Cycling UK Forum

I was wondering if any of you have come up with any successful strategies to limit flatulence whilst in periods of heavy training?

I've started upping my training ahead of Vätternrundan (315km around Vättern, 17th June) and I tend to train at fairly high intensity (150bpm is average, with a recorded max of 186).

I also do a bit of other sport too. So a couple of hours of table tennis each week, 2-3 short weight training sessions too. Until recently, quite a lot of skiing.

I am a big guy (6ft 8", 104kg) and I've always had a fast metabolism. So, to support my training and a very, very gradual weight loss programme, I eat a lot. 5500kcal is probably average.

The unpleasant upshot of that is excessive flatulence.

My diet is very clean generally (fairly heavy on dairy). This is today's consumption so far:

* 500g fruit yoghurt (usually it's 500g 10% fat Turkish yoghurt with 130g Lingonberry jam, but I ran out)
* 400kcal carb drink when cycling, with 50g of sweets whilst cycling.
* 225g of muesli, 500ml milk
* 500g natural yoghurt, 400g mixed fresh fruit, 80g lingonberry jam, 15g sugar
* 150g homemade burger with cheese, 2 large jacket potatoes, 300g mixed veg, 20g butter
* 600g egg fried rice with onion, mushrooms and a bit of chopped meatball and gammon (left overs). Soy sauce.
* I'll probably have 75g of mixed nuts before bed too.

I usually have some bread every day - 200-400g of homemade rye/wheat bread, but I haven't today.

Drinks are mostly tea, coffee and I have one low alcohol beer a day (500ml, 2.8% abv). Should drink more water, but don't when it's colder.

I do drink too much coffee (maybe 6-7 cups a day) which was a preexisting condition before moving to Sweden, where they drink more coffee than anyone else in Europe....

Can anyone suggest anything that I might be able to do to curb the gas production? I know it's generally regarded as being quite funny, but sometimes it's really annoying. I don't get bloated or anything, nor to I suffer discomfort. It's my family that suffer!

In my mind, I'm not sure how you can get around it when you're training fairly hard (working up to 10hrs a week in the saddle/300-350km) and eating double as much as you would if you were sedentary. The food has to be processed. There are byproducts.

Help and advice and gently ribbing is invited. Thanks in advance!

NHS advice:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/flatulence/

Jonathan

Jdsk wrote: ↑23 Mar 2023, 7:23pm NHS advice:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/flatulence/

Jonathan

I appreciate the link, but given my (in the eyes of the NHS, potentially) unusual lifestyle, in terms of exercise and diet, I was wondering if anyone had found themselves in a similar situation and found a solution?

It's not all the time, but it's definitely the case that the more I eat (necessitated by training) the more gassy I get.

Jon in Sweden wrote: ↑23 Mar 2023, 7:37pm
It's not all the time, but it's definitely the case that the more I eat (necessitated by training) the more gassy I get.

I suspect that you're just eating too much! TdeF cyclists consume not much more than your amount of calories per day https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide ... clists-eat and they're doing far more than 350km a week.

I find I have a similar problem when I'm not cycling a lot. I reckon that's because I don't eat enough when I am on a tour, so when I get back I tend to eat too much to compensate (I feel so hungry after a tour!). That's maybe OK for a few days, but I keep on eating too much and that's when the trouble starts. I don't put on weight (unlike you, I'm a small guy only 60kg); the excess is just wasted.....

ChrisF wrote: ↑25 Mar 2023, 8:51pm

Jon in Sweden wrote: ↑23 Mar 2023, 7:37pm
It's not all the time, but it's definitely the case that the more I eat (necessitated by training) the more gassy I get.

I suspect that you're just eating too much! TdeF cyclists consume not much more than your amount of calories per day https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide ... clists-eat and they're doing far more than 350km a week.

I find I have a similar problem when I'm not cycling a lot. I reckon that's because I don't eat enough when I am on a tour, so when I get back I tend to eat too much to compensate (I feel so hungry after a tour!). That's maybe OK for a few days, but I keep on eating too much and that's when the trouble starts. I don't put on weight (unlike you, I'm a small guy only 60kg); the excess is just wasted.....

