Eating more beans and lentils but

[Anonymous]

I'm so gassy when I do. I'm trying to eat less meat for health/weight reasons and have been substituting beans and lentils, which I love. I just don't know what to do about the bloated, gassy feeling I always get. Do other people have this issue? Any suggestions? It's embarrassing!

[Anonymous]

https://www.beanogas.com/

[Anonymous]

Two things besides medication:

1. Overcook your legumes. The softer they are, the easier to digest.

2. Eat them more often - your body will adjust.

[Anonymous]

Not sure if it's true or not someone told me if you rinse canned beans off you get less gas when you eat them.

[Anonymous]

Probiotics and OTC antigas pills taken before eating helped me. Probiotics come in lots of forms now. Whole Foods has a probiotic soda that’s delicious.

[Anonymous]

Buckwheat?

[Anonymous]

I think it's a tolerance thing. If you haven't eaten beans on the regular, your body not accustomed to them.

I've eaten beans/legumes since being a kid, and still eat them a few days a week. No gassiness issues whatsoever.

My sister eats them infrequently, and gets bloating.

You gotta give it time. Keep eating them regularly. Plus water and exercise on the regular.

[Anonymous]

GasX

[Anonymous]

If you eat sugary foods after having legumes then you will be very gassy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two things besides medication:

1. Overcook your legumes. The softer they are, the easier to digest.

2. Eat them more often - your body will adjust.

+1 especially to the second point. Ramp up slowly on any kind of dietary change like this. Remember that most of our digestion occurs because of the relationship between our gut and our gut flora, with our gut flora doing most of the work. Think of them as specialized workers. It takes time to train new employees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a tolerance thing. If you haven't eaten beans on the regular, your body not accustomed to them.

I've eaten beans/legumes since being a kid, and still eat them a few days a week. No gassiness issues whatsoever.

My sister eats them infrequently, and gets bloating.

You gotta give it time. Keep eating them regularly. Plus water and exercise on the regular.

This. Plus: soak them in cold water with a few inches of kombu, in the fridge, before cooking. Even lentils! I used to have an issue with both beans and lentils until I started soaking them. If I get out of habit eating them, I need to slowly ramp back up.

[Anonymous]

I love GasX, and it’s definitely true you need to increase fiber slowly. But some bodies just cannot handle a ton of fiber. Don’t feel like you have to shove yourself full of it.

[Anonymous]

If cooking instead of canned, soak your beans for several hours, pour off the soaking water, rinse in cold water and cook in new water. Sounds like a lot but it only takes five minutes to pour off old, rinse, then add new water to the pot. As an alternative, you can bring beans to a boil in water, then turn off stove, cover and soak for a couple of hours.