healthy eating guidelines = gas

For a while i've been conscientiously adhering to the healthy eating guidelines that recommend 5 serves of veges a day etc, but i find that all the veges give me gas! This means at the end of the day i have alot of painful wind in my tummy and lots of big farts all night. I'm not prepared to put up with that, so am trying to find solutions.

The diet has really worked for me on some levels: I am 6 weeks post partum, back in my pre-preg jeans and i feel great, and my baby is chubby and healthy. I like veges and am vegan for 16 years, so i want to continue eating well, just without the gas. i have began drinking peppermint tea, eating more slowly, cutting out cabbage etc, but what would really help is to identify what veges are not gas-producing. any suggestions?

DOes anyone else have a problem eating the recommended daily amounts of food? Apparently a bf-ing woman is supposed to eat 7 serves of veges (3.5 cups cooked veg or 7 of salad), 5 peices of fruit, 5-7 of cereal (5-7 cups of rice/pasta or breadrolls), 2 protein (=2/3 cup lentils/beans/nuts) and 2 cups of soymilk. thats alot of food!

the way i found out was that one day we had an impromptu party till late so i ate a bit of crap and no where near all the veges, and lo and behold - no wind! i was so relieved i started researching what causes flatulance and what helps. and began to question following the healthy eating guidelines. i would love to hear from anyone else with food issues.

You sound like you already know a lot about it so sorry if this is usesless information for you. :(


I was vegan for about 5 years, and was vegetarian when I was pg and b/f and had a major problem with the amount of food required. In fact I find the normal calorie intakle recommendations are too much for me, so the b/f ones were always going to cause a problem.

Cabbage would be one of the more common ones, but it also depends what you have combined them with.

I used to work part time in a heelthfood shop, where they sold juices etc, and the owner ran the place and had all sorts of diet and nutrition realted qualifiactions.

She said you need to be careful when mixing fruits and vegies becuase it can give you gas, the only vegie to mix with fruit is carrot, and the only fruit to mix with vegies is apple.

Mmm, so apart from the vegies, what else have you been eating? Legumes will contribute to gas, as can artificial swetners and things like sorbitol.

Mmm the only other suggestion I have is to get checked out at the GP to make sure its really the food thats cuasing the gas, and not anything else like IBS etc.