I wish that was true, but it's not. I'm very slowly losing weight (about 1kg ever 3 months) so am in a slight calorific deficit. I'm 40kg heavier than your average TdeF rider. I still carry some muscle from weight training (which I only do about twice a week now, but I'm a lot stronger in the gym than your average cyclist).

Interesting how your body responds to overeating though. I too get ridiculously hungry after a long ride. My sister in law is Thai, and we're visiting them just now. I did 125km in the morning at a fair pace, ate a lot at lunch, have a dozy afternoon and ate so so much in the evening. She did bring over home made Thai chicken curry and homemade spring rolls, of which I ate at least 15

Bah, you lot are amateurs. For real flatus you ought to try 3x500 mg metformin / day combined with sports drink, bars, pain d'épices and so forth then churn the lot up with a good long bike ride. I could put a church organ to shame if I cared to got to church.

Why not try kefir or kimchi - assuming you like them, of course. The freshlier made, the better - they're both quite easy to do. The tons of bugs you'll consume with them will alter the balance of what's going on in the lower lengths of your alimentery canal and I reckon its 50:50 it'll be for the better! Might be t'other way round, mind...
My absolute favourite kefir, available here in the UK online, is from organic goats (bbbaaaaaaa !!) however was priced at the premium end of the market, even before the current squeeze, so is consumed no more, here at SiE Towers
Also take a look at the Indian way of noshery viz ah vee the spices & herbs consumed to address issues such as the old windy-pops... https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/article ... flatulence Adding tumeric when cooking pulses is a given, I think.

I used to be able to fart for Britain, but never really came to any conclusion what caused it. These days it's pretty much gone, and since I've reduced my exercise but not changed my diet much, I'd say that's what's behind it.

Metformin (diabetic pills) have a lot to answer for.

Pfffffft!!!

Al

simonineaston wrote: ↑26 Mar 2023, 3:11pm Why not try kefir or kimchi - assuming you like them, of course. The freshlier made, the better - they're both quite easy to do. The tons of bugs you'll consume with them will alter the balance of what's going on in the lower lengths of your alimentery canal and I reckon its 50:50 it'll be for the better! Might be t'other way round, mind...
My absolute favourite kefir, available here in the UK online, is from organic goats (bbbaaaaaaa !!) however was priced at the premium end of the market, even before the current squeeze, so is consumed no more, here at SiE Towers
Also take a look at the Indian way of noshery viz ah vee the spices & herbs consumed to address issues such as the old windy-pops... https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/article ... flatulence Adding tumeric when cooking pulses is a given, I think.

I think that the 3.5kg a week of Turkish/Greek yoghurt that I consume might perform the same function for my gut microbiome as keffir? I may well be wrong though.

I haven't seen keffir for sale here, but I haven't really looked, I'll admit!

Greek yoghurt is supposed to be probiotic I think. I’ve been eating a lot of it on my diet.

I’d up your water intake.

al_yrpal wrote: ↑26 Mar 2023, 6:04pm Metformin (diabetic pills) have a lot to answer for.

Pfffffft!!!

Al

You too, huh?

For the edification of you non-diabetics it's wonderful stuff for cyclists: it makes your muscles waste their stored glycogen (a stored form of glucose), depresses the release of glycogen from the liver and the absorption of sugars & starches from the intestine. As a result the symbiotic bacteria living down on Skid Row have a wild party and generate vast quantities of greenhouse gases.

And yet my current GP frowns when I tell him that I don't take the stuff when I'm riding. My previous GP told me to leave it aside several days before long-distance events, bless his heart, but the current one is an ignoramus.

Every GP should be obliged to take metformin for a week: it wouldn't hurt them but by God it'd make them appreciate what we go through.

And what goes through us.

1) Drink plenty of water (avoid bubbly or sugary drinks)
2) If 1 doesn't help, ask at a chemist or health food shop (I don't know which carries that sort of thing in Sweden) for digestive enzymes, like alpha-galactosidase (Beano) to help

It may also help to reduce sugar intake, if you haven't done so. Sugar ferments in the digestive system, which can make flatulence worse.

When having external radiotherapy for prostate cancer it is vital to minimise wind and there is dietary advice so to do. I think the main one for me was dairy - I switched to coconut milk for breakfast cereals!
I can't recall all, but a quick Google should find a list.

I'll definitely make an effort to drink more water, to see if that helps. I generally don't feel dehydrated, but I may be wrong.