Beans and lentils are packed with fiber and oligosaccharides that are digested by beneficial bacteria in our large intestine. This can cause a lot of gas, especially if you don’t eat them regularly, so we’ve created this guide to save you some embarrassment 🙈!
So here's our line up:
But why eat them?
Beans and lentils are incredibly nutritious with 15-20% protein, fiber (10-20g per cup), folate, plus B vitamins and important minerals including iron, zinc and magnesium.
Start with the least gassy lentils and beans👍. Traditional recipes tend to be better digested thanks to clever combinations of spices, soaking and cooking methods…more on this below.
Toor dal (split yellow pigeon peas), urad dal (split black lentils) and yellow dal (split mung beans) are all used in Ayurveda and are known to balance the Vata dosha – the Aurvedic ‘type’ that normally suffers with bloating and gas.
Try preparing kitchari, a healing Ayurvedic dish made with yellow dal (the most gentle on digestion).
Dried or canned?👀 Dried means you can soak properly, avoid additives like salt and leaching of plastics or metals. If you need to use canned for convenience, make sure to rinse them thoroughly before use.
Top hacks for reducing gas
- Start by eating just a small portion of beans or lentils, then increasing week by week. You can move onto the more gassy types once your gut bacteria has adjusted to the increased fiber.
- Soak dried beans and lentils overnight (or at least 8hrs), rinse and cook in fresh water. Also rinse after cooking – this can make a big difference!
- Cook with a piece of dried kombu (seaweed) – an awesome Japanese hack.
- Use a pinch of hing (also known as Asafoetida), a pungent Indian seasoning spice derived from a type of fennel, to make them more digestible.
- Add spices known to help with digestion such as ginger, Turmeric, cumin.
- Combine in a meal with fresh green vegetables.
- Don’t combine with fruit or anything sugary as this causes fermentation in the gut.
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