Why is it important to soak your beans before cooking?

It is healthy to include beans in

your daily diet. But, I have seen

many of my patients don’t have time to

soak the beans before cooking them. They think that

soaking just reduces the cooking time. What

do you do when you don’t soak your beans? You

use cooking soda so that it cooks easily. Putting

cooking soda will definitely reduce your cooking time. But

there are many health hazards of cooking soda and

it also destroys many other important nutrients presents

in your beans.  So let us understand …….

Why is it important to soak beans before cooking?

There are 2 reasons.

Reason #1:

You are knowing this one that

soaking your beans makes them

softer due to absorption of water. &, once

they are soft, cooking becomes quicker. This

saves your precious time & fuel.

Reason #2:

You may not be aware of the

2^nd reason which is much more important…

It is a well known fact that beans are

good source of protein. But,

along with protein, beans are also rich in

very important minerals for your body like

Calcium, Iron, Magnesium etc. These minerals

are well preserved in the beans by

a chemical known as ‘phytic acid’. This phytic acid

does not allow the minerals to get

absorbed in your digestive tract. As if it

keeps the minerals locked! To liberate these

minerals from phytic acid so that they can be

absorbed, an enzymes ‘Phytase’ is needed. Unfortunately,

your body can not produce this phytase enzyme.

Don’t worry…..

There is simple solution for this……

When you soak your beans in water for

long enough time (which varies for different beans), it

deactivates the enzyme inhibitors and triggers the

phytase that nullifies the effect of phytic acid. Phytase opens

the lock of phytic acid on the minerals. So, your

soaked beans are now having both the

minerals & phytase that allows your digestive system to

absorb very important minerals.

It is important for you to take nutrient rich food &

it is also equally important for you to make sure that

they also get absorbed properly from your digestive tract.

That’s all for today.

See you next week with another Tuesday Tip.

Till then… Take care….

Providing simple solutions for the complexities of life-

Dr. Bhumita Makwana

Your Dietitian & Cosmetic Clinician