Training & Nutrition - Do carrots give you gas?

You guys probably know that when I do things, it is usually done in a BIG way.

That goes for eating carrots too. I decided to switch to eating carrots for a snack. Just carrots (and a little califlower) - but LOTS of 'em. Man, alive - I'm talking like 5 lbs of carrots in a couple of days. YOW!

Anyway, after a couple hours on my first day of carrot grazing, I am feeling more than a little satisfied. Pretty soon, I am feeling absolutely stuffed. The feeling started to intensify almost exponentially until finally, I felt FAT. "Wow, look at my big ol' belly sticking out" I said to myself. My self-esteem went completely to hell.

Then, after digestion has run the full 100% (and rather violently so), I'm feeling altogether differently. Now, I feel much thinner. I'm hungry again. My self-esteem is back. It was like going through the whole life cycle and being re-born in about three hours.

What the heck? What was that all about? Maybe gas? Any input from those forum members "in-the-know"?

I'm assuming since you are consuming so much carrots, you are trying to eat "healthier" and trying to lose weight/size.

Your discipline is inspiring...however, carrots are the best things to be eating. Here's why: Carrots are classified as high Glycemix Indexed food. High GI foods typically get converted to suger by the body very quickly and therefore either gets used by your body very quickly if needed; otherwise they get stored into your body as fat...by eating carrrots, you might as well be eating candy bars, massive amounts of sugery foods, etc. Eating carrots or potatoes, rice, etc. is just as bad as gulping down a 2 liter body of cola.

From what I've read into the matter, the only time you should be consuming high GI foods is right after exercise to quickly replenish the carbohydrate loss from the exercise. Otherwise, should feel the need to consume carbohydrate foods, you should focus on consuming foods from the Medium GI or Low GI foods. Most pastas are considered Medium GI foods. Med to Low GI foods are ideal because it takes longer for the body to break down and consume, thereby, giving your body time to utilize the nutrients for actual use as opposed to High GI foods being either used immediately or stored for later use.

You can kind of think of it like giving your car only the amount of gas necessary to move you forward as opposed to dumping 20 gallons of gas into your car only to move a few miles...obviously that extra amount of gas gets stored into the car but is doing nothing but "weighing" the car down.

Actually, I started this thread with the intent of a bit of humor, but eschelon's response was more informative and interesting than I had anticipated.

I really did think that carrots were a good way to lose weight - especially if you didn't eat them with ranch dressing.

So, carrots are high-energy fattening foods? Even for humans?

I'm a 3-4 carrot a day guy. I don't think I have too much gas, although my wife might differ on that. Maybe they are why I weight 225 lbs though. Here I thought they were keeping me from weighting 250!

damned carrots.

Not satisfying and still fattening? Who invented these things anyway?

The answer is yes, carrots will give you gas- not to mention cauliflower. Raw bulk vegetables are rather hard to digest and that's why they give us gas. Apparently that Beano stuff helps. Also, don't eat that stuff late at night!

I found that baby carrots were great when I quit smoking. Yes, I used to smoke, but I was never a heavy smoker- smoked very little. A friend suggested baby carrots- eating them, not smoking them. They help get rid of cravings. It worked! It really helped, and it's also better than the other junk people eat when quitting smoking. I think that's one of the reasons that people gain a lot of weight from quitting- they tend to stuff their faces with everything and they don't get exercise. I exercised even more when I quit, and didn't eat lots of junk and I still gained 8 pounds. I hate to think how much I could have gained otherwise.

So do deviled eggs! Ohhh, my pour tummy! :(

Mike,

Five pounds of carrots in two days is like, a Bikeforums record.

I figure that's about 3,000%, or 30 times the daily requirement for Vitamin A.

Re: flatulence. How did you manage to eat that many carrots without cr*pping 25 times that day?

(Just a question!) :eek:

Originally posted by LittleBigMan

Re: flatulence. How did you manage to eat that many carrots without cr*pping 25 times that day?

