Download FACILITATOR`S Notes Beans 1. What is your relationship with

FACILITATOR’S Notes
Beans
1. What is your relationship with beans? Love ‘em, hate ‘em, don’t eat them enough, they make
you “sick”, you have a secret to share...
2. What benefits of beans have you heard of?
15 grams of fiber per cup
lower cholesterol levels
improve diabetics' blood glucose control
reduce risk of many cancers
lower blood pressure
regulate functions of the colon
prevent and cure constipation
prevent piles and other bowel problems
Also richly coloured dried beans offer a high degree of antioxidant protection. In fact,
small red kidney beans rate even higher than blueberries
http://www.foods-healing-power.com/health-benefits-of-beans.html
3. Beans are a good source of protein. How much protein do we really need anyway? In
general, do you think we get too much protein or not enough?
Beans & Protein
Thanks to a relentless campaign from food industries, we have a highly exaggerated idea of the
amount of protein that is needed by our bodies. In fact, we only need a small percentage of the
amount we usually get. If you staunchly refuse to believe this statement, consider mother's milk,
which contains only 1.6 grams of protein per 1/2 cup, less than one half the protein of cow's
milk. The greatest growth time of our lives is when we are babies, so if we needed huge amounts
of protein wouldn't mother's milk, the "perfect food", provide it?
In fact, there are serious dangers to high protein diets. Two examples are: osteoporosis and
kidney disease. The bone thinning disease of osteoporosis is an epidemic in the United States and
high amount of protein have unquestionably played a huge part in this explosion. High protein
diets cause calcium to be lost in the urine. This calcium does not come from the meat – it comes
from our bones. Animal products create uric acid which makes our blood acidic. Calcium is the
mineral that is most needed by the body to fight acidity – and in its valiant attempt to protect
itself, the body pulls this needed calcium from the bones, the most abundant source we have.
Further, if we eat more protein than the human body can use, it is broken down and excreted
which overworks the kidneys by increasing the amount and flow of urine. The "nephrons", which
are the kidneys filter units, gradually die off in the process.
So, yes, we need protein – but not a huge amount of it and the best advice is to stick to plants. A
variety of plant foods provides all the protein we need and, contrary to a popular myth, we don't
need to 'combine' those proteins in any special way to get all eight amino acids that the body
doesn't produce. That notion began with an influential book, Diet For A Small Planet. The
author, Frances Moore Lappe, later recanted, admitting she was in error. If only all errors were
so readily admitted!
4. Anyone have any tried and true or fabled and failed methods of preventing the gaseousness in
beans?
How to avoid gaseous beans:
- Give your body time to get used to the new proteins from beans. The body needs to learn to
make the correct digestive enzymes. One
way to do this is to eat the smallest sized beans like
lentils first and graduate yourself to larger beans like garbanzos and red kidney beans.
- Beans can be sprouted prior to cooking for better assimilation .
- Soaking and cooking them well. Do not use soaking water for cooking . Soak until beans
double in size and cook until tender. One test of tenderness is until they can be easily squished
with the tongue against the roof of the mouth.
- Bulgarian women bring beans to a boil, drain the water and begin again three times to prevent
gas.
- Use natural carminatives in your cooking -- these work on preventing the formation of gas in
the gastrointestinal tract -- and include things like anise, coriander seeds, cumin, basil, oregano,
dill and ginger. Add 1/2 strip Kombu (4"), or 1 bay leaf, fennel, or turmeric per cup of beans.
- Breaking down the fiber of the beans prior to eating it (by mashing, blending etc.).
- Add salt only after beans are cooked completely.
- Eating them in combination with other foods. Eat a wide variety of nutritious whole foods
throughout the day. Especially of help in this situation are green vegetables. Potatoes are hard
to digest along with beans at the same meal. Avoid that if possible.
- Not eating excessive amounts. 1/4-1/2 cup is the regular serving size.
- Chewing them thoroughly.
- Do not drink a great deal of liquid with your meal, as this will "water down" your enzymes,
making digestion less effective.
-In general, drink lots of water first thing in the morning, and exercise regularly.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/joanne.magliocco/bean_cooking.htm
http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/svreports/beans_without_gas.pdf
http://www.parentdish.com/2010/03/22/how-to-avoid-gas-from-beans/