Beans, beans the magic fruit, the more you eat the more you ____ 😆
Beans aka legumes are one of those hot topics in all diet circles. Some love them, some hate them let’s talk about it.
As a food containing beneficial nutrient, beans are very powerful; On average beans;
Are high in Fiber / Resistant Starch - superfood for your microbiome
Fiber in beans helps produce short-chain fatty acids (Butyrate has been shown to have anti-cancer effects and boost metabolism).
Fiber from beans increases your CCK (Cholecystokinin) which helps regulate appetite by stimulating the digestion of fat and protein.
Fiber in beans raise your baceroidetes. These are good bacteria in your gut that perform metabolic conversions that are essential for you, such as degradation of proteins or complex sugar polymers.
Provide a source of protein, though it is not a complete protein because they lack several amino acids.
Contain vitamins and minerals; potassium, zinc, iron, magnesium, folate (B9) and B6.
The downside, they contains also contain anti-nutrient factors;
Lectins. Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins that wreak havoc in your digestive system because they are “sticky” and easily bind to the polysaccharides (complex sugar) mucus layer inside our gut. If your gut lining is thin due to toxins lectins can then push through intestinal wall junctions and into our bloodstream. Once there this causes a “what are you doing in here? You don’t belong here I must destroy you” inflammatory reaction. Repeated overtime can cause thousands of little tiny holes which allow for other particles to escape, aka leaky gut syndrome. See below how to reduce/destroy these lectins.
Carb Dominant, meaning there is a higher amount of carbs which cause your blood sugar to spike.
Black Beans are 70% carb 26% protein 4% fat
Kidney Beans are 69% carb 27% protein 4% fat
Lentils are 68% carb 30% protein 2% fat
Phylates (mainly phytic acid). Phytic acid is found in all plant seeds, nuts, legumes and grains. and can impair the absorption of iron, zinc and calcium and may promote mineral deficiencies. See below how to reduce the phylate content.
Like most foods, how we consume them is really the key to how we feel after we consume them. When you purchase beans, they come in several ways; caned or dry and there are several ways to prepare them including boiling, frying, and baking.
When purchasing, which beans are best?
Lupine beans [option 1, 2, 3] lentils, organic green peas, snow peas, black-eyed peas, mung beans.
Why?
high in protein and fiber with a lower net carb score (it doesn’t spike your blood sugar)
Which beans are okay on occasion?
lima beans, kidney beans, baked beans, pinto beans
Why?
Still a good source of protein, folate and fiber but also a higher starch content (impact our blood sugar) but on that note, it would take you 3 cups of beans to get the same amount of protein as 6oz of meat and you’re still lacking some essential amino acids.
When consuming them, what is best?
dry beans
Why?
Canned beans often contain BPA (bisphenol A) or in BPA cans its BPS (Bisphenol S) which both have been linked to hormone (endocrine) disrupting effects {1,}. BPA is often found in plastic bottles and non-stick linters of cans. You do not want these chemicals in your body!
sprouted beans (aka germination)
When preparing/cooking them, what is best?
Buy dried beans and soak them in water overnight with a little salt.
Cook your beans in a pressure cooker (the pressure breaks the lectin/phylate structure making them more tolerable for our digestion.
Boil beans with a pinch of salt and a strip of Kombu (a seaweed that contains and enzyme to break down raffinose > what produce gas when we eat beans ). Cooking the beans for 2-4 hours on a light simmer.
Sprouting, or gemination, which causes a release in protein into amino acids, long-chian carbs into shorter chains ones and fats into fatty acids. So bascially one step in digestion is being done for us naturally. With it are the release of vitamins and minerals including chlorophyll.
how to: soak beans in 3-4x the quantity of water as beans for several hours to overnight. Then drain and rinse. Place rinsed beans into a perforated top jar (to allow air flow) and set on its side for 1-3 days. Be sure to rinse and shake the beans 1-2x/day. This is when germination takes place. They are done when they start to sprout. You can then place them into indirect light and keep them moist.
Sources:
Hyman MD, Mark, The Pegan Diet, Little, Brown Spark 2021
Stevenson, Shawn, Eat Smarter, Little, Brown Spark 2020
Gundry MD, Steven, The Plant Paradox, Harper Wave, 2019
Douillard, John, The 3-Season Diet, Three Rivers Press, 2000
Wolf, Robb, The Paleo Solution, Victory Belt Publishing, 2010
What’s your experience with beans, I wanna know..
Mine, I see that I consume them in 2 ways. 1) as actual beans and 2. as pea protein in my meal replacement shakes. The first way I don’t have them too often actually, probably 1x/wk a most. Great in a chili but I’m not looking to beans as my source of protein. But in my meal replacement shake I have those 1-2x/day and roughly 4-8x/wk. I use this protein powder for lots of preparations, in my morning mug (to sweeten and enrich the macro/nutrient density), in baked goods (to again sweeten and add macronutrient balance), in an actual meal replacement shake/smoothie/yogurt bowl.
