--- airs weeknights at 7pm on SBS Food (Ch.33). All episodes are available anytime on . ---
We get it, you love your beans. You love kidney beans, cannellini beans, borlotti beans, broad beans, adzuki beans, black beans, edamame beans, soybeans, chickpeas, lentils and pinto beans.
Beans (and all legumes) are easy to love because they're just so giving. Essentially they are little nutritional powerhouses, providing fibre, protein, carbohydrate, B vitamins, iron, copper, magnesium, manganese, zinc, and phosphorous. They're also super-low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
Blue zoning out
It's little wonder that beans were found to be one of the cornerstones of the - places where people have exceptional health and longevity. The recommend a daily dose of beans.
Wait a minute - a daily dose? But surely we're now skating towards the elephant in a bean's otherwise perfectly decorated room?
"Beans and legumes are high in dietary fibre, which is great for overall health, but can cause discomfort if the body isn’t used to eating high amounts of fibre," explains Toni Gam, qualified nutritionist and Marketing and Communications Manager from the .
With three different kinds of beans in this soup, we'll assume the orchestra is warming up. Credit: Jiwon Kim
Toot, toot
Gam is, of course, being delicate. The less polite among us are already parroting the classic playground rhyme, made famous in the "" episode of The Simpsons.
Sing along if you know it:
Beans, beans, the musical fruit
The more you eat
The more you toot.
But what you might not know is that the classic English playground song used to be sung as "beans, beans, the magical fruit", and there's a second verse.
The more you toot, the better you feel
So let's have beans for every meal!
Aha! Now we're talking.
Those good digestive vibes
The fact is, farting is a natural, normal by-product of healthy digestion. In fact, the healthier your diet, the as the thriving colony of bacteria in your gut breaks down your food more efficiently.
Which is all well and good, but a diet high in fibre is more likely to produce flatulence; and beans are one of the highest fibre foods you can eat.
Beans are also super high in oligosaccharides (a type of carbohydrate found in plant food). Humans lack the digestive enzyme needed to digest oligosaccharides, so they pass undigested into the lower gut for our microbiome to feast on. This is excellent for gut health (which is important for ), but unfortunately our microbiome are, ahem, exceptionally noisy eaters.
The result of this high fibre-oligosaccharide two-punch: it can be tricky to keep your growing bean addition to yourself.
Beans up, farts down
The good news is, it's not impossible. Gam says there is plenty you can do to decrease your fart rate while you increase your bean intake (to be fair, she didn't exactly phrase it like that).
Take your time
The first is to give it time. Don't go from eating no beans to all the beans at once.
"Start by adding beans slowly into the diet and gradually increase your intake over time," advises Gam. This allows your digestive system to get used to the increased fibre intake before you add more.
This plant-based version of chilli con carne is no problem for bean eaters in the know. Credit: Jiwon Kim
Have a good soak
Next, start thinking about your bean dinner way before your first mouthful. "If you are cooking beans from scratch, soak them overnight, then drain, rinse and cook in fresh water," says Gam. The soaking process removes some of the oligosaccharides (but, fortunately for your gut health, not all). If you're using canned beans, Gam says to make sure you drain and rinse them well before you add them to your dish.
Chew on it
Next, Gam advises thinking of the digestive system as being more than just your stomach. "The digestion process actually starts in the mouth," she says. "Chew beans slowly and mindfully into smaller pieces to help prepare your body for digestion."
Take a pill
If you're after a more scientific method to quiet your bottom orchestra, there's an enzyme called alpha-galactosidase that to reduce gas production following a meal rich in "fermentable carbohydrates" (hello beans). You can buy alpha-galactosidase over the counter in pill form marketed as "anti-gas enzymes" or "digestive enzymes" or even "bean assist".
Give us this day our daily beans. Credit: Danielle Abou Karam
Go gently into that good night
If you're reluctant to take a pill to knock the oligosaccharides on their head, Gam's recommended combination of a slow intro, well-soaked (or rinsed) beans and maximum chewing time should be enough to keep the toots quieter. But if you still find yourself trumpeting your more than others are comfortable with, help is at hand.
"Sip slowly on a cup of peppermint or ginger tea," says Gam. "A gentle walk after meals can also support the digestive system and move food along smoothly."
Perhaps listen to some music as you go?
