Do legumes cause swelling? Follow these nine tips to improve your digestion

“What’s there to eat? Beans? And isn’t there anything else?” Many people, surely, think of this when they see that in the casino at work, or in the restaurant with a menu or even at home, that is what will be served for lunch: legumes. If you don’t have much affinity for them, especially for their gassy consequences, you might want to keep them out of your life. Well, you should do the opposite.

Pulses, in addition to being a food that has a good price – a raw kilogram, in fairs and free markets, usually costs around 2,000 pesos – they are full of benefits for the body. “First of all, they are an important source of protein and fiber,” says Mauricio Ríos, nutritionist and kinesiologist at the Pontificia Universidad Católica School of Medicine. “They also contain micronutrients, such as vitamin A and several of the B-complex, in addition to providing calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and zinc, among others.”

Lilian Contreras, nutritionist at Clínica Ciudad del Mar, emphasizes the fiber provided by legumes. “It helps our intestinal transit and also nourishes the microbiota, this set of benign microorganisms that live in our intestines, and which have a great influence on the immune system and the ability we will have to avoid infections or the proliferation of bacteria. harmful to the body. health,” he adds.

To get the most nutritional benefit from legumes, it is advisable to combine them with a cereal or a carbohydrate —such as rice, quinoa, mote or pasta—, in an approximate ratio of 70/30: 70% legumes and 30% cereal. In doing so, the amino acids complement each other and form a protein of high biological value, “similar in contribution to that of meat”, but at a much lower economic and environmental cost.

Being low in fat and high in fiber, these are foods that can help us lower cholesterol and control blood sugar. “For all these qualities, health organizations recommend its consumption to deal with non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. Pulses have been shown to help fight obesity,” they point out in an article by The United Nations . The ideal would be to consume it at least twice a week.

But these wonderful seeds have a big but: the possible gassy aftershocks they sometimes bring with them. Many people, each time they eat legumes, end up with a feeling of stomach bloating and flatulence. According to Ríos, this is due to its high content of oligosaccharides.

“They are a type of starch that is more resistant to enzymes. This means that they cannot be completely broken down or managed to be absorbed in our small intestine. When they reach the large intestine, they decompose by bacterial fermentation and produce gas, which would also be responsible for possible distention or swelling,” he explains. These effects can vary from person to person and also depending on the type of legumes. “Lentils, for example, generate less,” he says.

Why doesn’t everyone get bloated from eating legumes? It depends, says Contreras, on the gut microbiota of each individual: while there are people who barely feel them, others feel a slight swelling and for some this can cause very bothersome symptoms and even abdominal pain.

“The latter usually occurs when there is an alteration in the gut microbiota, either due to the use of antibiotics, or due to chronic inflammatory bowel disease, or it can also be a symptom of irritable bowel. “, he specifies.

Luckily, if we cook legumes, there are simple steps we can take to ensure they don’t fall so heavily. Here are the most common techniques:

