Beans and Legumes on GAPS: Varieties and Preparation

GAPS names certain beans, lentils and peas for ordinary use, with preparation and digestive-readiness requirements. The 2020 book also has a specific double-fermentation recipe that permits a wider mixture.^[1][3] Keeping those two routes separate prevents both unnecessary exclusions and unsupported substitutions.

The Ordinary Recommended List

The Full GAPS section names dried white or navy/haricot beans, dried or fresh lima beans, string beans, lentils and split peas. It says other legumes are too starchy for the ordinary route.^[1] Fresh string beans and a dried bean still need to be recognized as different food forms.

The list is not a reason to swap any bean into any recipe. It is also not the end of the book’s discussion: the later double-fermentation method has its own carefully stated exception.

Why the Short List Is Short

The book describes antinutrients and starches as reasons legumes can be difficult to digest. Preparation and readiness both matter, including for a variety on the ordinary list.^[2]

Preparing Dried Legumes

For dried beans, lentils and peas, the book requires at least 12 hours of soaking, preferably longer, followed by draining and thorough rinsing. After soaking and rinsing, ferment or sprout the dried legumes before cooking them well, as the book requires.^[1][2]

Use the complete method for the actual ingredient. Soaking, sprouting and fermentation are not identical processes. The book excludes commercial bean flours because the beans have not been properly prepared before grinding. Its nut-allergy baking substitute is properly prepared, cooked and mashed white navy beans, rather than an unspecified raw bean flour.^[1]

The Double-Fermentation Exception

In “Double-Fermented Beans,” Campbell-McBride permits any mixture of beans, lentils or dried peas because that specific recipe uses double fermentation. It uses lactic-acid fermentation followed by an alkaline fermentation with Bacillus subtilis from a natto starter, with the recipe’s cooking and handling stages between and after the ferments.^[3]

This permission belongs to that complete method. It does not mean an otherwise excluded legume becomes an ordinary GAPS food after a quick soak or a single unrelated ferment. The chapter also says some people cannot tolerate legumes even after extensive preparation. It does not promise that the method works for everyone.^[3]

Wait for Digestive Readiness

The food-group section waits until diarrhea and other digestive symptoms have completely cleared. The later fermentation chapter says legumes may need to be avoided for quite a while, sometimes years, before digestion is ready.^[1][3] These passages do not give legumes a universal early-Intro stage.

In More-Plant GAPS, the book again allows properly prepared legumes when they can be digested. The preparation does not replace the readiness requirement.^[3]

Which Route Does My Recipe Use?

Check the variety and every preparation stage before substituting. Our sprouted navy bean chili and navy bean and pork hock soup use named navy beans. They should not be relabeled as the book’s double-fermented mixed-legume method.

Plan the Whole Preparation

Choose the method before shopping, then allow time for all of its steps. If legumes are not yet tolerated, use other foods that already fit rather than rush them into the menu. Our GAPS food list keeps the wider choices together.

The Crock & Jar course is listed in my WFLI Shop.

For the related food-group details, read our nut and seed guide.

References

1. Campbell-McBride, Natasha. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “Beans, Legumes and Pulses,” ordinary recommended varieties and preparation.
2. Campbell-McBride, Natasha. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “Beans, Legumes and Pulses,” digestive readiness.
3. Campbell-McBride, Natasha. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “Fermented Legumes,” “Double-Fermented Beans,” and “The More-Plant GAPS Diet.”