Braving the Beans (and Whole Grains)
Jun 15th, 2009 by Sri Lalita
In Russia, they say “Eat your breakfast yourself, share your lunch with your friend and give your dinner to your enemy .” This saying points to the importance of eating light and not sleeping on a full stomach. Ayurveda also warns us against overeating, especially eating after sundown. To follow this traditional wisdom allows us to truly make breakfast a time to “break fast”. In our family, we choose to make our midday meal our heaviest, when the sun is high and our agni is strong in its ability to transform our food to reap the nutritional max.
Then, What About Dinner?
I’ve been experimenting with my approach to dinner for a long time and one of the main things I’ve noticed is that a meal with lots of animal protein at night doesn’t suit. Instead, I tend to offer the big chunks of meat–the pork butt, the chicken thighs, the venison, the meaty stew, whatever–with the main midday meal. After all, meat might best be regarded as a high-nutrient condiment. In fact, Michael Tierra at East West School teaches that traditional cultures who regularly eat meat consume “no more than a pound a month on average” (East West Herb Course, 1981, 1999 rev).
I was never quite a “meat and potatoes” kind of cook. Still, I have to admit that without a beautiful cut of meat as flavor inspiration, and without even a small, succulent meatball mixed with all my special secret seasonings on the side to get my culinary creativity on board, I’ve had to search to figure out what to do with dinner. With meat redirected to lunchtime, I’ve had to confront my fear of beans and whole grains.
Now, if you know me, you know that only a year ago, I would have stopped reading at the first appearance of the word ‘bean’ and my mind would automatically have switched radio stations to play “Beans, beans: good for your heart…!” At Berkeley Ayurveda, we’d rather see clients eating white rice than the dreaded, improperly prepared brown rice which cause gas and other vata difficulties by straining the digestive tract. Same with other whole grains.
But, traditional cultures knew how to make these whole grains–and even beans!–digestible. How?
Are Whole Grains and Beans Appropriate for the Human GI tract?
When I studied Ayurveda with Dharmanidhi, he taught us that our bodies are structured to utilize animal proteins and vegetables best. He showed us that we are ill-equipped to digest whole grains and beans as we normally cook them. After all, cows have four stomachs and produce the enzyme phytase to be able to handle grains in their diet. Dharmanidhi pointed to recipes using all manner of animals meats in the Ashtanga Hrdayam and other classic Ayurvedic texts to remind us that Ayurveda is not a vegetarian medicine and that meat may be necessary to treat certain patterns of illness. With this inspiration, many in the kula have tried what he dubs the “Hunter Gatherer” diet of meat and veg alone (with certain guidelines not to be discussed here) and have had wonderful results. However, such a diet is impractical for many–many who wish to eat consciously if not so extremely. The human system may in fact be equipped to digest whole grains and beans well, but only if they are prepared properly.
When prepared improperly, whole grains and beans can be vata-provoking (read: gas–but, if you’re a newbie to Ayurveda, tuck in the back of your mind that there’s much more to it than just that). Despite the promising vitamin, mineral and even protein content listed on the labels for whole grains and beans, our bodies are not able to reap these nutrients unless we cook whole grains and beans in a traditional manner. Phytic acid in whole grains and beans binds with phosphorous and inhibits the proper absorption of many necessary nutrients, including calcium, magnesium and especially zinc. (Note: Overdose of these minerals can be problematic for some, so always bear in mind the importance of being intimate with your own health as pertains to your personal dietary needs.)
The result of phytates is gunk in our system, an overworked GI tract, poor absorption, assimilation and, of course, many common accompanying diagnoses seen today that point to a run-down or inefficient system, including fatigue, depression, etc. Sure, the healthfood craze of the 1970’s and 80’s was a timely reaction against the overly processed, white flours and bleached grains that had dominated our modern diets–as it does to this day–but those healthfood “pioneers” neglected to look at the practices across cultures that has made these whole grains and beans safe and digestible: soaking and fermenting.
From African injera bread to Mesoamerican nixtamalized masa to Indian idli cakes, soaking and/or fermented grains and legumes has been practiced around the world for thousands of years. These ancient culinary techniques neutralize phytic acid and make food more digestible and delicious. This means less vata in our food, and if we ferment carefully, we can also guard against excess pitta, too.
Next time, we’ll look at how to do this at home. Recipes to follow.
