Thanksgiving dinner is going to leave you feeling bloated and gross, so maybe consider treating yourself to a post-meal “fart walk” to encourage your digestive system to get to work.
Cookbook author and TikToker Mairlyn Smith might be single-handedly responsible for popularizing the “fart walk.” The idea is that you eat, you go take a stroll to aid digestion, and then fart. Fart to your heart’s content. Fart like no one’s watching.
Marilyn may have popularized the term fart walk, but the concept of a fart walk isn’t new, and likely dates back centuries. In Italy, they named post-dinner walks “la passeggiata,” a pleasant stroll in the town square. China even has an ancient proverb about a post-meal walk that goes “if you take 100 steps after each meal, you’ll live to 99.”
The concept behind Marilyn’s fart-focused walk has everything to do with how our bowels work. Your body knows how to move food along from your stomach, to your intestines, and into the colon, and then out into a toilet. But it does it all much better and more efficiently if you get your body moving. Movement stimulates and opens up your bowels. Think of it like the gentle jostling that loosens a clog. A little bit of post-meal movement helps your food move through your system with a little less effort.
But it’s not just farts that a nice pleasant walk helps you with. A fart walk can reduce bloating and acid reflux, it can help regulate your blood sugar levels to help prevent spikes that lead to insulin resistance and type II diabetes.
You’ll especially need all of that after you have a big fiber-rich Thanksgiving meal. Fiber produces a bunch of gas that you’re going to need to get out, and only a brisk walk after dinner can shake them loose. So today, after Thanksgiving dinner, tell your family you’re going to step out for a few minutes for a nice healthy fart walk. The name alone will ensure that they leave you alone for a few minutes, offering you some much-needed respite from their madness.
Or, have them join you on the fart walk if you’re one of those obscenely close families.
The post After Your Thanksgiving Dinner Today, Consider Taking a ‘Fart Walk’ appeared first on VICE.
The post After Your Thanksgiving Dinner Today, Consider Taking a ‘Fart Walk’ appeared first on VICE.
