Bean Sprouts - in or out?

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I don't know why this never occurred to me before, but I was wondering... Where do things like bean sprouts figure in?

I realize beans are off the list of foods we're designed to eat. But once the "seed" has sprouted and is becoming/has become the bean plant, is it no longer considered a seed/bean? Can we chow down, at this point? I'm just wondering if the seed toxins are out of the way, at this point.

Thanks!

[Nancy LC]

Beans are legumes so not allowed under strict intrepretation

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Beans are legumes so not allowed under strict intrepretation
Right, but that's because beans are seeds of that plant.

But this is not a seed. It's a very young bean plant. The stem and perhaps a leaf. It's no longer a seed. Paleo generally prohibits foods in which the entire food item is a seed - grain, legumes, potatoes.

So, this is kind of borderline... At some point, the seed is no longer a seed but the plant itself, and it no longer contains those toxic chemicals that are designed to protect seeds in general. Articles I've read by doctors and scientists have explained that, at some point, the seed activates to become a plant, and in doing so, the toxins within are "shut down," so to speak. But I've never seen them address sprouts like this.

So, I'm wondering if bean sprouts have ceased to contain the seed-oriented toxins that Paleo avoids...? Or if they're still too close to being seeds to be healthy...?

[Nancy LC]

Like I said, under the rules, it would be out. But if you want to reinterpret you're certainly free to.

The reason that beans (legumes) are out, other than not being something our paleo ancestors supposedly ate and had ample time to adjust to, is that they contain a lot of lectins and phytates, which grains do too. In fact, beans have a TON of lectins which is why you can't eat them raw without getting lectin poisoning. This is just a natural defense the plant has to keep from being eaten. So you probably want to figure out what sprouting does to change that, if anything. It might be the plant itself also contains a lot of those.

As far as I know, sprouted seeds are fine. That would include sunflower seeds.

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Sunflower seeds are "sprouted seeds?" Wow, I'd never heard that, before. I'll have to check that out.

[rightnow]

Well you don't have to use beans. You could sprout radish seeds or a zillion other types of seeds -- a mix of salad veggie seeds sprouted, including some radish and mustard, are really awesome, some spicy. Once they sprout it's a plant, as you said.

[Baerdric]

I actually ran a sprout farm in my youth, and one of the advertizement things we used was how even poisonous seeds became edible when sprouted. I would eat Polk berry seeds sprouted to prove it.

But I still would hesitate to use bean sprouts. Beans retain much of their bean for quite sometime after the best part of the sprouting. For the same reason I would avoid sprouted wheat and some other grains. Most other seeds turn that all into seed leaves instead.

But the common alfalfa sprout is good as are the other sprouts PJ mentioned. Sprouted sunflower seeds are sprouted, but other wise not. Sprouting is easy and once you get a cycle going it is a good way to get fresh salad greens in the winter. Most sprouts are higher in protein than similar seeds or leaves.

I haven't looked up the carb count of alfalfa sprouts, but it's got to be fairly low.

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Wow, awesome info, Baerdric! Thanks muchly! :read::thup:

[Binko]

Back before I ever even heard of Paleo type diets I went through a period where I was doing a lot of sprouting. There is a place online called Sproutpeople that sells excellent mixes of sprouting seeds. The best ones had alfalfa, and mustard and radish seeds as well as more exotic seeds like fenugreek and arugula. Great in salads and on sandwiches.

But sometimes I'd see recipes for things like sprouted lentil salad or a hummous made of sprouted chickpeas and I'd try them. These would NEVER sit right with me. Like Baerdric said, even after considerable sprouting, the majority of the starchy mass of the bean was still whole.

So I learned from personal experience to really enjoy the sprouted small seeds of vegetables and herbs but to avoid sprouted legumes of any kind.

[Wifezilla]

Radish sprouts are darn tasty

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Although I don't think I've found anything conclusive, I do appreciate all the info on both sides, and at this point, until I see more concrete evidence otherwise, I will choose to avoid sprouted legumes, to be on the safe side.

Thank you again, everyone! :read::thup:

[Nancy LC]

Sunflower seeds and radishes wouldn't be considered legumes. I'd love to try the radish seed sprouts. I wonder if you can sprout pumpkin seeds?

[rightnow]

Sure you can -- I do in spring when I start seeds. :-) Like beans and cukes and stuff, they are BIG sprouts.

[ruthla]

Bean sprouts really can't be eaten raw anyway. They need to be lightly cooked for optimal digestion. So I'd say no, definitely not Paleo by any of the definitions I've seen.

[Baerdric]

Uh oh... I've eaten about a ton of mung bean sprouts raw and never purposely had one cooked.

Seriously, I probably ate a pound or two a week for years and years. I never really liked them, but it was part of the plan, to eat sprouted beans for the "full range of proteins". I always thought they tasted bitter and too "green". Now that you mention it, I wonder if that was my body telling me that some of those "phytonutrients" were really phytotoxins.