Getting Jack’d by the Beanstalk — Dangers You Should Know About Legumes

“Fee fi fo fum! I smell the blood of a Legumes Leaky Gut!”

Jack kept gambling by going up the beanstalk. Eventually the giant caught on and said, “What the bleep is going on here?”

Are legumes chasing after you?

I took some literary liberties.

Sure Jack got away, but not without some stress and a lot of tree choppin’.

So you have to ask yourself a similar question about legumes, “How many times can you go back to the beanstalk?” or “Are legumes healthy or not?”

What is this “Legume” You Speak Of?

What are legumes? To simplify the legumes definition it is basically a dried fruit. You know a lot of these dried fruits as beans and peas. This also includes hummus, lentils, and peanuts.

Are legumes healthy? Now the challenge with legumes is that they are very similar to our friends known as grains. When looking legumes nutrition, you will notice it contains a protein called lectin. Lectins are basically defense mechanisms (smaller giants) that fight against predators like insects that try to eat legumes. These same Little Giants cause havoc in your body when you try to eat them. They don’t digest well.

Legumes also have protease inhibitors that make it very difficult to digest these legumes. Not only do your grains back up in your digestive tract, but they start damaging the intestinal lining and the fluids inside start flowing out in a very toxic manner. This is what is called a “leaky gut” or could be considered a legume allergy.

Fee fi fo crap!

This toxicity raises your risk for stronger or new allergies to a variety of foods. Yes even food as common as chicken. So now your diet has to become very picky. It gets much worse.

After a while this can lead to an autoimmune disease like celiac’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus. We are talking about deformed nodules on your body, serious stomach issues, joint pain, and extreme fatigue.

This translates to you a rough life whether it involves your job, activities with your family, or something as simple as going out on a date. I didn’t even get to non-autoimmune diseases like osteoporosis. You better chop that tree down quick Jack.

How Much is Too Much for Legumes?

So the question is how much can you test your limits on legumes? You might get away with it short term, but long term it isn’t worth it. Just like grains and sugars, I would avoid legumes. At least see how you do for a month without it.

It is a lot easier than being chased by a giant named Lectin.

About Cade

Cade is the founder of Know My Body. Sorry...no doctor degree, fancy gym, multi-million dollar fitness program, or label as a self-proclaimed health guru of biblical proportions. He is a common guy just like you. Maybe that helps him get you a bit better.

He has worked the past several years trying to get a grasp of "health knowledgeries" from the perspective of a person working a 9 to 5 job and dealing with the normal and not-so-normal challenges that life gives. Visit our About Page to chew on some more knowledge about Cade and how we want to help you at Know My Body.