Intestinal gas has been around a lot longer than the bean burrito. It probably started about the time humans started eating carbohydrates, which is to say, with their very first meal. Gas usually results from the fermentation in the small intestine of two particular carbohydrates, raffinose and stachyose. The body doesn’t have the digestive enzymes to break them down, so they linger in the intestine, fermenting and producing gas.
Some of the most healthful foods, unfortunately, contain these carbohydrates. Beans head the list, but cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, onions, cauliflower, whole wheat flour, and bananas are close behind.
Normal flatulence isn’t a medical problem. (In some cases, gas is a symptom of other conditions, so you should see your doctor if you’re also having serious abdominal pain or pain that lasts longer than three days.) The average adult has been estimated to pass gas between 8 and 20 times an hour, so it’s hardly unusual.
However, it can be uncomfortable, as well as embarrassing. Native Americans dealt with painful episodes in several ways: by massaging the abdomen, ingesting the powdered ashes of the fir tree, and taking what are known as carminatives—herbs that relax the muscles of the digestive tract and help gas escape.
The best Native American herbs for relieving gas pains are fennel, peppermint, sage, licorice, goldenseal, wormwood, dandelion, and yarrow. You can use any one of these herbs as a tea, taken up to three times a day.
This how to relieve gas pains article is taken from :
Healing Secrets of the Native Americans - Porter Shimer
