• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Alyssa Luck

Alyssa Luck

  • About Me
  • Deep Dives
  • The IBD Index
  • Functional Orthodontics
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Contact Me
  • Show Search
Hide Search

The Bean Protocol for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease

Alyssa Luck · Mar 17, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Summary: The bean protocol is a nutritional approach that has exploded in popularity as a cure-all for everything from acne to severe Crohn’s disease. The theoretical mechanism of success centers around soluble fiber and its ability to improve detoxification by interrupting enterohepatic circulation. While there are many scientifically sound mechanisms by which this protocol could be beneficial for those with IBD – including support for the liver, nervous system, and microbiome – certain claims are dubious and verge on the pseudoscientific (to be explored in a future post). Overall, the protocol provides an excellent framework for a health-supporting diet and lifestyle for those with IBD, but care should be taken to avoid getting so caught up in the particulars that individual needs or relationship with food are disregarded.

Note: this article is part of the IBD Index. Last updated on July 9, 2022 (added bullet point about vitamin A detox as a potential mechanism).

I’ve personally been experimenting with a bean-protocol-esque diet recently, and I plan to start delving into the science (or pseudoscience) behind it in the near future. Follow me on Instagram for personal content related to the bean protocol, as well as snippets of research as I work on an in-depth “Science Behind the Bean Protocol” blog post.

Table of Contents
Who came up with the bean protocol?
What is the bean protocol?
Is there scientific evidence to support the bean protocol?
How might the bean protocol help with IBD?
Are there any risks to the bean protocol?
        FODMAPs and tolerance of beans
        Food relationship and quality of life
Resources

Who Came Up With the Bean Protocol?

The bean protocol was developed by Karen Hurd in response to her experience saving her 18-month-old daughter’s life. Her daughter was dying of liver failure following organophosphate poisoning from an insecticide, but doctors couldn’t figure out what was going on and were unable to help.

Hurd’s frantic research led her to the discovery of enterohepatic recirculation: the process by which bile and some fat-soluble toxins are re-absorbed from the intestine. She immediately began administering psyllium husk to her daughter on the basis of evidence that soluble fiber binds to bile and fat-soluble toxins, preventing their reabsorption and enabling their elimination. Her daughter began improving almost immediately, and now lives a normal healthy life as an adult.

Hurd took the principle of “soluble fiber to eliminate toxins” and turned it into what she now calls “the bean protocol.” The protocol is being increasingly employed in the treatment of health conditions from acne to IBD, with rather impressive anecdotal success.

Of note, although the bean protocol is Hurd’s brainchild, Unique Hammond – who initially learned about the protocol from Hurd – has taken it and run with it, becoming the primary “bean protocol” presence on social media and the main source of information, courses, and consulting.

What Is The Bean Protocol?

For specific details about what the protocol entails, I think you’ll have to purchase Unique Hammond’s course ($195). Karen Hurd has quite a few courses of her own, but they’re health condition specific, and I don’t see a basic “this is the bean protocol” course from her.

Anyway, the gist of the protocol is to eat small amounts of beans (from 1 tbsp to 1/4 c) several times per day (like 3-8x) to support the natural detox that comes with the binding and elimination of bile (and any associated fat-soluble toxins). Beans are emphasized for their high soluble fiber content, but also for their nutrient density and general health-promoting properties. Certain versions of the protocol (for particular health conditions) also recommend supplementing with psyllium husk, harkening back to the bean protocol’s heroic origins.

Other bean protocol guidelines (in addition to eating lots of beans) include:

  • No caffeine
  • No alcohol
  • No sugar (even fruit)
  • No dairy
  • No fatty/processed meats
  • No saturated fats (even coconut oil)
  • No supplements
  • Eat 1.5 cups of salted nuts per day
  • Don’t eat fat at the same time as beans*
  • Drink plenty of warm or room-temp water (not cold!)
  • Avoid fragrances (even essential oils)
  • Get plenty of rest
  • Avoid intense exercise

*My understanding is that this guideline is to maximize the bile/toxin-binding potential of the soluble fiber, rationale being that dietary fat will bind to the soluble fiber present in the meal and reduce its ability to bind bile/toxins further down in the gut. This means that the requisite nuts should be eaten as snacks, away from the beans. I believe that for certain conditions such as constipation, the bean/fat guideline is eliminated (heh).

