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aeiger

RECIPE: Digestive problems?

aeiger
17 years ago

It seems the healthier we eat the more "fragrant" DH and I become. We love curried chickpeas and all kinds of beans and lentils. We have something like this 3 or 4 nights a week. Pasta and veggies other nights. We do eat dairy, like home made yogurt and a little bit of chicken each week.

I know that pre soaking beans helps but as I have a 2.5 hour commute each way, I often use canned beans.

Are there any herbs we can take? /Abi

Comments (3)

  • lpinkmountain
    17 years ago

    Some people add epazote to bean dishes as they are cooking. I add it to chili.

    Beans also cook well in a slow cooker/crockpot. Soak overnight, then drain and cook all day in broth on low, come home to yummy bean soup or stew. Don't add salt or vinegar or lemon, it toughens the beans. Salt after they are cooked.

    Beans are best eaten early in the day. Eating lots of beans for dinner at night, especially if you get home late is not a good idea. Eat beans in moderation, they are a rich food and don't sit well in your stomach for long periods of time. So eating earlier in the day when your digestive system isn't on low is best. Bean soup and bean pasta and bean salad for lunch. Small amounts of beans at night, for an early dinner. That will help a lot. Of course there's "Beano" but I've never used it.

    You can get epazote at Penzeys Spices, mailorder

    Here is a link that might be useful: Penzeys Spice Company

  • kamla
    17 years ago

    Yes, eating beans and other heavy to digest food earlier in the day really helps. That said, our main meal of the day on weekdays is dinner and we try to eat as early as possible usually 6:00pm. And we make dishes involving either beans and/or lentils almost everyday. If it does get late, dinner is really light, something like plain yogurt mixed with plain steamed white rice at room temp. with a grated carrot salad and a salted lemon pickle on the side - you need to acquire a taste for this dish though, we grew up on such fare.

    Eating plain, unsweetened yogurt, using fresh ginger and asafoetida(hing in Hindi) while cooking Indian dishes(if you make them) with beans/lentils all aid digestion.

    - Kamala.

  • nuitjasmine
    17 years ago

    I've read that one way you can render beans more digestible involves a series of water drainings. To do this, you presoak the beans, then throw out the water. Then partially cook them for 30 minutes and throw out the water, then either partially cook again and throw out the water and add to final dish for complete cooking or just add them to the final dish after the first parboil. This allegedly gets rid of some of the insoluble fibers that are undigestable and cause gases to form.

    I am just not too sure about how much the nutritional value is adversely affected by discarding the cooking water. I have tried this, and noticed better digestion. My SIL and a few other family members also said that the bean stew was easy to digest...and I hadn't mentioned my new cooking technique, so I think it does make a difference.
    Good luck!

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