All it takes is one unsightly quality and it immediately eliminates such a healthy food group from the game. No one wants to have a bloated belly, and they don’t want the additional hassles associated with it. At the same time, bloating after legumes may not occur at all. And it’s not just about the lens. “Try this change when cooking!” says the editor of Recipe in the podcast.
You can listen to the podcast advice on legumes in the audio version here:
It doesn’t really matter if you indulge in legumes regularly or only eat them once a year. They can blow you up anyway. You can partially get used to their digestion and so that you can deal with them. But most often the fault is a mistake during preparation! “Try to get used to them slowly and eat them in smaller portions,” recommends Eva Všetíčková, author of cookbooks and editor of Receptář magazine, in a podcast consultation. “And try changing the water when cooking.”
Who is to blame?
Legumes contain oligosaccharides, but we do not have the necessary enzymes to digest them. Therefore, they are not processed in the small intestine like other food. They go all the way to the large intestine, where they are left to ferment so that the body can get everything it needs from them. And this is a stumbling block – it is during fermentation that unpleasant gases are produced.
The second culprit is lectins, legume protein. And while oligosaccharides are water-soluble and therefore you can reduce their content with a good old soaking, this method falls short on lectins.
A bit of a shock
So it’s simple. If you soak legumes before cooking and they still make you bloated, you may have a problem with lectins. It will help if you add, for example, sage or marjoram to the water during cooking.
And experienced cooks have one more trick. “When you slowly bring the water to the first boil, drain the legumes and cover them with cold water again,” explains Eva Všetíčková. “This shock cooling is often what will help flush out the extra dose of oligosaccharides and rid you of some of the lectins.” In addition, it helps preserve the nice color of the legumes.
