the more eat the more you....

I've been a little backward more than once in my life but this is silly. I know lots of folks have "troubles with bubbles" in the beginning when they suddenly switch to a way of eating that's higher in fiber than they are used to but eventually things even out. Me? Ever since I started down the road to better health back in January of this year I've been adding 1/2 cup of beans of some kind to my lunch salad. Never so much as a peep from my tummy. Sometimes black beans, sometimes pinto, garbanzo, kidney. Never a problem. All of a sudden I'm having *issues*. The only difference is, this time, I made a pot of beans from dried instead of using canned. Even though the canned beans are "organic", do they do some sort of processing that makes them easier to digest or something? I have been taking echinacea and a little extra zinc to ward off some sniffles - do you think that could be effecting my digestion? This ever happen to anyone else? Sure hope it, um, passes soon.........

Are you soaking then rinsing your beans before you cook them?

Don't cook dried beans in the water you soak them in! Soaking and rinsing will get rid of most of the compounds that cause "music" to occur.

Organic should have nothing to do with it. I wouldn't think it'd be your supplements either, now if you've had antibiotics recently that could contribute to digestion issues.

Yup - soaked overnight....

Then drained in a collandar and rinsed thoroughly then cooked in fresh water. (Gotta admit that while they were soaking I was having lazy thoughts about just putting them on to boil in the water they were in but, took the cover off the soaking pot and thought better of it )

Maybe it's those sniffles I was talking about? Not the beans at all but a bit of a flu bug?

Ohmygod, my change to healthy eating wrecked complete havoc on my system. I was a menace for at least a year. It seems to have settled down now. Mostly.

Add Beano! It's a must if you eat beans.

I don't typically have bean or fiber "issues", but DH does. I like to tell him it just means his colon is working. Lol. Really, it's a natural process and nothing to be embarrassed about as long as you don't go asking people to "pull your finger."

Maybe it is just a flu bug? I haven't heard of there being any special processing in the canned variety. Although since they are essentially pressure cooked and softer, maybe the fibers are broken down more?

I'm thinking it might have been the bug after all (whew ) since the "issue" seems to be subsiding along with the sniffles and sore throat. Thought it odd to suddenly pop up after almost a year without a peep Thanks for the input..

The more you eat homemade beans, the better your body will adjust and you will eventually have less gas and at some point no gas. I was raised on beans and we have a pot of beans (all different types) at least once a week. I and my family rarely have gas problems. I find that when we do it is because we ate beans out somewhere, so I'm sure it has something to do with the way they were cooked. HTH some

I love beans and I never have any gassy problems....

I've been having all sorts of "issues" since I've switched eating. It makes me feel better to think they might eventually end.

I always thought I wasn't getting enough fiber so I started eating Fiber One bars with disastrous consequences. There is a lot of hype about eating the daily required amount of fiber, and I think most people think because of the advertising that they aren't eating enough to begin with.

Since I have started intensive calorie counting down to the micro level (protein, carbs, fat, sodium, cholesterol, fiber, and calcium), I have learned that I have been eating enough fiber all along. In fact most days I exceed it with a 1200 calorie diet. I use a subscription based website to record all my calories and it graphs where I am each daysfor my meal intake compared to the daily recommended levels of all those elements.

I have been seeing a doctor every 6 months complaining that I thought something was off in my digestion and she thought I was either A) Lactose intolerant or B) had Irritable Bowel Syndrome. And actually I was eating more fiber which was the whole problem.

So I guess I would suggest that you search the internet for a nutritionist's recommendation of the amount of fiber grams you should be eating and compare that to what you are eating and see if there is a difference. You could be piling on more fiber than you need.

Really there is no such thing as too much fiber. I eat lots of fiber (about 100g/day) and don't have gastrointestinal issues. If you add on a bunch of fiber at once, you can have issues but if you build up to it, you should have no problems. High fiber diets have been linked to positive health so fiber is good for you

For me, the healthier, more "fibrous" I eat, the less gassiness.Conversely, these days when I eat something fatty, greasy (especially fatty meat) and/or too sugary I sure make myself and those unfortunate souls around me suffer. Beans? Never a problem. The only fiber overdose I ever had was after a Fiber One bar binge... ouch, ouch, ouch...

Glad to hear that it seems to have cleared up, yoyo!

My last fiber post, and then I am off.

The National Cancer Institute recommends 25 to 35 grams of fiber per adult person. More fiber is NOT necessarily better. Also from the NCI:


I"t’s possible to get too much of a good thing, though. Eating 50 or more grams of dietary fiber a day may decrease the amount of minerals your body absorbs, especially zinc, iron, magnesium and calcium. Too much fiber can increase the speed at which food moves through the digestive tract, allowing too little time for some vitamins and minerals to be absorbed, and excess fiber intake can cause gas, bloating, and diarrhea, which can cause a loss of nutrients."

Just like anything (including water), too much or too little is not beneficial.