Health Desk: Certain vegetables, often referred to as “gas-forming” or Vadi vegetables, are known to cause bloating, heaviness, and stomach discomfort. Experts suggest that people with weak digestion, acidity, colitis, gastric problems, or other chronic digestive disorders should limit or avoid these foods.
Common gas-forming vegetables include cauliflower, cabbage, radish, chickpeas, kidney beans, kabuli chana, moth beans, green peas, colocasia (arbi), and turnips. These are heavy to digest and tend to increase air (gas) in the digestive system.
Ayurveda also cautions that individuals with vata dosha or “airy constitution” may experience worsening of joint pain, back pain, headaches, or gastric discomfort when consuming such vegetables.
Health experts recommend that if you must consume them, cook these vegetables thoroughly and pair them with digestive spices such as ginger, asafoetida (hing), or carom seeds (ajwain) to make them easier to digest.
However, those with chronic conditions like gastritis, colitis, kidney problems, or persistent constipation should seek medical or dietary advice before including these foods in their meals. Since every individual’s digestive system reacts differently, experts stress the importance of tailoring one’s diet according to personal health needs rather than following generalized advice blindly.