(Just a question!) :eek:

I hadn't thought of that until now, but your question brings with it some answers...

Does this thread belong in the Advocacy & Safety forum, as a discussion of alternative energy sources?

Sorry. I couldn't resist.
:rolleyes:

every thing I eat gives me gas!:lol:

I'm assuming since you are consuming so much carrots, you are trying to eat "healthier" and trying to lose weight/size.

Your discipline is inspiring...however, carrots are the best things to be eating. Here's why: Carrots are classified as high Glycemix Indexed food. High GI foods typically get converted to suger by the body very quickly and therefore either gets used by your body very quickly if needed; otherwise they get stored into your body as fat...by eating carrrots, you might as well be eating candy bars, massive amounts of sugery foods, etc. Eating carrots or potatoes, rice, etc. is just as bad as gulping down a 2 liter body of cola.

From what I've read into the matter, the only time you should be consuming high GI foods is right after exercise to quickly replenish the carbohydrate loss from the exercise. Otherwise, should feel the need to consume carbohydrate foods, you should focus on consuming foods from the Medium GI or Low GI foods. Most pastas are considered Medium GI foods. Med to Low GI foods are ideal because it takes longer for the body to break down and consume, thereby, giving your body time to utilize the nutrients for actual use as opposed to High GI foods being either used immediately or stored for later use.

You can kind of think of it like giving your car only the amount of gas necessary to move you forward as opposed to dumping 20 gallons of gas into your car only to move a few miles...obviously that extra amount of gas gets stored into the car but is doing nothing but "weighing" the car down.

going back and reading the old forums...i couldn't help but comment on this. there is no way that eating carrots can cause someone to gain weight. well, i take that back..one pound is 3500 calories, so yes, if someone ate about 100 carrots in addition to their regular diet, they would gain weight. at 3g of fiber per carrot, the discomfort you are feeling is probably due to the sudden increase in fiber in your diet. after a few weeks, this won't be as noticeable. same reason they advise you to slowly increase the fiber in your diet if you were to eat all bran, for example, or metamucil tablets. you might also seem to be turning a bit orange :thumb:

In the humor vein of this thread: Cook beans with a carrot in them. DO NOT eat the carrot, and you get flatulence free beans. I'm not kidding, but God help you if you eat the carrot you cooked with the beans. :p

I'm curious. Do the farts act like a rocket booster when you're biking?

In all seriousness, the farting me be a side effect of the fiber in the carrots. Too much fiber will make you fart.

my roomate hates for eating carrots, beans ,etc , I put out so much gas. But I blame mostly on my bacterial content of my guts.
I switched to Apples instead which has more fiber and moderate on Glycemic index. Apple taste better, after switching for few weeks I lost 5lbs along with other diet modification

Do not be surprised when your skin turns orange if you continue to consume that many carrots.
I think you would do better nutritionally w/ a little more variety in your snack choices.
Eat a little hummus or peanut butter w/ a few carrots, and I think you'll find your hunger is satisfied without having to eat so much. Healthy fats signal the body's appetite hormones to "turn off"-- much easier on the gut than stuffing on veggies.

Eating that much of anything will give you gas, hah. With all that beta-carotene and fiber, you'll be one orange, smelly being. And don't listen to the hogwash of comparing carrots to candy bars. That's a completely awful simplification of an awesome vegetable. It may be higher on the glycemic index, but there are vitamins, fiber, beta-carotene which can be converted to vitamin A if needed, minerals, etc. Food is not just calories, and macronutrients.

I can definitely overeat if I have a bag of baby carrots, so I tend to stick to whole carrots. Peeling them slows me down.

htfu and eat dirt and gravel. No more gas, fewer calroeis and now you got some gravel in the stomach to help you sort out dinner, which is of course, broken glass.

Don't know about carrots, but apples do !

If eating a lot of carrots gives you gas, it also improves your vision enough to see the visible discomfort of your friends very well!

With every silver lining, a cloud.