During the holidays we all eat a little too much and afterward, we feel pain through heartburn, stomach aches and other gas problems. While overeating causes these problems, there are certain foods that cause more body pains than others due to the body's inability to digest the food. Here are 10 foods that the human body struggles to process.

 

10) Milk

We’ve all heard about lactose-intolerant people struggling to digest dairy products. Surprisingly, as much as 75 percent of the population has some sort of trouble to digest the sugar called lactose in dairy products. Because of the body's inability to digest lactose, the large intestine will take in lactose and bacteria will use it to produce gasses and heartburn.

 

9) Broccoli

When it comes to digesting vegetables, it can be broken into two categories. The first is insoluble foods, which goes through the digestive system undigested, causing little distress or gas. Although it sounds bad to not digest the food, it actually works to promote flow through the system. However, soluble foods such as broccoli cause digestive problems because they are broken down in the large intestine, where bacteria turns broccoli and similar foods into gas.

 

8) Cabbage

In general, raw vegetables are tougher to digest than cooked vegetables because they keep their compounds intact that the body struggles to break down. Cabbage also contains sulfur compounds that cause gas when they interact with bacteria in the body, specifically causing gas build up in the gut. Additionally, like broccoli, cabbage is a soluble fiber that remains intact until it is broken down by bacteria in the large intestine.

 

7) Beans

Beans contain oligosaccharides, which your body lacks the enzyme to digest. The result is that these undigested oligosaccharides proceed to your large intestine where bacteria make use of them and produce gas and bloating. The enzymes required to digest beans are found only in the bacteria in your stomach. If you do not regularly eat beans, you are likely to have low levels of these bacteria and will become quite bloated.

 

6) Sugarless Gum

Most sugarless gum contains the ingredient sorbitol, which can cause uncomfortable gas building in the stomach. Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol that the body metabolizes slowly and thus creates gas when it digests in the stomach's bacteria. The compound is also found in apples, pears, peaches and prunes, but in smaller quantities, creating less stomach problems.

 

5) Meat (Specifically Pork)

People have debated for years whether humans were biologically designed to eat meat. Regardless, humans have one of the most meat-heavy diets in the animal kingdom. Of the meats humans consume, pork is one of the most difficult to digest. Pork takes approximately four-and-a-half to five hours to digest. During this digesting time, fruits, vegetables, and other fast-digesting foods begin to ferment—producing gas, acid, and indigestion that interact with meat to cause stomach pains.

 

4) Bread

Bread is considered one of the hardest foods to digest primarily because it lacks enzymes to break down the food. Enzymes are secreted by the pancreas and serve to break down fats, carbohydrates and proteins so that the body can digest and use them. Because bread lacks any natural occurring enzymes, it requires the pancreas to work in overdrive to break down the food.

 

3) Fried Food

Generally, fried foods are not the healthiest options for people to eat. Whenever food is dipped in batter and then deep fried, it means digestive trouble. Fried foods are greasy and high in fat, which unsurprisingly cause stomach problems. People who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease will have even more trouble with greet foods as it can cause symptoms such as diarrhea and nausea.

 

2) Onions

Onions along with plant relatives such as garlic, leeks and shallots are filled with phytonutrient compounds, which have heart benefits, but also cause stomach distress. These compounds interact with the acids in the stomach to cause pain. Cooking onions can ease some of the problems, but will also take away onion's dietary benefits.

 

1) Cashews, Sunflower Seeds and Flaxseed

Dietary fiber is the component in foods that cannot be digested and there are several types of indigestible fiber, including cellulose, pectin, inulin and gums. The most common sources of dietary fiber are fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. There's also a substance called lignin that is considered dietary fiber, but is not a carbohydrate. It's a compound found in the cell walls of certain plants and seeds, including flaxseed, cashews and sunflower seeds. There compounds are hard to digest because the human body lacks the digestive enzyme necessary to break them down, particularly a type called beta-glycosidic bonds.

In most cases, eating changes can aid in preventing digestive problems, but not all foods are avoidable. Eating foods low in fat, eating slowly, not overeating and cooking raw vegetables are just a few of the ways to can make strides toward erasing stomach and digestive pain.