Try sticking with the easiest bean varieties to digest such as: black-eyed peas, adzuki, anasazi, lentils and mung beans (general rule of thumb is the sweeter the bean, the easier to digest though sweetness is a relative thing!). The most difficult beans to digest are lima beans, navy beans and soybeans.
If you're sensitive, or you want to stick with beans that are easiest to digest, start with aduki, lentils, mung beans, and peas. Avoid cooking with soybeans - they're the hardest to digest.
Lentils, split peas and black-eyed peas, for example, are lower in gas-producing carbohydrates than other pulses. Chickpeas and navy beans are on the high end.
Are Lentils or Chickpeas Easier to Digest? This will vary from person to person, but the greater amount of fiber in lentils may make this legume a bit harder to digest than chickpeas if you have an unhealthy gut microbiome or are not used to eating high-fiber foods regularly.
Legumes contain oligosaccharides known as galactans – complex sugars that the body cannot digest because it lacks the necessary enzyme – alpha-galactosidase. Because of this, eating legumes, including black beans, is known to cause some people intestinal gas and discomfort.
Cook Them Long & Slow.
Whether you sprouted them or soaked them try to cook them over low heat for a very long time. A slow-cooker works well, as does a low-heat in an oven or on a burner. Cooking beans all day gives them time to break down those hard-to-digest fibers.
According to several articles, soybeans are the fartiest and also contain the highest percentage of sugars. Navy beans and pinto beans are the next top offenders. And other worthy contestants include black beans, lima beans, black-eyed peas, and chickpeas.
Beans and legumes contain a protein called lectins, which can cause a reaction in certain people. Lectins can bypass normal digestion and end up in your bloodstream, where the body may have an immune reaction.
But most people can enjoy more beans with less gas with the help of these tips: Soak beans overnight in water, then drain, rinse and cook in fresh water. This decreases the oligosaccharide content. Cooking the beans in a pressure cooker may reduce the oligosaccharides even further.
Even cooked chickpeas have complex sugars that can be difficult to digest and lead to intestinal gas and discomfort. A person should Introduce legumes into the diet slowly for the body to get used to them.
Because of their fibre content, cannellini beans can cause gas. Eating too many beans can cause gastrointestinal upset to some extent. However, you can avoid such cases if you eat it after soaking it overnight.
The Problem With Lectins
The most publicized accounts report severe reactions in people eating even small amounts of raw or undercooked kidney beans. They contain phytohaemagglutinin, a type of lectin that can cause red blood cells to clump together. It can also produce nausea, vomiting, stomach upset, and diarrhea.
Beans. They're loaded with healthy protein and fiber, but they also have hard-to-digest sugars that cause gas and cramping. Your body doesn't have enzymes that can break them down. Bacteria in your gut do the work instead, giving off gas in the process.
The most difficult beans to digest are lima beans, navy beans and soybeans. Also note that beans are extremely high in fiber! That means if you aren't used to eating them regularly, you probably should sit down with a bit 'ol bowl of them.
Some people experience gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, such as bloating, gas, and stomach cramps when they eat pulses, like beans, lentils, and peas. That's because pulses contain large amounts of indigestible carbohydrates (fibers) that are fermented in the GI tract resulting in the formation of gas.
Why May Beans Cause Discomfort to Some People? Introducing beans to our diet may result in unpleasant side effects, such as abdominal cramps, bloating and flatulence. Dried beans and peas contain complex sugars (fibers and oligosaccharides) that our bodies find hard to digest.
Rinse all canned beans before using them. This reduces the amount of gas-producing sugars. (It also cuts down on sodium.) Soak twice and discard the water.
But after three to four weeks, flatulence levels for all the beans returned to normal as people adjusted to the increased fiber. Dr. Todorov points out, however, that 6 to 12 percent of the people saw no decrease in gas with any bean. “People vary in their response to different legumes,” she says.
When your body is able to digest a bean, it is able to absorb more nutrients. Canned beans can be hard to digest because they don't take the same precautions we do to soak beans fully and cook them with fresh ingredients that enhance digestion.
The quickest way of getting rid of the gas is really simple. It is a vegetable ingredient that no one ever expects to use; a carrot. When boiling the beans throw in a well washed carrot skin into the water and this will absorb the gas efficiently.