The most important steps to carry out a bowel cleanse and change your diet

Flatulence - it may sound harmless, but it can be very unpleasant and stressful for those affected.
Abdominal pain, pants that won't zip up, or, if you're a woman, the popular question: "Oh, are you pregnant? Or even just the embarrassment in a public place when the flatulence stinks or makes loud noises



A bowel cleanse in combination with a change in diet can help to relieve flatulence. Flatulence is often caused by disturbed intestinal flora or poor digestion. A gut cleanse aims to improve the intestinal flora and restore the balance of microorganisms in the gut.

There are different approaches to gut cleansing, which can vary depending on individual needs. One common approach is to take probiotic supplements to colonize healthy bacteria in the gut. These bacteria can help to improve digestion and reduce bloating. Another option is to take prebiotic supplements that promote the growth of healthy gut bacteria.

Dietary changes also play an important role in reducing bloating. It can be helpful to avoid certain foods that can cause bloating, such as flatulent vegetables (cabbage, onions, legumes), fruits, carbonated drinks and spicy foods. Instead, a high-fiber diet consisting of fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean proteins can help regulate digestion and reduce bloating.

It is important to determine the cause in order to implement a gut cleanse and dietary change that is tailored to your specific needs. A nutritionist or doctor can help you develop a suitable plan and ensure that you are getting all the nutrients you need.

I have written a very comprehensive blog article on the subject of bloating. Among other things, I described what can cause bloating, what lifestyle measures you can take and what you can look out for in your diet.

I continue to receive questions on this topic, so I'll go into a few aspects in more depth here or look at them from a different angle.

Clarify the causes

My remedy of choice: a microbiome analysis. In my experience, most people who suffer from bloating have an overly alkaline environment in their gut. I therefore recommend measuring the pH value in the intestine. But digestive enzymes, digestive residues, bacterial flora, butyrate formers, histamine in the stool and leaky gut markers are also interesting parameters when it comes to flatulence.

Why exactly these parameters? Let me say a few words about some of them:

pH value
Digestive residues
Pancreatic elastase
Histamine in stool
Zonulin

If you would like to have a microbiome analysis, please contact us or simply book it via our website.

If you have flatulence directly and immediately after eating, it is also worth checking whether you suffer from SIBO. SIBO stands for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth, or in German: small intestinal overgrowth. I will definitely do another podcast episode on this.

I have described other causes such as stress, not chewing enough, certain medications, problematic fibre, etc. in more detail in the blog article on bloating.

If you don't want to do a microbiome analysis right now, I think there are three things you can try "on the off chance" that often bring a huge improvement:

1. Take herbal and plant extracts
2. Eat natural food and leave out raw food
3. Limit consumption of fruit to a maximum of 3 portions a day, possibly omitting it completely for a few weeks
4. Also omit milk and dairy products for a few weeks
5. Take breaks from food

Take herbs and plant extracts and improve the intestinal environment

Bitter substances and herbs have a decongestant and antispasmodic effect, support the liver and detoxification and are therefore a great aid against flatulence. We have two products in our range that I would like to recommend:

Herbal
Fermented herbal drink, great for bringing your environment back from the alkaline to the acidic range because your digestion needs acid to break down food properly

Bitter Elixir
Bitter substances are great for stimulating your digestive juices and also help to regulate the pH value in the intestine and relieve bloating.

Who benefits most from herbal and plant extracts to relieve flatulence?

People with irritable bowel syndrome: Irritable bowel syndrome is a chronic intestinal disorder characterized by symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating and diarrhea or constipation. There are a number of blog articles and podcast episodes specifically about irritable bowel syndrome.
Podcast episode "What to do about irritable bowel syndrome - Interview with Daniela von Nida"
Podcast episode "All about irritable bowel syndrome"
Blog article "Irritable bowel syndrome"

People with sensitive bowels: Many people suffer from sensitive bowels that react sensitively to certain foods and drinks. Of course, there are also reasons for this sensitivity, which can be found in a microbiome analysis, as I described earlier.

Athletes: Athletes often have a sensitive gut, as physical activity can stimulate intestinal movement, but can also lead to a permeable gut.

Older people: Digestion can become sluggish with age, which can lead to constipation and other discomfort.

People with dietary changes: Eating a different diet than usual due to a change in diet can lead to digestive problems.

People in wheelchairs: due to the seated posture and lack of walking, many wheelchair users suffer from a sluggish bowel.

Eat natural food and avoid raw food

Ready-made products and industrially processed dishes either contain substances such as preservatives and/or cause your sugar levels to shoot up very quickly. This in turn can have a negative effect on your intestinal environment and thus promote bloating.

Raw food is much harder to digest than cooked vegetables, so just skip the salad, raw carrots etc. to be on the safe side. Especially in the evening.

Limit your fruit consumption to a maximum of 3 portions a day, possibly with a small amount of water. completely for a few weeks

This is a difficult point for many people, because fruit is actually healthy. I'm not trying to say that it isn't! But if you suffer from chronic flatulence, then it may well be that you don't digest fructose well and that simply cutting out fruit has very good effects.
I've just been talking to a friend about this via WhatsApp and she confirmed that she used to eat around 6 apples a day and felt much better when she drastically reduced this amount.
Berries have very little fructose, by the way, so not all sugar in fruit is the same as fructose. It may therefore be enough to switch to low-fructose fruit.

Also cut out milk and dairy products for a few weeks

I recommend cutting out dairy products anyway if you have chronic intestinal problems, but lactose can also be a problem, especially with flatulence.

Just try it out if you suffer from flatulence and see how you feel.

Take food breaks - eat 3 times a day, no more

This is something I feel like I've mentioned a hundred times in the podcast: don't eat in between meals all the time. If you want food to be digested properly and your digestive organs not to suffer from overload, then you would do well not to eat or drink anything except water between the 3 main meals.

Conclusion

To summarize all 5 points that you can tackle:

Take herbs and plant extracts and improve the intestinal environment
Eat natural food and leave out raw food
Limit fruit consumption to a maximum of 3 portions a day, possibly leave it out completely for a few weeks. completely for a few weeks
Also leave out milk and dairy products for a few weeks
Take food breaks - eat 3 times a day, no more.

If all these measures do not help, then I highly recommend that you seek advice and, if necessary, have a microbiome analysis carried out. It could also be a histamine issue, parasites, a permeable gut and much more.

Or nutritional coaching may also be appropriate, perhaps you are making nutritional mistakes that you don't even realize yourself.

Feel free to ask us what your best next step is, Milena can steer you in the right direction.

LINKS

Podcast episode "What to do with irritable bowel syndrome"
Podcast episode "All about irritable bowel syndrome"
Blog article "Flatulence"
Blog article "Irritable bowel syndrome"
Microbiome analysis
Herbal
Bitter

As a podcast listener, you will receive a discount on our products

A 15% discount on your first purchase (applicable once, only on products not already discounted)
Enter the coupon code podcast15 before completing your order.
https://arktisbiopharma.ch/shop

Subscribe to the Darmglück podcast

Don't want to miss any future episodes? Then subscribe to the Darmglück podcast in your favorite podcast app. Here are the links to my podcast in the most popular apps: