Can I Eat Beans?
This is a question we get quite often. What we are really talking about is Legumes. A legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae, or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse.
So back to the question at hand. I would generally avoid all legumes during the entire 3 Pillar Team time period. Legumes are highly inflammatory and can cause significant gut, hormonal disregulation and insulin issues. Many people will point to the high levels of protein, for a plant. But, these are incomplete proteins which means they do not contain all of the Essential Amino Acids (protein building blocks). In addition they contain a high level of Lectins. Here is more info on Lectins ( I will translate below the info):
Lectins in legumes
Lectins are a group of glycoproteins that are present in high levels in legumes (e.g., black beans, soybeans, lima beans, kidney beans and lentils) and grain products [73,74]. Lectins can reversibly bind to carbohydrates without altering their covalent structure [73]. The ability of lectins to bind to and agglutinate red blood cells is well known and used for blood typing<hence the lectins are commonly called hemagglutinins. Lectins also can bind avidly to mucosal cells and interfere with nutrient absorption from the intestine [75]. Because the ability of the lectins to cause intestinal malabsorption is dependent on the presence of enteric bacteria, it has been hypothesized that lectins may also produce toxicity by facilitating bacterial growth in the GI tract [76].
Lectins isolated from black beans can produce growth retardation when fed to rats at 0.5% of the diet, and lectin from kidney beans causes death within two weeks when fed to rats at 0.5% of the diet. Soybean lectin produces growth retardation when fed to rats at 1% of the diet. The castor bean lectin ricin (one of the most toxic natural substances known) is notorious for causing deaths of children, and has been used as an instrument of bioterrorism [75].
Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) is a lectin found in significant quantities (as much as 2.4!5% of total protein) in legumes such as red or white kidney beans, green beans and fava beans. PHA has a number of different properties, including the ability to induce mitosis, affect membrane transport and permeability to proteins, and agglutinate red blood cells. Rats fed a diet containing 6% PHA exhibit weight loss, associated with malabsorption of lipid, nitrogen and vitamin B12 [76]. PHA from red kidney beans inhibits sodium and chloride absorption in the rabbit ileum, indicating that PHA can affect electrolyte transport in the gut [77]. Symptoms of toxicity to PHA in humans such as nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea occur within three hours of ingestion. Recovery generally occurs within four or five hours of onset [78].
There are no FDA regulations or guidelines restricting the presence of lectins in food, but the FDA does provide recommended cooking practices prior to consuming legumes. Concentrations of PHA (and other lectins) are higher in uncooked than cooked beans. A raw, red kidney bean can contain up to 70,000 hemagluttinating units (hau). Most lectins are reduced by moist, but not dry heat. Therefore, steaming or boiling causes a significant reduction in concentrations of lectins in beans. Boiling for at least ten minutes has been shown to reduce hau in beans by 200-fold. Because cooking temperatures under 176 °F do not destroy lectin, use of slow cooking and/or a crockpot is not advised for cooking beans [79].
TRANSLATION:
Lectins are bad. They cause progressive health issues when consumed in high quantities over a long period of time. It is one thing for a healthy individual to eat some legumes once in a while but it is quite problematic for an metabolically unhealthy person to consume. The amount of inflammation all ready in this persons body can overwhelm they immune capacity to keep the lectins at bay.
