The Benefits of Beans + How to do a Gas Free Soak
Beans are an amazing source of vegan protein, and offer an impressive dose of fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and iron. Beans have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer, aid in gut health by helping to foster good gut bacteria, and they boost your heart health! The benefits are so substantial, that we make sure to include at least 1/2 cup of beans into our diet each day!
What About Gas?
A major complaint we hear when encouraging people to increase their bean intake, is the gas and gut discomfort often associated with eating more beans. The reason beans cause gas is because of the oligosaccharides they contain, which are bodies cannot break down. While this isn’t necessarily troublesome, it can be uncomfortable for many, and we understand that it can be a major deterrent.
Thankfully, there is an easy solution!
What is a Gas-Free Soak?
A gas-free soak is exactly what is sounds like…soaking dry beans in water for 8 or so hours before cooking them. This helps to break down the oligosaccharides that cause the gassy aftereffects.
So how exactly do you do it?
Well, the steps vary from bean-to-bean, and rather than re-inventing the wheel, I’ll leave you with this link which offers an easy-to-read chart providing direction.
Our Favorite Bean-Based Dishes:
Here at Clean Cuisine, we definitely would not consider ourselves vegan, or even vegetarian, but we do eat a plant-based diet. This means we put way more emphasis on eating fruit and vegetables than on eating meat.
Here are some of our favorite bean-based recipes:
In the meantime, we’ll leave you with this little reminder to eat less “CRAP”, and start filling your diet with REAL food.
Hah. I love this CRAP, FOOD picture.
It makes it easy to remember Melody lol 😉