The sudden rise in the number of people who report cases of
constipation especially after eating beans and beans product should be of
concern to many. This has also increased the occurrence of duodenum ulcer, a
situation with higher occurrence in teenagers and adolescent than you can ever
imagine. Anti-acid products are now selling fast as many people need them to
deal with the constipation, heart burns and possible ulcer symptoms. What
definitely can be the cause of the strange development? Why are we struggling
to get what we eat digested?
Earlier posts have shown that there is an indiscriminate use
of pesticides to preserve grains especially, beans, maize as well as yam
flours. This is done usually to prevent weevils and other pests from infesting
the products especially during storage. This means there are pesticide residues
in most of the foods we eat and as such we must have been ingesting quite an
injurious amount of this pesticides in our system. Can this be the reason we
are having problems with digestion or is it causing a break down of the Gastro
Intestinal tract?
The digestive system involves a lot of microbes naturally
present within the system that helps with the process of digestion. The
microbes helps in break down of fibre and cellulose through fermentation,
metabolize bile acids and ensure that there is smooth removal of waste
materials from the body. For example, in beans, it contains some complex
cellulose compunds that can not be digested ordinarily by the digestive tract.
It takes the help of the combined microorganisms in the stomach to break down
the complex cellulose into gases and this is taken out of the body when we pass
out the gas during farting.
High pesticide residue in food can lead to eradication of balance in composition of
microorganism flora in the digestive system. The pesticides are potent enough
to kill the microbes thereby leaving us with a task of digesting fibres,
cellulose and bile acids without the help of the microbes as it should be. This
means the food remains in the system with delayed digestion and as such we end up
with a complex mix of indigestible fibre that fails to be fermented and
sometimes bring up bad odour back into our mouth. The bile acid could also lead
to some heart burn and then you become a regular customer of the anti-acid
products in the pharmacy.
Many people who have noticed this occurrence have stopped
the eating of beans believing it is the cause of the problem and their guess might
be right. Beans is however one of the cheapest source of protein for the
average Nigerian family and contamination and avoidance may be a bad signal.
This same reason is why Europe rejected this product from Nigeria. If it is not
good for them, it definitely is not good for you too.
To ensure you avoid this situation, you need to buy your
food products, especially grains, from a source where you are sure they don’t
add pesticide to their products. Look around for a safe food store around you
for healthy purchase. If you still can not get a good source for your grains,
let me suggest some useful actions to reduce the pesticide content of your
grains
1.
Wash your grains with a solution of 50% food
grade vinegar before cooking. The pesticides are likely to dissolve in the
solution and you can throw away
2.
Wash the grain with salt solution(brine) and if
possible soak it for a minute before washing off. Any remnant pesticide will be
washed off the grains into the salt solution
3.
After boiling the grains in hot water for about
five minutes, drain the water away, wash and continue cooking. The pesticides
are heat labile and they will definitely be removed from the grains through the
boiling water.
If you notice that you have been having repeated
constipation and it seems you have been relying on laxatives to relieve your
tummy, let us discuss a brief solution that may be helpful. Get fermented foods
like yoghurt, locust beans, fermented pap and any other fermented food
products. Consume this products from time to time as they have the ability to
repopulate the microbial flora of the digestive system for you to have the friendly environment for easy
digestion again. This process may take a while but it is a sure way to get back
a balanced system.
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