Is There Scientific Evidence to Support The Bean Protocol?

I didn’t mention this earlier, but Unique Hammond has an incredible story of recovery from severe Crohn’s disease. That’s how she ended up on the protocol to begin with, and why she’s such a passionate evangelist for it now. So at the very least, between her and the dozens of other success stories, we have anecdotal evidence for the success of the bean protocol in IBD.

Scientific evidence, however, is another matter entirely. Although the bean protocol has exploded in popularity just in the past year or so (thanks in large part to the Expanded podcast and Juli Bauer from PaleOMG), I think we’re still a long way from any bean-protocol-specific clinical research, so we’ll be stuck with mechanistic theories for the foreseeable future.

But as far as mechanistic theories go, there’s a lot to dig into with this protocol. A lot. The science behind the bean protocol will eventually get its own post, because it’s a veritable playground for physiological theorizing and dot-connecting, and the mix of hard science with pseudoscience with hard-science-pretending-to-be-pseudoscience with pseudoscience-pretending-to-be-hard-science is endlessly fascinating to me. So be on the lookout for a bean protocol scientific exegesis from me sometime in the not-too-distant future.

How Might The Bean Protocol Help with IBD?

But for now, without getting too deep into it, there are several factors I can see that could contribute to positive outcomes for IBD.

  • Microbiome support: the polyphenols and prebiotic fibers found in beans are known to support the health of the intestinal microbiome and increase butyrate production, which is vital to colonocyte health.
  • Diet quality: the bean protocol is, almost by definition, an extremely nutrient-dense, high-quality, whole-foods diet.
  • Removal of food irritants: caffeine, alcohol, sugar, and dairy are common food irritants for those with IBD; this diet eliminates them altogether.
  • Improved detox: for all the protocol’s sometimes pseudoscience-y overtones, enterohepatic circulation is a very real thing, and can indeed result in the recirculation of toxins. And soluble fiber does interrupt this process. (The question of whether beans deserve any special recognition in this process vs. other soluble-fiber-rich foods is another question for another post.)
  • Liver support: this is one topic I want to delve into much more deeply, but at its core, the bean protocol appears to be an optimally liver-friendly diet. From drastically reducing the burden of “stuff” the liver has to process (scents and other environmental pollutants, supplements, caffeine, alcohol, and even fructose) to improving detox capacity (per the above bullet point), the bean protocol is probably pretty close to what I would consider an “ideal” liver-friendly diet, were I to devise one. And liver health is vitally important to overall health, in IBD patients or otherwise.
  • Nervous system support: another topic I want to explore thoroughly. The elimination of caffeine and alcohol, the emphasis on getting plenty of rest, and other factors generally promoted as part of the “bean protocol lifestyle” may contribute to calming an overstimulated sympathetic-dominant autonomic nervous system, which is common in IBD and chronic illness in general.
  • Reduction of endotoxin burden: yet another topic I desperately want the time to dig into. This ties into many of the above bullet points (microbiome support, improved detox, and liver support), but also potentially into the protocol-specific requirements to a) eliminate saturated fat, and b) keep fat away from soluble fiber. Based on my preliminary research, both of these factors may reduce the absorption of bacterial lipopolysaccharides (or endotoxin), which would be a huge boon for anyone with IBD or other gut issues. (Click here for some discussion of this topic in the context of a high-fat ketogenic diet.)
  • Blood sugar regulation: dysregulated blood sugar can be a significant stress on the body, and there’s plenty of research that fiber-rich foods, and beans in particular, lead to more balanced blood sugar.
  • IBD-friendly “intro diet”: Hammond recommends the “white diet” at first for anyone who has severe gut symptoms; I don’t know the specifics, but I believe it’s basically what it sounds like – mostly refined starchy foods and maybe some gentle protein to allow the gut to calm down. The fact that the protocol has a built-in “on-ramp” of sorts for those with severely debilitating gut symptoms probably increases the chances of success.
  • Vitamin A detox: if Grant Genereux is even a little bit right about vitamin A toxicity playing into autoimmune disease, that could easily be a mechanism by which the bean protocol works – by supporting the liver and bile detox, the body will eliminate excess vitamin A more efficiently. And the “white diet” mentioned above is likely low in vitamin A, unless someone is eating liver.

