How Eating Too Fast Causes Bloating and Flatulence

Food-too-fastThere are several reasons why eating too fast can be one of the major causes of stomach gas, bloating and flatulence. The most obvious one is poor digestion, but eating too quickly can cause other digestive problems as well.

Digestion is a long series of processes, each with their part to play, each reliant on the one before.

Rushing down our meals misses out on the important first steps of chewing the food thoroughly to break it down to a more usable size and state for the stomach. It also reduces the amount of saliva and its enzymes that are mixed into the food to begin digesting it.

When we eat in a hurry, we are also more likely to swallow air with our food, which is a known cause of stomach gas and bloating. Taking a little extra time to enjoy our meals might just save a lot of discomfort later on.

The Importance of Chewing Food Properly

With so many aspects of our lives seeming so rushed, eating really should be a chance to slow down, relax and enjoy what we’re eating. This doesn’t seem to be the case for many people.

We eat distracted in front of the TV, or hurrying down lunch staring at the computer screen at work, even walking down the street, sandwich in one hand, phone in the other. Are we even tasting our food anymore or just shoveling it in out of habit?

If we want to avoid indigestion, stomach gas, bloating and flatulence, and possibly larger health problems in the future, it’s worth remembering to slow down when eating, taste and enjoy the food and start chewing each mouthful more thoroughly.

Digestion starts in the mouth, not in the stomach. Chewing breaks up the food into more manageable pieces, increases its surface area and mixes it with saliva.

This saliva contains the enzymes amylase, which starts breaking down carbohydrates in the meal and lingual lipase to begin the proper digestion of fats. The whole digestive process can impaired when we are eating too fast.

Along with the enzymes in saliva, there are also antibacterial agents such as immunoglobulin A, lactoferrin, lysozyme and peroxidase and a substance called epidermal growth factor (EGF), which can help heal inflamed intestinal tissues. If we’ve been eating too fast and scoffing down our food with very little chewing, there is a fair chance of some inflammation somewhere in the gastrointestinal tract.

Slowing down your eating and chewing well produces more saliva with more epidermal growth factor to give any possible inflammation of the GI tract a chance to heal.

Why Drinking Affects Digestion 

If you’re thirsty, it’s best to drink before eating. Saliva should be what moistens the food in our mouth. Washing each mouthful you eat down with a drink minimizes its important functions.

Too much liquid taken into the stomach during a meal also dilutes the digestive juices that are supposed to be working on breaking down the food. Worse still are high sugar colas or acidic coffee that can really interfere with the digestion process.

Drinks and high liquid foods like certain fruits should be had before meals, not with them. They can then pass quickly through the stomach rather than getting trapped in it with the digesting food and messing up the whole process.

A small amount of water or a healthy herbal tea like peppermint with a meal is probably fine. But gulping down a super sized soda or large processed juice with lunch or dinner is likely to impair digestion and lead to flatulence later on.

The massive amounts of sugar in these drinks will also probably spike your insulin levels and increase the chances of storing more body fat.

Drinking plenty of water between meals, before and at least an hour (preferably two) after, is good for digestion and therefore for preventing flatulence. It can also help you to eat less and lose weight, as many of us confuse dehydration with hunger.

If it’s not time for a meal but you feel like a snack, try a big glass of water first. It’s very possible you were just thirsty rather than hungry.

Eating Too Fast Feeds Intestinal Bacteria

While some food components, such as certain carbohydrates, are unlikely to be digested, regardless of how well we chew them up. Others, like proteins that can be digested more fully with slower eating, often aren’t when we eat too quickly.

Having too much protein in too large a meal is a common cause of digestive problems and excessive flatulence. Undigested protein can putrefy in the heat of the large intestine and, with bacterial action, lead to the production of gases like hydrogen sulphide, indoles, skatoles and mercaptans. It only takes a small amount of these gases to create some really bad smelling flatulence.

Digestive enzymes can help with protein digestion, but ideally consider having smaller portions. Good quality protein is very important for overall health and well being. But large servings of protein, particularly from poor sources like overcooked or processed meats, are unlikely to be digested well.

It’s worse than just wasting all that excess protein when you have a massive steak or huge burger. Too much protein puts a real strain on your whole digestive system and can lead to numerous health problems.

It’s also a major cause of those really smelly farts. So go easy on the meat. Quality over quantity makes for better digestive health and less flatulence problems.

Take A Little Extra Time Eating

Taking our time eating and chewing your food well, particularly in meals with protein, starts the digestion process off properly and increases the likelihood of the food being absorbed in the small intestine.

Rushed eating and not chewing food properly on the other hand often causes digestive problems. By hurrying a meal down you risk a good portion of it ending up undigested in the large intestine.

The more undigested food that you send to our colon, the more the billions of bacteria down there go crazy turning it into excessive flatus gas. When you have smaller meals and take our time, rather than eating too fast, you are much less likely to be feeding them so well. Additionally, poorly digested food is a major cause of constipation.

Eating more slowly also helps reduce stomach gas and bloating from swallowed air and gives a feeling of fullness and satisfaction after a meal that eating quickly rarely does. In this way, slowing down how you eat often helps you losing weight.

