I have been on a sprouted bean kick lately.
I sprout MUNG, various LENTIL, and Red beans

I eat them raw, but they seem to give me gas...

I was listening to a rengade health show online and they said that they are better streamed than raw - easier to digest and such....
And steaming does not cause the damage that other forms of cooking causes....

I am wondering how necessary sprouts are in a raw diet,,,'
I know there are 2 schools of thought in regards to this, so all advice is welcome!

I sprout and eat mung and lentils.
They have never given me any discomfort.
I would assume that steaming would destroy the enzymes in them,and so make pointless the reason to even eat them.
I think they are the purist most living food you can eat,especially if you sprout your own and eat them right away.
Brian

Hi rawnr

No food is better steamed than raw.

For reasons why, see

[debbietookrawforlife.blogspot.com]

(includes a section on pulses)

I don't eat sprouted beans basically because I don't like them very much. But I DO like sprouted peanuts (the jungle peanuts), which are a legume like beans.

I'm finding out though that they actually digest better for me when I eat them UNsprouted. I sure do like them. Of course, the fresher, the better.

Hm. I haven't had sprouted garbanzos in a long time. Kinda sounds good.

I agree with debbietook: "No food is better steamed than raw".

yeah steaming you loose abouttt...11% of the water-soluble vitamins -- in the water, but if you use the water, you're using the straight up vitamins that were "lost"; and cooking beans is said to make them more digestible. I know it de-activates something in legumes..some kind of toxin, I forgot what it was called.

cooking anything brings out other vitamins to an active level and destroys some -- it also makes some things easier to digest and some vitamins/minerals easier to get to, depending on the food. I would just google and see what you can find

i know a lot of people would probably disagree with the fact that it's said enzymes of plants don't actually do anything for people -- they were for the plant -- it's human enzymes that help people, and we make our own. Enzymes in raw meat actually aid in digestion..but I wouldn't want to do that. Anyway..science is forgotten a lot of times; people just hear things and believe them and want to spread them around so more people tell them, but the ones that do that rarely look up other information on it which as been studied.

So I would google things for yourself rather then ask a question that needs more science and proof to back it up, which I can only provide so much of what i've read. i forget easily haha, and probably leave a lot of what i've read out. ah!

anyway, don't feel guilty for steaming a vegetable.
i'm not sure about sprouts and stuff

At ann wigmore they put them in Energy soup. They say its better for digestion when you sprout them.

I love beans, always have, they leave me feeling really good and satisfied. I never had trouble digesting them until I started eating them sprouted and raw. I keep trying them over and over, I have for the past few years, but I can't eat them raw on a regular basis. So I eat them in soup, no vitamin leaching. Many long-lived peoples have eaten beans and there are various benefits--so if you like them, have them as part of a high-raw diet. Otherwise, no loss.