Monday, July 13, 2015

Are Legumes Paleo





Many people wonder are legumes paleo. The Paleo dogma on legumes is that they are not paleo and should not be consumed.

However, there are many varieties of paleo. While the earlier versions of paleo were extremely strict, many modern paleo dieters are not married to the early paleo dogma and have relaxed the restrictions based on newer evidence that may not have been available to the early paleo adopters. 

We cannot know exactly what our ancestors ate. But we do know is that there wasn’t any one diet back then just as there is no one diet being consumed by mankind today.

 Are Legumes Paleo - Paleo Dogma


 
Paleo dogma says legumes are not paleo and should not be consumed mainly for these two reasons:


  1. They were not part of the ancestral diet
  2. They contain lectin and phytic acid which are toxic antinutrients
 


Are Legumes Paleo


Dr. Stephan Guyenet posted an article in November 2013 titled Beans, Lentils and the Paleo Diet.

Dr. Guyenet said in part:

“there is good evidence of widespread legume consumption by hunter-gatherers and archaic humans, and that beans and lentils are therefore an “ancestral” food that falls within the Paleo diet rubric”

“Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were a hominin species closely related to modern humans.. evidence is accumulating that their diets also featured a variety of plant foods, including wild legumes and grains.”

Dr. Guyenet also identified several contemporary hunter-gatherer groups that consumed significant amounts of legumes, including the !Kung San of the Kalahari desert and the Australian Aborigines.


The claim that legumes are not paleo does not hold up according to Dr. Guyenet.

While it’s true that this information was not available to the authors of early paleo diets, it is available today.


Are The Antinutrients In Legumes Toxic?


Paleo dogma holds that legumes contain toxic antinutrients called lectins and phytates or phytic acid and should therefore not be consumed. Let’s take a look at how they came to this conclusion and whether or not it makes sense.


Lectins In Legumes


Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins that are found in all foods and legumes do contain a high concentration of these antinutrients. Those who say we should avoid legumes point to studies which mentioned problems that could result from eating lectins such as damaging the lining of the small intestine, destroying skeletal muscle and interfering with the function of the pancreas.

We always need to take a close look at studies to make sure they were designed in a way to provide credible data and not structured to prove a point. We need to ask whether or not these studies really show that legumes are harmful when consumed as part of our diet.

We need to ask:


  1. were the animals fed abnormally large amounts of lectins
  2. were the animals fed raw legumes

Why? If the test subjects were fed amounts of lectins much higher than we could possibly consume, it does not follow that normal consumption would be harmful. The question regarding raw legumes is important because we usually eat cooked legumes and cooking just happens to neutralize the lectins found in most legumes.

As to the small amount of lectins left after cooking, the simple carbohydrates in legumes will bind to the proteins and minimize the antinutrient activity.


Are Legumes Toxic


There is one study that is often used in the paleo community to prove we shouldn’t eat legumes. However, on closer examination we see that the study reports a case of food poisoning which resulted from red kidney beans that were not cooked properly. To use a study like this to say we shouldn’t be eating kidney beans is engaging in hyperbole or possibly trying to misinform people.

People rarely eat raw legumes. There have been cases of people getting ill because they were served undercooked legumes, but a more appropriate response would be to educate people on the importance of preparing food properly.

Are Legumes Paleo - Conclusion


Some people are married to dogma. Dogma is defined as a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. When confronted with new evidence, people who are married to dogma dig deeper to find reasons to resist change, rather than making changes that would incorporate the new information.

If it is important to you to follow the dogma of the early paleo diets, then by all means don’t eat legumes. Frankly though, I don’t understand the reasoning.

Beans and lentils for example have a lot going for them. They’re satiating because they are rich in protein and fiber. They are also nutritious and a low cost source of vitamins and minerals that are alway available regardless of the season.

Why not eat food that is both nutritious and inexpensive if you like the taste and can tolerate it well.

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