Life can be pretty busy sometimes, but eating is one of those things that are really worth slowing down for and taking the time to taste and enjoy. Your body will thank you for it later.

Photo 1 credit with thanks: Chris Makarsk 

Shares 117
Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 26 comments

Normally I don’t read post on blogs, however I


This writing saved my life. I had to make a thesis in this topic and this article was the most helpful I could found in the whole internet. Thanks a lot for this great job!


This is a great blog. I have always been racing against time when eating, and no wander I have been a gas problem. Why the rush? This is very insightful.


Great explanation and I am going to try your advice. I spent 30 years in the police and became used to eating really fast as we were always required to attend emergency calls which often interrupted meal breaks. Its such a bad habit and I need to break it.


Loved your advice. I’ve been trying to tell my 16 y.o. son to slow down while eating to prevent excessive stomach pains, bloating & gas. Your article is straight to the point! Hopefully, he will now see the importance of this with your detailed info. Thanks.


I love the scientific reasoning behind the effects on the body. I’m really hoping this will sink in with my scientific 17 year old son. We have all told him he eats way too fast and drinks too much water at meal times and this came to a head last night with spending 7 hours in a&e with him in dreadful stomach/chest pain. ( Everything nasty ruled out.) Your article is just what I need to back myself up. Will let you know if it works. Thank you very much.


    Thanks for your positive comments Janette.

    I hope the article helps as eating too fast and causing an intestinal blockage may well be the cause.

    All the best,



    We had been out shopping for Christmas, took many hours. Didn’t get lunch until 4pm, still rushing. Wolfed down 2 Arby’s and fries. About 20 or 30 minutes later I got terrible sharp pain. (We were supposed to be getting dressed for the company Christmas party, and heading out the door.) Husband found me writhing in pain on the floor. I was wondering about the ER.
    He bent over me and I showed him the spot below my stomach that was hurting the most, on the right side below my navel. I asked if he could feel the “log” in my intestine, and he could. He started massaging the area. After maybe 4 minutes, the pain left, and I was able to get up and get dressed. (I guess it would be called an intestinal blockage.)
    I learned that day to NOT wolf food down. ….Rose


    Hi Rose and thanks for your comments.

    That’s definitely an extreme example and sounds very painful. I think the problem is the low level intestinal damage that is being done almost daily in the way some people rush down their food.

    All the best,



Food for thought…Thanks for the advice.


Wolfing down food can feel so good though. But for my girlfriends sake, I should probably slow it down.


hello boss

I have bloating and gas problem which is not going. please what can I do about it.

and at the sometime have piles too which is really me, so I can go out to work anymore please help me my problem is the exess gas and bloating with the piles too….

Thank you.


This article is life saver,thanks.


No wonder everytime I eat fast I feel like farting.
I ate fast 4 hours before I had to go to work. And guess what? I had a performance interview that day.

Never eating fast gain ahahahaha. Need to enjoy my food.
Great writeup!


I used to eat fast and also used to speak when eating. After I read your post I tried to eat with my mouth closed and chewed well. I have been trying this for the past 1 week now and I should say I really feel light now. I have one question. For the past 1 week I have been having loose bowels. Is this a good sign of having the accumulated fat drained out or is this something not related to the new eating habit. I also started drinking hot water before going to bed.


    Hi Jeff,

    I’m glad you’re noticing benefits from eating properly. It’s possible that this is already having a mild detoxifying effect, hence the bowel movements. However, it could quite likely be something else. The hot water may also be a factor, though if so I’d expect it to get back into balance soon.

    Hope this helps,



This article is directed to me , I don’t take my whenever I am eating , I rush food and i didn’t know this what makes be belch most times , I am happy to read this article and it will change my life for good , it is a very informative write up


I agree with many of the other readers about this blog, very easy to understand yet highly informative and overall an extremely well written piece. I have got severe intestinal issues after I eat more times than not, I avoid eating out as it can take as little as 5 – 10 minutes for the intense pain and diarrhoea eruption to begin, many times so painful that I also start to vomit. Not fun in a public restroom, or at your in laws house or even worse at work. Doctor was just clueless and not helpful with suggesting any possible explanations and didn’t even lean towards nutritional advice. This was over 11 years ago that it all began (before during and after being admitted to hospital for an open cholestecyomy which was misdiagnosed as a stomach ulcer but was in fact a bile duct obstruction) I resigned myself to the fact that I just have to deal with it forever. After reading and the lactose and fructose articles as well I am seriously thinking that I have found something that will finally help me. I am guilty of rushing my food, drinking while eating, not eating frequently enough so chomping down on huge meals to compensate, no wonder my body hates me, I’m the worst owner it could have gotten. I really needed to see this, it shines a whole new light on things and gives me a logical and safe place to begin to get control of my digestive health and my overall enjoyment of life


    Hi Rachel and thank you for your positive comments.

    I’m glad the articles on the site have shed some light on your digestive issues and I hope you continue to heal them even further in the future.

    All the best,



Hi, I love your article and the ideas you shared in this article. I will use it for my grandson. Hope everyone is becoming healthier.


Nice article. It informed thoroughly on the importence of chewing. Thank you and all the best.


Leave a Reply: