Accidental intake of lima beans!

[emi]

It really was accidental! When I informed the server of the food groups I can't eat, I forgot to include legumes (in fact I had never done so before), and when she pointed out the one dish I could have that was everything-allergy-free, I said okay without thinking too much about it (my bad!). I got a casserole type of dish containing an egg in a ton of tomato sauce with some veggies. Only after I ate some I noticed that there were lima beans in it, and I definitely ate about 10-15 beans. I didn't notice them for a while because they were covered by red sauce. It never occurred to me to look out for beans because I never ever eat any and it just never crossed my mind, I rather forgot they exist.

 

I'm on day 13, and I'm definitely not starting over. I'm going on vacation abroad one month after my whole 30, and I need to have the outcome of my reintroductions settled before then. I'm thinking about 3 weeks for my reintroductions because I want to add things back slowly and specifically. So that gives me maximum of a week to extend the plan. I'm thinking that I will decide when I'm near the end, if I'm feeling good enough, I might stop there, but if I feel like I should go a bit more, I'll do a few more days. I still don't feel better in any way, I'm pretty bloated, have digestion and energy issues, but there are other complications (I caught a cold at the beginning of my whole30, some ongoing menstrual problems, probably too much cauliflower/broccoli was causing issues) so no way to know where to lay the blame for that.

 

My question is, how much effect could ~10 beans have? Is there anything I should watch out for if I don't add any extra days? Also, if I don't add extra days, do you think I could make up for it by reintroducing legumes last and keeping them off my diet in the meanwhile?

[Tom Denham]

I am so sorry, but this is a problem. If you are sensitive to legumes, ten Lima beans would irritate your gut, effectively hitting the reset button on your Whole30. You can't tell if you are sensitive if you don't take something out of your diet for 30 days in a row, so even though eating them was accidental and was "limited" in scope, it potentially restarted irritation in your stomach. And if the beans did cause irritation, it also means that your gut won't be 30 days healed before you test other foods. 

 

I personally don't notice much of an issue for me with beans of any sort, but some people do. If you ignore this incident, you might come out at the end just fine, but if you are one of the people sensitive to legumes, you might not get as much out of the process you have started as you otherwise would. 

 

If what happened to you had happened to me, I probably would ignore it, keep going, follow my established plan, and go on vacation as scheduled. Then when I came back from vacation, I would start another 30 days of the Whole30 and see how it goes. Part of why I say that is I continued my first Whole30 for about 4 months because I liked how I felt and did not want to stop. 

[emi]

I understand, I was already considering doing the AIP for my Hashimoto's, so I will probably start that after I return from vacation. I'll just complete this one and use it as a time to fix my unhealthy eating habits and wound my sugar dragon.

 

I appreciate your kind reply

[MeadowLily]

Our Manifesto: Legumes

 

Legumes are a botanical family of plants that include dozens of varieties of beans, lentils, garbanzos, peas, soybeans, and peanuts. (Note, the coffee, cocoa, and vanilla “beans” are not, botanically speaking, legumes, and thus are excluded from this particular discussion.) While eating plants would generally be thought of as healthy, the part of the legume that we eat is actually the seed of the legume plant. As with grains, the seeds of legumes store a large amount of energy in the form of carbohydrate, which may or may not support healthy metabolic function (pending your individual context and health history).

 

Legumes are often recommended as a healthy dietary choice, based on their fiber, vitamins and minerals, and “high” protein content. But legumes aren’t really a dense protein source (most contain two to three times as much carbohydrate as protein), and they’re nowhere near as dense (or complete) as the protein found in meat, seafood, or eggs. In addition, when compared to vegetables and fruit, legumes pale in comparison in both micronutrient density and fiber.

 

Some legumes also contain considerable amounts of phytates — anti-nutrients which bind to minerals in the legumes, rendering them unavailable to our bodies. (This means some of the minerals technically present in the legumes aren’t able to be accessed by our bodies — and means that legumes aren’t as micronutrient-dense as nutrition data might suggest.*)

 

*Ancient cultures figured out that rinsing, prolonged soaking, cooking, and fermenting legumes reduces the anti-nutrient content. If you choose to eat legumes, we highly recommend you also take these steps to mitigate some of the potential downsides.

 

In addition, because some of the short-chain carbohydrates (sugars) found in legumes aren’t properly digested and absorbed in the digestive tract, they can act as food for bacteria living in the intestines. These bacteria then “ferment” these carbohydrates, which can create unpleasant symptoms like gas and bloating, and potentially contribute to gut dysbiosis – an inherently inflammatory condition.