Though I'm not a bean expert, I will say this: two of the most severe and common allergies in the world are soy and peanuts. This is not the case with other beans, peas, and lentils. I would think that would suggest soy and peanuts have an immunogenicity far beyond other legumes.

Soy is also loaded with phytoestrogens, and peanuts are not uncommonly tainted with aflatoxin, which is toxic and one of the most carcinogenic substances you're going to find outside a lab.

Additionally, legumes like lentils and chickpeas are comparatively lower in phytates than soy and peanuts, reducing their capability to bind up other nutrients.

Cook them well to break down the lectins and don't make them a staple, but there's likely no reason to avoid them entirely.

I think the answer is that no legumes at all puts you in the stone age of paleo whereas limited legumes puts you in the bronze age of paleo.

I think we're fine as long as we don't dip our toes too often into the iron age - unless it is to make free weights, then dip and squat as much as you want.

An easy way to deal with this issue is to simply concentrate your antinutrient-rich foods into their own meals that are separate from the meat/organs you eat. They won't interfere with each others' digestion and you won't really lose out on any nutrition.

I'm currently reading The Jungle Effect, by Daphne Miller. It's pretty similar to Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, by Weston Price. She traveled the globe looking for very healthy cultures, which she found in remote, unmodernized places not yet overly affected by civilization.

Legumes were a staple in several such cultures: (properly prepared) corn, beans, etc. I know chickpeas and lentils are featured in other traditional diets.

Anything eaten in large amounts by very healthy cultures should probably be presumed non-toxic until specifically shown otherwise, IMO.

It seems like "Paleo" is drifting closer and closer to WAP.

High fat dairy, supplementation, and the use of traditionally prepared grains and legumes have also blurred the line.

I'm personally not against this, as I am all for "Wise Traditions" and continued examination of how our bodies are affected by foods (and if something is found to be benign there is no reason to exclude it simply because it is "not Paleo".)

This seems to fall in line with what I was speaking to in my question/post about the "naturalistic fallacy".

http://paleohacks.com/questions/63188/just-because-something-is-natural-is-it-good-lets-hack-the-naturalistic-fallac#axzz1Y98JMc5b

In his podcast with Robb Wolf, Dr. Harris noted that if you start just focusing on antinutrients as a way to measure how good/bad a food is you're in for a mess... his example was that sweet potatoes have more antinutrients than white potatoes.

Just anecdotally, I'm hugely allergic to peanuts and most other nuts, but never noticed any issues when eating beans.

I think much of the basis is that the non-soy and non-peanut legumes don’t seem to be well correlated with the diseases of civilization. I have heard that in the US that bean consumption peaked during WWII then went downhill from there. It seems at times that when people adopt a more Western diet, legumes are often pushed aside in favor of other foods. This blogpost kind of explores the scientific issues and rationales: http://www.paleo-diet.co/2010/09/beans-and-paleo-dieting/

Why not see how they affect you, personally, by eliminating them for a long enough period of time (30 days or so) and then add them back in? We're all different and so what may bother one person doesn't bother another.

One of our office mates during the Whole 30 challenge cut out all dairy and as soon as he added it back in we could ALL TELL how much more phlegmy he was - it made it easy to tell if he had slipped over the weekend. :D Wouldn't the same apply in practicing elimination of suspect ingredients for a time? Perhaps certain legumes affect different people in different levels?

According to AllergyNet, lentils "seem to be the most common legume implicated in pediatric allergic patients in the Mediterranean area." Methinks legumes are legumes, and your sensitivity depends on how much you (or your parents) are exposed to their proteins.

http://www.allallergy.net/fapaidfind.cfm?cdeoc=863

Personally, before I draw any conclusions, I would like to see if Mark Sisson and/or Loren Cordain have altered their stances. On legumes other than soy or peanuts. I think (but am not sure) they believe that if you cook beans enough, ferment them, etc. you eliminate or break down many of the antinutrients (mostly lectins). But it would be good to hear their most recent thoughts. Anybody have any updates from them? If not, maybe it's time to email them.

I would tend to agree with maurile that these non-peanut, non-soy legumes' status as a staple in the traditional diets of "very healthy cultures" is a point in their favor. And I can add the anecdotal evidence that despite my very touchy digestive system, beans (soaked, then cooked in fresh water) have never given me gastric distress—I've always found reports of flatulence and other digestive issues overstated. I am told that those effects may be more pronounced in people who have been eating a low-fiber diet (like SAD, and some VLC paleos), though, so paleos introducing these legumes might have some initial trouble adjusting—this seems to me comparable to "low-carb flu" as an acceptable transitory discomfort rather than to an indicator that humans and legumes just aren't meant to live in harmony.

Soy and peanuts are genetically altered to produce the Bt toxin which is a lectin. To reduce potential resistance patterns from developing in exposured pests, high genetic expression and protein expression are built in which means higher concentrations of the lectin in the GMO product.

Unfortunately soy and peanut are one of the most allergenic fodos only recently not the past 15+ and 20,000 years. Why? Probably GMO and subsequent gut ripping effects of the Bt Lectin.

It is no wonder to me there are epidemic rates of gut dysbiosis, autism/ASD, infertility, cancer and autoimmunity in just the last 10 yrs since the introduction GMO foods and their crops for livestock, dairy and eggs.

Lectins are now found in the blood of moms and their fetuses who are presumably consuming GMO products (potatoes, corn, soy, peanut, canola, cottonseed, sugarbeets, etc): somloquesembrem.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/arisleblanc2011.pdf

Courtesy of Mon-satan

Beans are not that bad when prepared the ancestral way -- soaked and well cooked. If however one has food allergies due to dysbiosis and beans cause a reaction, best to avoid until the gut is sealed and normal again.

I've had some pretty awful experiences with beans, but not lentils, which much mean the fibers in them are a little different because my symptom with beans is very bad gas and diarrhea and I'm definitely not overstating that.

Of lentils, soaked skinless lentils seem to be the most harmless for me. I eat them every two weeks or so.

I've been thinking of legumes lately as the weather is turning colder: my 6 year old's favorite dinner is split pea soup. Split peas can't be sprouted, but I'll soak them. I think it's important to distinguish between things that can be had in moderation and things like trans fats and soybean oil that I avoid like the plague. That all being said, eating beans stops my weight loss, and I still have a bit to go, so I'm not going to be eating them regularly.

I believe that lentils, peas and some beans are safe after we have put them in water for at least 12 hours, and then we used our hands to rub them under running water, before cooking. This seems to remove most anti-nutrients and even some starches. For the safe beans, have a look at the SCD's diet list of which beans are safe to handle this way, and which ones are not.

What about green beans or aka string beans. I eat them fresh picked raw all the time.

Im doing the paleo diet and i dont understand why are ancestors had such a short life span. if this diet is so healthy why is that?

Come on. Why did the ancients have short life spans? This is one for Wikipedia. Here are some of the factors- 1/4 of woman died giving birth in those days. People died form infections that a few drops of peroxide would have stopped. No immunizations, No anti-biotics, attacked by wild animals, disease was rampant and since they did not know of germs, infections were passed on like wildfire.