Reacting!

When I stopped eating meat and most dairy, I decided to have my last omelette right before turning 100% vegan. I felt so sick afterwards, as if I had eaten a rock and really regretted it.

Ever since, whenever I'd eat something cooked (like lentils or peas) I'd get that same feeling of heaviness. So I decided I'm going to switch to a 99% raw diet. It's more colourful, it's crunchy, it's alive!

But today..  I thought it would be okay to have cake. Gluten-free, low-fat, made with white beans and cocoa... and I feel HORRIBLE. My body is reacting to it so badly.. I hear the food travelling in my tummy, I'm bloated, I feel nauseous...

And I found out why! Wikipedia just saved my life (I hope):

"The toxic compound phytohaemagglutinin, a lectin, is present in many common bean varieties, but is especially concentrated in red kidney beans. White kidney beans contain about a third as much toxin as the red variety; broad beans (Vicia faba) contain 5 to 10% as much as red kidney beans.

Phytohaemagglutinin can be deactivated by boiling beans for ten minutes; the ten minutes at boiling point (100 °C (212 °F)) are sufficient to degrade the toxin, but not to cook the beans. For dry beans, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also recommends an initial soak of at least 5 hours in water which should then be discarded.

If the beans are cooked at a temperature below boiling (without a preliminary boil), as in a slow cooker, the toxic effect of haemagglutinin is increased: beans cooked at 80 °C (176 °F) are reported to be up to five times as toxic as raw beans. Outbreaks of poisoning have been associated with cooking kidney beans in slow cookers.

The primary symptoms of phytohaemagglutinin poisoning are nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Onset is from one to three hours after consumption of improperly prepared beans, and symptoms typically resolve within a few hours. Consumption of as few as four or five raw, soaked kidney beans can cause symptoms.^"

^"Poisoning can be induced from as few as five raw beans, and symptoms occur within three hours, beginning with nausea, then vomiting, which can be severe and sustained (profuse), followed by diarrhea. Recovery occurs within four or five hours of onset, usually without the need for any medical intervention."

"PHA is known to be an insecticide, and plants probably developed it to keep their seeds from being destroyed by pests. In humans and other susceptible mammals (those of us without compound stomachs) PHA attacks and disables the epithelial cells lining the intestine. The body reacts to the threat by emptying the entire digestive tract as rapidly and completely as possible, to rid itself of the toxic substance"

BEWARE OF UNBOILED BEANS!!!!!!