1. Hydration: This is the most classic and basic technique, which also makes it possible to shorten the cooking time of legumes. “Depending on the type of legume, soaking can vary between 8 and 24 hours before cooking them,” says Ríos. Lentils, which contain less oligosaccharides, can sometimes suffice with an eight-hour soak, while beans and chickpeas need much longer. In general, suggests Contreras, hope all legumes are under water for at least 12 hours — ideally from the day before they are cooked — because hydration ensures better digestion.
2. Double boil: After soaking for at least 12 hours, Contreras suggests draining them and cooking them in fresh, cold water. Once it reaches the first boil, you must turn off the heat and, being very careful not to burn yourself, drain them again, change the water again and put them back to cook. This technique is recommended for legumes with a higher load of oligosaccharides, such as beans – especially black beans – or peas. After the second boiling, they will be ready to be cooked in stews or other preparations.
3. use of spices : Another technique suggested by Ríos is to incorporate spices when cooking them, such as bay leaves, coriander, turmeric, fennel or garlic. The bay leaf, a typical secret of our grandmothers, works because in addition to adding flavor and aroma, it contains cineol and eugenol, two components that aid digestion, prevent acidity and reduce gas.
4. Tablespoon of baking soda: A little less known trick is the use of baking soda, another of the great allies in the kitchen. “If bicarbonate is added to the water of hydration, the formation of pectans is avoided, which are formed by the interaction of pectins – polysaccharides that form the walls or covers of plants – with certain minerals that the water possesses. Pectans promote this hard structure, which is difficult to digest, but sodium bicarbonate would come to avoid it,” explains Ríos.
5. Cook them over low heat: Cooking time is another favorable tool you can use to make legumes more digestible. If you’re making a stew or custard, a slower, low-temperature process will break down the complex sugars into simpler, and therefore easier to digest, sugars. With legumes, the slower goes far.
6. Prefer legumes without skin: It is the name given to the membrane that covers legumes, almost always present in chickpeas and beans, and one of the main causes of swelling. “ If we compare chickpeas, for example, those without the skin are much more digestible,” explains Contreras. Red lentils are also often better tolerated than traditional lentils. Often on the packaging it is indicated whether the legumes have the skin or not. Those without, yes, are generally more expensive.
7. Incorporate derivatives : Although the most traditional and direct way is to prepare and consume legumes in stews or stews, “they can also be consumed through their derivatives”, explains the nutritionist of the Ciudad del Mar clinic. example, through soybean protein, which he identifies as another way to consume legumes. “It’s low in saturated fat and cholesterol,” he says. Normally, in addition, it has a better digestibility, “especially unlike the poor tolerance of traditional legumes”. There are also lentil sprouts and hummus or chickpea flour.
8. Avoid reinforcing the gas effect: In the kitchen, there are times when food can be improved for the better, but at other times for the worse. In the case of legumes, which are high in fiber and some indigestible carbohydrates, Contreras suggests avoiding combining them with other fiber-rich foods, such as cabbage, “which are also very fermentable for our intestines”. As rich as it is, if you don’t want to swell it should not be accompanied by sausages or sausages, whose high fat content and seasoning do not help digestion.
9. Creams, pâtés and hamburgers: There are three formats recommended by vegan and celiac nutritionist Almendra González. He says it in one instagram post on the digestibility of legumes. “If you eat canned legumes, wash them very well before eating them,” he suggests. Don’t know how to cook them? Here you will find a complete guide with recipes and tips for preparing legumes.

“Eat legumes in stews and salads as many times as you can,” is one of the messages from the new Dietary Guidelines for Chile from the Ministry of Health, where they recommend consuming them at least twice a week . In the document, they point out that a serving of cooked legumes, accompanied by some cereal, provides a similar amount of protein to that of a piece of red meat, but with a much lower environmental impact. “The fiber content present in a plate of legumes covers between 60 to 70% of the daily protein intake recommended for an adult”, specifies the text.

“They really can be eaten every day, especially if you have a vegetarian or lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet, where the recommendation is to consume pulses or pulse derivatives on a daily or regular basis to get the necessary daily intake of protein,” adds Contreras. .

“They are rich in minerals and iron, but to get the most out of them, they must be combined with foods containing vitamin C, for better absorption,” says Contreras. “They also provide calcium and their protein, because they are vegetables, are very low in fat and contain no cholesterol.” The guide suggests accompanying legumes with a salad seasoned with lemon, or eating a fruit such as orange, mandarin or kiwi for dessert.

It’s not just humans who benefit from growing pulses; the same goes for the soils in which they grow. “They have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil, which improves soil fertility and, therefore, increases the productivity of agricultural land”, they detail in a publication of ONU. By using pulses for intercropping and cover crops, “farmers promote soil and agricultural biodiversity, keeping harmful pests and diseases at bay.”

By helping to fix nitrogen, they can reduce reliance on synthetic fertilizers used to add nitrogen to soils. “During the manufacture and application of these fertilizers, greenhouse gases are released and their excessive use can be harmful to the environment,” they say from the United Nations. They also point out that they need little water compared to other protein sources: in total, 1,250 liters are needed to produce one kilo of lentils, almost nothing compared to the more than 13,000 liters needed to produce 1 kilo beef.