Here are a few tips for some common vegetarian items:
Legumes, with all their beneficial traits, have one drawback...they can be gas forming. It may be difficult for your body to digest the complex sugar in the legumes. These sugars can then sit in the small and large intestine and ferment. This causes the gas and bloating. If you are experiencing this discomfort during your pregnancy, give these tips a try:
- Soak beans overnight or for at least 5 hours. Drain and rinse completely before cooking in fresh water.
- Cook beans thoroughly to help break down some of the sugars.
- If you are not used to eating beans, start slowly and drink plenty of water. Gradually build-up your consumption.
- Eat slowly and do not swallow air as you are eating.
A soybean is a soybean is a soybean...right? Not exactly, just take a look at the many forms of soy.
- Soymilk: The liquid from soaked, ground, and strained soybeans.
- Tofu: Curd made from soybeans. It comes in different forms, soft, firm, extra firm.
- Tempeh: Fermented soybean cake.
- Texturized Vegetable Protein (TVP): Compressed soy flour often used as meat replacements or extenders.
- Miso: Flavorful fermented soybean paste, often used to make soup.
- Okara: Pulp fiber by products of soymilk, often formed into sandwich patties.
- Soy nuts: Whole soybeans, which have been soaked in water, then baked.
- Soy sprouts: Sprouted soybeans.
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