Beans and gas

[ovidius]

Hey all,

I'm new here and newly vegan (about 10 days so far). I'm enjoying it thus far. My doctor recommended it for heart health and losing weight, plus I read engine 2 and rich roll's autobio and figured it'd be a good fit. So far, I don't really miss meat or cheese, oddly enough.

My question though is if any of you know of a way to cook beans so that they don't have you horrible gas, other than soaking them overnight? Can I just cook them longer or something? A few of my friends said you could cook them longer, but I didn't get details on it and was wondering if you knew of any other remedies. I love the taste, but I just don't like the heartburn/indigestion I get.

Thanks,
-Dan

[Clueless Git]

Hi Dan and welcome to the forum

I heard, and have found it to be true, that gas from things like beans decreases as your bowel flora adjusts to a vegan diet.

[Blueberries]

Hi Dan, I've never had digestive problems with beans but I have read that cooking them with a piece of kombu/kelp can help. Also make sure that you don't cook them in the water that they soaked in. I'm sure there are plenty of articles online with more advice as it is a common issue. As CS says, your body does get used to digesting beans the more you eat them.

[harpy]

Hello - there are some more suggestions here http://www.nourishingdays.com/2011/0...-on-the-belly/ one of which is to soak them for even longer than overnight. Not sure I agree with the "long and slow" one as I've read some beans (such as kidney beans) should be boiled hard for at least 10 minutes to get rid of possible toxins, but you can cook slowly after they've been boiled.

Have you considered using canned ones, even as a temporary measure until you "acclimatise"? They always seem pretty tender, so I guess the soaking has been done for you.

I agree with the others that this is a problem that tends to go away once you've been eating them for a while.