I've been exploring the paleo diet more fully, recently. I never quite got why legumes/peas/beans were verboten. The caveman diet includes foods that were or can be hunted/gathered--meat, locally sourced vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruit. Beans are a fruit, sort of, so what's the prob? It seems our forebears would not have eaten beans and legumes because they grow a naturally toxic substance to ward off insects. Eaten raw, they're darn near poisonous. Here's the scariest part--yanno how everyone's on a no-peanut kick because so many people supposedly have a peanut allergy? (They don't--real anaphlaxis allergies are super-rare. Most allergics are intolerant at best. And if you avoid foods you're not allergic or intolerant to, you give yourself an allergy. Same with gluten-free, struth!)
But anyhoo--scary part: Peanuts are lowest on the legume chart, toxin-wise. Beans top the list. So, is this why I get digestive cramping and that not-so-pleasant gaseous issue after eating them? That's partly the fiber talking but could it also be my body saying, uh-uh, no good.
But I don't plan to eat them raw--and therein lies the rub, or part of it. Cavemen would not cook beans or nuts. Meat, arguably, when fire was discovered and early people found they liked BBQ better than raw. But back to beans. Dr. Oz did the unthinkable warning folks off beans-- vegan/vegetarian is so much healthier, right? Meh. And beans are just as good as meat for protein right? Definitely not. Beans have less protein but also less digestible protein that doesn't give the body what it needs. And legumes cause cause belly fat and bloating. Hmm, reasoned I, belly fat and bloat with little protein--perhaps I'll give this bean-avoidance a try.
But anyhoo--scary part: Peanuts are lowest on the legume chart, toxin-wise. Beans top the list. So, is this why I get digestive cramping and that not-so-pleasant gaseous issue after eating them? That's partly the fiber talking but could it also be my body saying, uh-uh, no good.
But I don't plan to eat them raw--and therein lies the rub, or part of it. Cavemen would not cook beans or nuts. Meat, arguably, when fire was discovered and early people found they liked BBQ better than raw. But back to beans. Dr. Oz did the unthinkable warning folks off beans-- vegan/vegetarian is so much healthier, right? Meh. And beans are just as good as meat for protein right? Definitely not. Beans have less protein but also less digestible protein that doesn't give the body what it needs. And legumes cause cause belly fat and bloating. Hmm, reasoned I, belly fat and bloat with little protein--perhaps I'll give this bean-avoidance a try.
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