild kind of beans. Hmm, then again, there's a lady who did a two part video series on fava farts, so I'll just have to take her "word" for it.

Butt I digress, they say some beans should be soaked for reasons other than farting: Changes in levels of enzyme inhibitors during soaking and cooking for pulses...

[cornivore]

Actually, between soaking and cooking, it's probably best to go with cooking and keep the cooked soak water in the recipe (since cooking inactivates the antinutrients for the most part, and soaking/rinsing may do more harm than good for its effect on nutrients).

Soaking of legumes results in the loss of macronutrients, micronutrients and phytochemicals... Insoluble fibre was the main constituent of haricot beans legume soaking water, while water-soluble carbohydrates and protein were the major fraction of split yellow peas. High quantities of phenolics and saponins were found in the legume soaking water of haricot beans, whole green lentils and split yellow peas. High emulsifying activity was found for the legume soaking water of garbanzo chickpeas and split yellow peas, probably due to their protein content and high ratio of water-soluble carbohydrates to dry matter.—Composition of legume soaking water and emulsifying properties in gluten-free bread

Sounds like they're working on "bread and butter" there.

Or buttwheat... but does that have glute-in?

Well, they say flatulence is the most commonly reported symptom of celiac disease (so it's a little strange that they're experimenting with bean-water in gluten-free bread—WTF, I mean what the fart)!

[brimstoneSalad]

Soaking of legumes results in the loss of macronutrients, micronutrients and phytochemicals... Insoluble fibre was the main constituent of haricot beans legume soaking water

That's weird, why would it be insoluble fiber instead of soluble fiber? I thought the insoluble/soluble referred to solubility in water?

[cornivore]

The beans don't dissolve in the water when they soak, I guess (or they wouldn't need to be cooked so much). The extent to which that stuff is found in soak water probably depends on the kind of legume. Fiber is non digestible, so maybe its solubility isn't important in this way... I haven't read much about it, but fiber was later classified as dietary fiber from whole foods and functional fiber when added separately, and there are several kinds of dietary fiber, which have different effects. There's some info about that in legumes here:

Legumes have more dietary fiber than any major food group.

Some fibers are soluble and others insoluble. Most plant foods contain some of each kind. Soluble fiber can slow the absorption of lipids and lower blood cholesterol. It can also slow the increase of fecal bile excretion, promoting reduced intestinal absorption of fat and cholesterol. Insoluble fiber assists in maintaining regularity and helps prevent gastrointestinal problems.

In most legumes consumed by humans, the content ranges from 8 percent to nearly 28 percent, with soluble fiber in the range 3.3 percent to 13.8 percent.

—General Properties of Dry Peas, Lentils & Chickpeas

It's just something I was looking at the other day. Sounds like they are referring to fat solubility, but I'm not interested as much in differentiating between fiber solutions at the moment, because I'm more into cooking with pulse flour lately, which soaks up all the water anyway. As far as that goes, it may reduce gas. It seemed like lentils were better after being ground up, to me (there are home flour mills for making it easily).