Hand over the beans and no one gets hurt

[Espi]

So, here these coffee beans were mentioned.

I have asked about it and it's indeed a civet. The owner of the coffee shop said it was more cimilar to a fox than any other animal. Actually it's more cat like, in Dutch they are called civet-cats:
Kopi Luwak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gives more info as well.

[Karen P]

I've found myself in the same dilema. Beans are also my friend, but not only are they high in protein, thy are also packed with carbs. Where do they belong in our diet? They are also so low in fat, unlike most other sources of protein, so they are a great alternative option for protein. But then again, I've been programed to think that carbs are the enemy, so I stay away from them. I've got to say I miss them quite a bit. I used to cook up a whole pot of either lima beans or pinto beans and eat the whole pot throughout the day. I miss those days.

[Espi]

Now back to the original question please?

I've been upping the legumes in my diet once again and started with the relatively innocent (?) green peas as well as marrowfat peas (pois gris in French).
I know lentils are pretty easy to digest but what comes next in line if you want to
- avoid too much fiber
- avoid too many lectins

I'm experiencing some abdominal pain again and it's probably due to the peas. So even those are relatively bad news... yet, I'd love to incorporate more of them in my diet.

How do you go about?

- eat them often enough so you get used to it (that's for digestion of the undigestable starches), this can be helped with specific enzymes (like Jarrozymes).
- or avoid them nearly completely and then bam.. a lot of it at the same time and then let the gut repair itself again ?

[Lost Dog]

Originally Posted by Karen P

I've found myself in the same dilema. Beans are also my friend, but not only are they high in protein, thy are also packed with carbs. Where do they belong in our diet? They are also so low in fat, unlike most other sources of protein, so they are a great alternative option for protein. But then again, I've been programed to think that carbs are the enemy, so I stay away from them. I've got to say I miss them quite a bit. I used to cook up a whole pot of either lima beans or pinto beans and eat the whole pot throughout the day. I miss those days.

You should find a diet that you are more comfortable with. Carbs aren't necessarily the enemy. Bad carbs made up up empty calories are the enemy. Beans, fruit, and grains can be just fine for most people.

In my personal experience, I can eat fewer calories and be satisfied with low carb foods and lots of veggies. But, if you want carbs and can manage your calories, then you'll do just fine. If might not be "optimum," but if "optimum" leads to binging or being miserable, then it ceases to be optimum.

[Karen P]

Originally Posted by Lost Dog

You should find a diet that you are more comfortable with. Carbs aren't necessarily the enemy. Bad carbs made up up empty calories are the enemy. Beans, fruit, and grains can be just fine for most people.

In my personal experience, I can eat fewer calories and be satisfied with low carb foods and lots of veggies. But, if you want carbs and can manage your calories, then you'll do just fine. If might not be "optimum," but if "optimum" leads to binging or being miserable, then it ceases to be optimum.

Thanks for the advice LostDog. It's nice to hear a different point of view about carbs. I definitely eat fewer calories when I eat more protein, so maybe I should just focus on that benefit, rather than just proclaiming that carbs are the enemy. Maybe I can just focus on high protein foods, and not worry so much about how many carbs are in the food. Good tip. Thanks.

[LisaS]

Originally Posted by Espi

Now back to the original question please?

I've been upping the legumes in my diet once again and started with the relatively innocent (?) green peas as well as marrowfat peas (pois gris in French).
I know lentils are pretty easy to digest but what comes next in line if you want to
- avoid too much fiber
- avoid too many lectins

I'm experiencing some abdominal pain again and it's probably due to the peas. So even those are relatively bad news... yet, I'd love to incorporate more of them in my diet.

How do you go about?

- eat them often enough so you get used to it (that's for digestion of the undigestable starches), this can be helped with specific enzymes (like Jarrozymes).
- or avoid them nearly completely and then bam.. a lot of it at the same time and then let the gut repair itself again ?

I'd probably add something with chickpeas - and something simple - perhaps some hummus or a few chickpeas in a curry - just to not overwhelm with "bean-ness" compared to having a full serving of white beans or some such.

[Espi]

Chickpeas it is going to be.'

So at around 6 pm I put the chickpeas on the 'fire' expecting them to be ready at around 7pm (will eat them at 9-10pm). And then looked up the preparation method!

Pasta and Chickpeas - InCucina.tv was the first one I found

Preparation
Wash the chick peas thoroughly and soak them in sufficient water for 24 hours.

(check: even did so for almost 48 hrs and rinsed them twice)

Then in the same water in a pot with 2 cloves of garlic and rosemary, salt and pepper and adding enough water to cover them, let them cook for 3 hours. In a pan put the peeled ripe tomatoes, the remaining garlic and the anchovy fillets and cook for 15 minutes.

THREE HOURS?

When the chick peas are soft, add the sauce, then the pasta.
Serve hot.

Do chickpeans and beans in general really need *this* much cooking time?
Lentils e.g. don't even need to be soaked and are ready in 20 minutes!

