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I know this may be a bit of an unsavory topic in polite society, but I think it is something worth discussing. I love beans, but they give me gas! I think it is getting better now that I've been eating mostly plant-based for about a year, but they can still tear me up, especially garbanzo beans. I've taken "Beano" in the past to deal with it. I can't tell if it works or not, since I still get gas, but maybe not as bad. Still, I don't want to take stuff like that; it is like taking lactaid pills to help deal with lactose intolerance.

I don't mind persisting, because beans are healthy and I like them. I especially love eating falafels and hummus and I like chick-peas in salads. But am I hurting myself by doing so? Is it causing undue inflammation? Does gas mean I might be somewhat intolerant? Or is that just how beans are? Does everyone experience the same thing?

Dan

Try rinsing them first especially if you are using canned.

I found that after eating beans regularly for a while the gas became less of a problem. I read somewhere that the average person passes gas 14 times every day for what it's worth!

How would rinsing canned beans help? Is it the beans that give one gas, or the juices in the can, or the fiber?


I'd say its a lot more than that for me after a can of garbanzo beans!

Dan -

Here's a short article that may be able to explain it for you.

http://www.la.essortment.com/gastintestinal_rvgh.htm

Donna

One thing that helps is to add a piece of kombu (Japanese seaweed) to the cooking water. Kombu is available at Whole Foods, Asian markets, and on the Internet.
Another hint for canned beans is to rinse them very thoroughly.
The somewhat slimy, gunky liquid that settles to the bottom has more of the oligosaccharides that cause flatulence.

HTH!

SlimKat

I just remembered this...

Many years ago a friend of mine was going to a doctor who wanted to treat her high cholesterol by, among other things, having her eat more beans. She had been a SAD eater and eating beans daily was new to her. She was passing gas like crazy while her body adjusted and she complained to her doctor. He told her to not think of them as "farts" but to think that every time she passed gas she was merely getting rid of more cholesterol! So, if she slipped in front of us she would blush and say "Sorry, just got rid of some more cholesterol!"

Beans contain a sugar-oggiliosacharides, I think that's the spelling- that are not digestable by humans but can be digested by our intestinal bacteria. It is this that causes the gas. Most of those sugars are released into the water that beans are soaked in. So, it really helps to rinse canned beans well and to discard the soaking water of dried beans before you cook them. Cooking the beans with a piece of kombu helps as the seaweed absorbs some of the sugars. The gas is harmless but embarassing and uncomfortable. Keep eating them because you will get used to it in time.

Thanks for the great advice! I always thought it was just something wrong with me since I would get gas from beans worse than anyone else in the family. The didn't call me Fa*t Face for no reason.

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I am getting into bean eating more and more to try to reduce cholesteral and blood pressure. I am going to very soon go back to what I use to do to kill the gas. I used to rinse and soak them and sprout them for a day or two until they have little tails. This releases something in them that makes you toot. Then you cook them up the way you like them. In order to sprout them you need to cover them in a collendar or strainer of some kind. I rinse them a time or two each day while sprouting. It is kind of like the alfalfa sprout routine. I found it worked. Somehow I got lazy about things and am trying to get into vegan living.