Green beans, snow peas, green peas, and other green legumes encapsulated in pods are often questioned in the Paleo world. Are they Paleo? The short answer is yes, but here’s why.
When we say don’t eat legumes, it’s because legumes have certain anti-nutrients in them, like phytic acid and lectins. Phytic acid binds to the minerals magnesium, calcium, zinc, and iron in your gut and removes them, unabsorbed, from your body. And lectins are sticky little suckers that can glom onto your gut lining and wreak havoc on its integrity. Not good.
However, nuts and seeds also contain these things, and you’re still “allowed” to eat those on the Paleo diet. And that’s because we’re assuming you’re not going to fill half your plate with nuts and seeds like you might with lentils or black beans. It’s a quantity thing, and so it is with green beans and snow peas. Yes, those things contain those anti-nutrients, but if you’re not eating them by the shovel-ful, you’ll be just fine.
Also, the greener the plant, the less phytic acid and lectins it contains. Here’s an awesome article from the Weston A Price Foundation on phytic acid – where it’s found and how to get rid of it (partially) in foods like beans and grains. Green beans actually only contain trace amounts of phytic acid. And the lectins and the phytic acid are mostly found in the seed itself – not the pod.
So eat your green beans, snow peas, and even your green peas on occasion. Just don’t make them a staple or a large proportion of your plate and you’ll be just fine.
Anyone have any other thoughts on these delicious little pods?
4 Comments
celia
Thank you so much for writing this post. I was very curious about this as well.
Sasha
I thought green peas are the fruit of a seed pod. Making them not actually a legume, but technically a fruit.
From wikipedia – “A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum.[1] Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit,[2] since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a (pea) flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking.”
Also both can be eaten raw, whereas a bean cannot.
Pam Russell
how much is too much ? if fresh green beans are not available, will canned be ok (rinsed) and 1 cup 1/2 cup.. ???
Neely Quinn
Pam Russell – I really wouldn’t worry about the amount of green beans you eat. And canned veggies will always do in a pinch, but just know they have fewer nutrients in them than frozen or fresh.