Beans and Gas

This was sent to me by a friend and I couldn't help but share.

Beans and Gas

Beans have an unhappy reputation of creating an embarrassing byproduct of smelly gas. This gas which consists mainly of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, is the byproduct of bacteria in the intestine breaking down the complex carbohydrates in the beans. Here is a flatulence rating for beans from the highest gas-producing to the least:

1. soybeans
2. pink beans
3. black beans
4. pinto beans
5. small white beans
6. great northern beans
7. baby lima beans
8. chick peas
9. large lima beans
10. black-eyed peas.

Reactions may vary according to intestinal length. As the body becomes accustomed to eating beans, you will find that this problem disappears. A product on the market called Beno supplies the digestive enzyme, Alpa-Galactosidase that will help you in the transition. Five drops of Beno before a meal of delicious beans, and I can tell you from personal experience, it really works.

Some believe that cooking with ginger or chewing on a peppermint leaf will help alleviate the problem. Another trick is not to cook the beans in the same water you soak them in. Unfortunately, you lose some of the nutrients in the water but your family and friends will thank you!

Eating fruits shortly before or after a meal of starches, such as bread or beans, will cause excessive gas. When simple sugar and starch are digested within 2-4 hours of each other, the starch slows the transit time of fruit in the intestine, causing fermentation and excessive gas.