Some people have difficulty digesting beans and other legumes and develop gas, intestinal problems, irritability, and unclear thinking. The gas from legumes is generated by the trisaccharides (complex carbohydrates) they contain. Enzymes are present in healthy intestines to break down the trisaccharides into simple sugars. Eating small amounts of legumes encourages formation of the necessary enzymes. However, before digestive the development of these enzymes occurs, there are techniques for preparing and eating legumes that alleviate most problems.
- Chew them thoroughly. Realize that small amounts, even a few tablespoons of legumes, have nutritional value.
- Avoid giving legumes to young children under 18 months of age, before they develop the gastric enzymes to digest them properly. Except in the case of soy allergy, soybean products such as tempeh, tofu, and soy milk usually digest more easily than other dried legume preparations for infants and children. Fresh peas and green beans are also usually well tolerated.
- Make the right choice of legume:
- Aduki beans, lentils, mung beans, and peas digest most easily and can be eaten regularly.
- Pinto, kidney, navy, black-eyed peas, garbanzo, lima, and black beans are harder to digest and should be eaten occasionally.
- Soybeans are the most difficult to digest. However, soy products (tofu, tempeh, soybean sprouts, soy milk, miso, and soy sauce) are easily digested. Too much soy, especially in the form of tempeh, tofu, and soy sprouts, can weaken both digestion and the kidney-adrenal function. To reduce these effects, lightly cook soy sprouts and cook tofu and tempeh thoroughly.
- Use proper combinations, ingredients, seasonings.
Legumes combine best with green or non-starchy vegetables and seaweed.
Combinations with grains or cooked fruits for desserts are acceptable for those with strong digestion.
- Season with sea salt, miso, or soy sauce. Add salty products such as these near the end of cooking. If added at the beginning, the beans will not cook completely and skins will remain tough. Suggested salt: 1/4 teaspoon sea salt or 1 teaspoon soy sauce to 1 cup dry legumes. The above salt recommendation is moderate and can be increased if salt is used sparingly in other foods. More salt can be used for legumes than other foods since salt is a digestive aid to high-protein products.
- Cook legumes with fennel or cumin to help prevent gas. Mexicans prize the herb epazote or “wormwood” leaf for dispelling gas associated with bean consumption. Epazote (Chenopodium ambrosiodes), related to the common weed “pigweed,” is now available in America from several herb distributors. It works best freshly picked, then cooked into legumes when they are almost done. It grows readily in most soils. Epazote is also used medicinally to rid the body of worms.
- Soak legumes for 12 hours or overnight in four parts water to one part legume. For best results, change the water once or twice. Lentils and whole dried peas require shorter soaking, while soybeans and garbonzo beans need to soak longer. Soaking softens skins and begins the sprouting process, which eliminates phytic acid, thereby making more minerals available. Soaking also promotes faster cooking and improved digestibility, because the gas-causing enzymes and trisaccharides in legumes are released into the soaking water. Be sure to discard the soaking water.
- For improved flavor and digestion, more nutrients, and faster cooking, place soaked kombu or kelp seaweed in the bottom of the pot. Add 1 part seaweed to 6 or more parts legumes. Use seaweed-soaked water to cook grains and vegetables.
- After bringing legumes to a boil, scoop off and discard foam. Continue to boil for 20 minutes without the lid at beginning of cooking to let steam rise. This helps to break up and disperse the indigestible enzymes.
- If problems with gas persist, the following two suggestions are very useful. Pour a little apple-cider, brown-rice, or white-wine vinegar into the water in the last stages of cooking legumes. For salad beans, marinate cooked beans in a solution of 2/3 vinegar and 1/3 olive oil at least one-half hour before serving. Combining vinegar with legumes softens them and breaks down protein chains and indigestible compounds.
- Sprout legumes yourself to break down their proteins into amino acids, the starches and trisaccharides into simple sugars, and to create valuable enzymes and vitamins. Sprouting legumes until they have rootlets maximizes their digestibility. Lentils, mung, and aduki beans sprout most easily.
Reference Pitchford, Paul. Healing with Whole foods. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1993.