I assume the long soaking and cooking time is to get rid of the antinutrients and make them digestible? Last time I cooked chickpeas (as a cheat meal) I took 24hrs and cooked them for only 60 mins and had digestion problems..

Hmm should think about the bean-enzymes to help out if even 3 hrs of cooking isn't enough..

[LisaS]

Yes, cooking dried beans usually takes several hours on the stovetop. I generally use canned for convenience. I believe that you are not supposed to salt the water for conventional cooking until the last 30 minutes or something like that. I think that beans can also be cooked in a pressure cooker to reduce the time.

[Espi]

Ack.. I've liberally salted them already.

I seem to be a real bad cook. Recently I tried to make a rice pudding and followed a recipe that called for boiling water. The rice just never got soft and I ended up eating hard rice and henceforth had an unenjoyable day on the potty.
There are some really bad recipes around, as I could kick myself later on for literally following a recipe while thinking "using HOT water to cook rice?" when I would have started it with cold water if I'd done it w/o a recipe.

[LisaS]

I think cooking in salted water might make the skins tough or something like that - I've rarely cooked beans from dry - I'm lazy and get canned beans most of the time I want beans.

[Lost Dog]

Salt the cooking water. The tough bean skin thing is a myth. But, as beans cook, they absorb the liquid. The only way to get them salty is to salt the water at the onset of cooking. You can add more salt at the end, of course, but it will just be in the liquid, not the bean, itself.

The long cooking time is merely because they are hard and need time to soften to absorb liquid. Simmer very slowly or the beans swell faster than the shell came expand, and your beans will split.

Soaking allows them to cook faster, once cooking starts. I don't soak, because it only shortens cooking time by about 30-45 minutes.

Some people soak them so they can dump the liquid, believing that gas will be reduced. I've tried it both ways. You either have gas from the proteins you can't digest or you don't... With black beans, if you dump the liquid, the beans are grey beans, not black, so don't be dumping it out. Some baking soda keeps the beans from greying out, too. Ph is important with black beans.

Lentils and split peas do not "require" soaking or long cooking times. They are soft shelled legumes and have vastly shortened cooking times. Split peas can be soup in an hour. Brown lentils can be done in 45 minutes. Red and yellow lentils are even faster.

[Espi]

Ah, good to know. Just finished the chickpeas and they were quite tasty.
Now just wait whether the concert and/or bloated tummy will happen.

[Espi]

I'm afraid that 'unclean' carbs and me go along better than 'clean' foods like legumes. The intestinal pain is worse than it's been in a long time. But at least I get reminded of how good I feel 99% of the time and why I'm cutting out grains and legumes (including soy & peanutbutter) most of the time.
The pain is not really a bad pain, just irritating and it makes me do 'funny moves' like sucking in the stomach and doing a kinda 'waltz' with my intestines.. I don't know exactly why & how to explain.

Anyways, one question got resolved: I can eat 'bad for me' stuff, but will have to do it occasionally and then eating LOTS of it isn't as bad as eating it in moderate amounts frequently. The latter is good when you have a lack of digestive enzymes. I was hoping, it was also a matter of up-regulating the right digestive enzymes (for the beans) and was taking them along with the food as well, but no.
It's constant abrasion of the gut by lectins (legumes), gluten (from grains) and so on. So, I'll have to let the gut heal before it can be 'attacked' again. May also pluck up the courage to get in some of those gross glutamine peptides.

It's freaking funny actually since
GOOD for me = junkfood carbs like marshmallows, candy, dextrose, palatinose (IsoSpark) etc. all those give NO digestion problems. They may lead to an insulin spike & blood sugar issues, but I'm eating them pre-bedtime and ama asleep when it happens.. so no biggie.
BAD for me = all those so-called health foods like grains (esp. wheat, but also oats) and legumes (beans, some peas like chickpeas & the harder marrowfat peas , pb) because of their abrasive characteristics.
Paleo foods + simple sugars = best performance & health!

[Karen411]

Originally Posted by Susan4

Ah ha, not a monkey, sorry...rather a Palm Civet, a critter more like a cat than a monkey....

Expensive coffee from monkey digestive systems-Truth!

Susan, I saw that on a program on TLC last year and I remember thinking that there was no way in heck someone could pay me enough to drink that coffee. I just can't imagine paying good money for poopy coffee beans !

[DirtyMartini]

I learned last night that adding baking soda to the water when you soak beans will break down most of the oligosaccharides in the beans. (I think it was 1/8tsp per cup of beans) It'll also split the skins but again... who cares!

[Lost Dog]

I use baking soda in my black beans and it doesn't split them. Cooking them too fast and/or too long splits them.

Adding baking soda changes the ph of the water, and effects the cooking times and temps. It also softens the shell and lets water penetrate the shell and swell the insides faster. Cooking too long then swells the internal bean faster than the shell can handle, and it splits open.

On a side note, baking soda helps black beans retain their dark color. Just don't dump the liquid.