Beans required?
Posted by Bruce on Feb 23, 2010 · Member since Jun 2008 · 53 posts
I am a new vegan... I am including beans in my diet. But I was wondering.... Are beans/legumes required to keep the diet healthy?
What is your experience? How often do you include beans in your diet?
fruits and vegges contain every essential amino acid.
Very true. I'm not ready to take that plunge yet though. I'll probably end up grain free before I even thing about dropping beans.
Bean Appreciation!!
Thanks everyone for the ideas and support. I didn’t know that canned beans can be worse than cooked fresh. All of the beans I have been eating are canned.
Oh, I might add that if the idea of preparing your own beans all the time sounds overwhelming, it is just as easy to fix a huge stockpot of them as it is a small amount. I then freeze them in 1.5 cup amounts, which is approximately a can. This way I get cheap bean with less gas that are almost as convient as canned ones. I really need to get back to doing this more.
I have cooked large amounts of black beans (my favorite), soaked over night, disposed of the water a few times during the soaking process, and then froze pint containers of left over. It was a while back, so I can’t be sure – but I vaguely remember not having much of a problem with gas. So I will try making a large batch of beans next time. I never tried the kombu though, so I will give that a try also.
and if you have canned beans, rinse them 2-3 times before you use them. This gets rid of some of the sugars on the outside that can cause gas.
I think the more often you eat beans the less gas you will have. Soak them in water and change the water before cooking, it helps. Get over this fear, you're missing out on some of the best vegan food without beans! :)
I do put the canned beans in a strainer and rinse well with water before use. But I will also try doing without beans too, and not worry too much about protein. Going from “you must eat animal products for protein” to “you can get all the protein you need from plant sources” and then to “you don’t need beans” is a big leap – but an adventure I plan to look into. Potatoes seem to be a complete protein, so I have been increasing those in my diet.
how about lentils? i don't think they're as gassy... maybe.
I do have (canned) lentil soup in my diet right now. Lentils have never bothered me before… hmm… maybe I will keep the lentils and avoid the other beans for a while.
Why not go without them for a month and see if it becomes better, add them back in your diet but only use beans you cook yourself and I would suggest organic, plus the suggestions made by others. Try different beans seperatly and see if there are any problem beans, my friend cant handle chickpeas but she is fine with all the others.
I have noticed that with myself too - about the chickpeas, so i switched back to black beans.
Beans are probably the most consistent protein source in my diet. I couldn't live without the chickpea!
I agree--much love for the chickpea/garbanzo bean! Is there anything it CAN'T DO??? (Answer: no).
I agree--much love for the chickpea/garbanzo bean! Is there anything it CAN'T DO??? (Answer: no).
Exactly.
Why not go without them for a month and see if it becomes better
I second this, except try a week rather then a month. In my experience, when you knock out the offending food, you see the results in less then two days, that is what happened with my son's cronic cough and I switched him to a vegan diet just for the weekend, by Sunday, his cough was vertually gone.
Two weeks later, both of us are still vegan!
Congrats on going vegan. I personally love it, hope you like it as much as I do!
soaking and draining water before making beans helps to decrease gassiness, I've also heard a pinch of baking soda before cooking can help too. And it takes a little while to get your system used to the fiber, so building up in small increments can help....
;)b beans beans beans!! I usually soak in at least 2 changes of water, ie. soak 2-3 hours, drain, soak overnight in new water. once they are cooked I freeze them too! this seems to help the gassiness, tho I'm not sure why. I find the red lentils are the least gassy.
Thanks for the replies.
After about 1 month the gas is less frequent... here is an update.
I didn't realize it at the time, but there were beans present in each of my meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So I removed the beans from breakfast and dinner and kept lunch time soups (either black bean, split-pea, or lentil).
The reason I was over doing the beans was my fear of not getting enough protein – brainwashed I guess. For example: One of my relatives, a biology major and married to an MD asked me about being vegan while she was visiting a few weeks ago. She said something like “well if you are not eating animal products, you need to get your protein from beans and rice..”
Watching the video “Eating” helped wean me away from the legume/grain combo. And freed me to eat just vegetables, fruit and some kind of grain for dinner and breakfast.
I am not able to make my own beans at the moment, so just cutting back on the canned beans has been a great help.
Boo to the close-minded bio major! We know better than that! ;)
Watching the video “Eating” helped wean me away from the legume/grain combo. And freed me to eat just vegetables, fruit and some kind of grain for dinner and breakfast.
Love love love that movie! Watched it with my Dad and Step Mom last night! I know who the hell has had a protein or calcium deficiency around here? Nobody... total brainwashing BS
Thanks for the replies.
After about 1 month the gas is less frequent... here is an update.
I didn't realize it at the time, but there were beans present in each of my meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So I removed the beans from breakfast and dinner and kept lunch time soups (either black bean, split-pea, or lentil).
The reason I was over doing the beans was my fear of not getting enough protein – brainwashed I guess. For example: One of my relatives, a biology major and married to an MD asked me about being vegan while she was visiting a few weeks ago. She said something like “well if you are not eating animal products, you need to get your protein from beans and rice..”
Watching the video “Eating” helped wean me away from the legume/grain combo. And freed me to eat just vegetables, fruit and some kind of grain for dinner and breakfast.
I am not able to make my own beans at the moment, so just cutting back on the canned beans has been a great help.
Glad your bean reduction has helped!
Like (I think) Hespedal indicated earlier in the thread, we can actually get all the protein we need from fruits and veggies *only* (but it requires some more planning for sure, and you have to eat a lot of them). I have(or had!) IBS, used kombu and everything else, and since I've cut beans & grains from my diet my digestion has gotten amazingly better.
Contrary to pop belief, it's actually nearly impossible to get too little protein unless you are simply eating too few calories and malnourished in general.
When you eat as much protein as most people in the U.S. do, your body may actually be drawing minerals from your bones and teeth to balance the acidity in the animal protein in order to digest it. That's why the China Study found lower levels of osteoporosis in people who ate fewer animal products!
Thanks everyone for the replies...
Lauuren, about cutting beans & grains from your diet... wow - what a concept, that goes against the grain (I know it is a little corny - oops another pun.). I am going to try having less grains and beans, and more fruit and veggies. I have made so many changes in my diet these past few months.... so I am going to ease into this change a little slower.
I have introduced smoothies back into my diet and the gas has been almost non-existant.
Please keep us updated as you learn what works for you, if you don't mind. Anecdotal evidence is quite helpful, especially when you meet someone that says "but I don't eat beans, I could never be vegan" or something like that, then you can say "aha, but you don't have to." Good for you for trying out different ways to make it work! ;)b
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