Are Raw Beans And Potatoes Healthy? Are They Good To Eat On A Raw Food Diet?

by Yasmin Alaverdi
(North York)

Yasmin's Question:

I was wondering if beans are okay to eat? Considering that they have to be cooked.. also same question for potatoes? Can it be eaten raw?

Andrew's Answer:

Hi Yasmin.

Short answer: no, avoid them.

Long answer:

Neither beans and potatoes are going to do you any favors.

Both require cooking to become palatable, a process that saps the nutrients from food and creates carcinogens.

Potatoes:

Green potatoes and potato sprouts/foliage should not be eaten under any circumstances.

Potatoes contain toxic compounds called glycoalkaloids, of which the most common are solanine and chaconine. This poison, when not lessened through cooking and peeling, can cause headaches, diarrhea, and cramps; it's meant to drive away predators, like yourself.

Nongreen potatoes are less likely cause you problems, but they're still not a good food choice. Can you make a meal out of raw potatoes?

Do they really taste good without being dipped in salt or other flavoring agents? Do you feel well after eating two or three, or does the remnants of the meal sit in your stomach like a rock?

I think you'll find that it's best to pass over potatoes and go for easy-to-digest fruit.

Beans:

Dry raw beans, which is what you usually find in bags at the store, cannot be digested well at all. You'll likely get quite sick trying to eat them.

They become fairly edible if you soak and sprout them, but that's still not a good idea, and you'll probably end up with gas at the very least if you try to eat them in this state.

Even cooked, when most of the toxins inside them have been destroyed, beans are not good idea (aside from the damage done by the cooking process).

Legumes are notable for their high levels of both carbohydrates and protein, and we tend to digest them poorly, as evidenced by the gas that we get after consumption.

There are several reasons for this. One is that humans produce very little of the starch digestive enzymes known as amylases when compared to legume-eating animals like pigs.

Another is the stomach produces incompatible digestive acids to digest protein and carbohydrates. In our natural foods, fruits and leafy vegetables, protein and carbohydrates are generally together in only minimal quantities.

Beans, however, are high in both. Kidney beans, for example have a caloronutrient ratio of 70 percent carbohydrate, 28 percent protein, and 2 percent fat.

If you understand food combining principles, you'll understand that when our stomach acids fail to digest a food, it starts to putrefy and produce alcohol through the fermentation process, which gas is a byproduct of.

Exceptions: Some legumes can be eaten raw with little digestive stress. For instance, very young green beans, eaten small and tender, before the leguminous sections are large, are more like a vegetable than a legume. I enjoy growing these in my garden, and eat them as a snack or put them in salads.

Most people can digest small amounts of raw peanuts (a legume, not a nut, despite the name) fairly well.

Following Up:

Learn how to eat a healthy raw food diet.

Figure out what foods to are healthy and harmful here.