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?
you don't need to include beans. i do not.
oh, i just read your profile. just watched an hour long lecture by dr. caldwell esselstyn this morning (my dad was just diagnosed about a week ago with congestive heart failure and i am trying to find the best stuff to present him with) and looking at his sons book "the engine 2 diet". they both seem really good! did you make the switch trying to fix something specific and did you achieve what you wanted (or are you)?
i also fallow a low fat plan, but i do raw so i eat tons of fruit!
Thanks for your input.
I'm sorry to hear about your dad, but there is definitely hope for him if he is willing to change his diet. I have not read “the engine 2 diet” but I recommend “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease” By Caldwell B. Esselstyn. My total cholesterol is between 110 and 130 without much effort. I also lost 20 pounds in the process without trying. I do not count calories and eat as much as I want.
I have a mild case of psoriasis. After learning that there was a link between psoriasis and heart disease, I decided to try treating the psoriasis by concentrating on heart health. I also have always been health conscious and trying to lower my cholesterol but never new how until I stumbled upon CB Esselstyn.
The results are that during the years before becoming a vegan my use of medication was increasing and it was beginning to not respond as well to treatment. After switching to a vegan diet during the first few months I noticed that I my usage of medication dropped by 50% and the psoriasis is responding faster and better to medication. Overall it is slowly disappearing.
I don't take any cholesterol lowering drugs, like statins.
awesome! i am introducing my dad to the book that made me go low fat raw, and if he thinks it's too intense i'm going to direct him to the low fat cooked vegan stuff. he is super stubborn and says he isn't going to go vegan, but he's open to reading the stuff give him, so we'll see how it goes.
sounds like it's going great for you! i'm glad to hear it!
i think beans are great to have in a vegan diet but not required as long as your getting your protein from other sources
I don't think beans are required either. I do eat a lot of raw veggies and fruit these days, but I don't eat completely raw. I'm trying to lose weight again and find I feel best when I eat beans with most meals. I eat them at least once, but usually twice a day. If I was one to struggle with weight issues, I'd probably eat more nuts and less beans. The only thing I generally avoid are meat/cheese analogs and other processed foods.
Just curious...is there any particular reason you don't want to eat beans/legumes?
I love beans.
I love beans.
Word! They can be made into so many amazing things: Garbanzo bean salad spread, bean burgers, hummus, chana masala (sp?), burritos.........
if you're going to exclude beans, not only do you have to make sure you get enough protein, but that you wind up with good quality protein. As in, there are a couple amino acids that certain foods (e.g. grains) tend to lack, whereas other foods (e.g. beans) make up for those. I'm sure there are some exceptions though.
Thanks for the responses.
Just curious...is there any particular reason you don't want to eat beans/legumes?
I like beans. But the main reason I want to do without the beans is the gas that comes with digesting them. I don’t have a lot of gas and it doesn’t smell bad enough for people to notice, but it is just uncomfortable and feels like it occurs at least some of the time every day. Before I went vegan it was a rare occurrence, now I feel like I might have to start buying carbon credits.
So I am thinking of cutting back or doing without beans to see if the beans are causing the problem.
I like beans and I hate to give them up because they are a good complementary protein source that I use to combine with grains. But if I don’t need them, I would rather not do battle with the gas. It would be nice to have a truce for a few weeks, until I come up with another plan.
In my experience, whole foods in general create gas and not just beans. Cooking them with a strip of kambu really does help, and be sure to soak them before cooking. Canned beans seem to be worse than freshly prepared ones. Good luck.
And if you toss the water you soaked them in and cook them in fresh, it helps too.
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 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! :)
fruits and vegges contain every essential amino acid.
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.
Also, as a note, the more of these foods that you eat, the less it seems to affect you (that's the general trend, at least). So, if you (and your loved ones!) can bear it for a bit, it should improve.
I love beans, and I can't imagine life without them!! :)>>> Good luck!
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.
If you dont eat beans defineatly eat more nuts and seaweed, of course a good variety of vegies too.
how about lentils? i don't think they're as gassy... maybe.
Pages