As you can see, there’s much to recommend the bean protocol, regardless of its sometimes pseudoscience-y presentation and lack of hard clinical evidence.

Are There Any Risks to The Bean Protocol?

FODMAPs and tolerance of beans

From a physical health perspective, I think the diet is a great option for a long-term dietary pattern. My only concern would be the ability of someone with IBD to tolerate significant quantities of beans, which are a high-FODMAP food.

I do wish the protocol placed more emphasis on properly preparing the beans (ie, soaking them overnight and draining/rinsing prior to cooking), because soaking helps reduce galactooligosaccharide content and makes them much easier on the gut.

This post from Electric Vitality talks more about the FODMAP concern, as well as some concerns regarding SIBO. I definitely think it’s an important consideration, but assuming the beans are properly prepared, I don’t think that an initial intolerance to beans (ie, increase in gut symptoms like bloating) necessarily signals that beans are a bad food for that person.

In some cases that certainly may be true, but all evidence indicates that the intestinal microbiome adapts to dietary constituents over time, so we have every reason to believe that an initial intolerance to beans would decline over time, leaving the person with hopefully improved gut ecology.

Food relationship and quality of life

The main risk I see for the protocol is potentially creating or exacerbating an unhealthy relationship with food (ie, orthorexia). A related concern is the potential for interfering with social life or travel.

The highly specific rule to not mix beans with fat, as well as the strict elimination of entire food groups (dairy, fruit) and caffeine/alcohol, has the potential to trigger unhealthy food obsession in susceptible people. I see no problem with these things as short-term interventions (in fact, I think many of them make a lot of sense), but that level of strictness probably isn’t healthy long-term if it starts to create fear of certain foods or avoidance of situations where the strict diet can’t be maintained (travel, social situations, etc).

Unique Hammond (as the main source of bean protocol wisdom) does a wonderful job cultivating a positive and empowered (as opposed to limited) mindset around food in her online community, but she definitely messages that the protocol should be followed with strict adherence, and even seven years later, she herself rarely eats fruit, and never eats sugar.

This obviously works extremely well for her, but I don’t think there’s good evidence that that level of strict adherence is necessary or optimal long-term for most people. In fact, fruit and dairy can be extremely health-promoting foods for some people, so care should be taken to avoid categorizing these foods as “bad.”

The main message here is the same as with any strict dietary strategy: food is powerful, but a diet that works for others may not necessarily work for you, and remember that there’s more to life than food.

Resources

  • Karen Hurd’s website
  • Unique Hammond’s website (she’s also active on IG)

You can also just google “bean protocol” and loads of stuff will come up. Like I said, it’s exploded in popularity in the past year!

Related

Therapeutic Diets for IBD bean protocol, Crohn's disease, detox, enterohepatic circulation, microbiome, ulcerative colitis

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

 

Hi! I’m Alyssa. I like thunderstorms and cats, hate wearing shoes, and enjoy devising extensive research projects for myself in my free time. This is me in Bali with a monkey on my shoulder. And this is my blog, where I muse about health-related topics and document my relentless self-guinea pigging. If you want to know more about me, click here!

alyssa.luck

alyssa.luck
If you've seen "vagus nerve exercises" that have y If you've seen "vagus nerve exercises" that have you moving your eyes or tilting your head, you've probably encountered the work of Stanley Rosenberg. The exercises he created and introduced in his 2017 book now appear in instructional videos all over the internet. 
 
The book itself has much to recommend it: it's accessible, it's practical, it's inspiring. But it has one major flaw: the solid practical and informational content regarding the cranial nerves is framed in terms of the scientifically dubious polyvagal theory. 
 
I particularly enjoyed the book as an introduction to the therapeutic arena of bodywork, of which Rosenberg is a skilled practitioner. His book is full of case reports that demonstrate how immensely powerful extremely subtle movements and physical manipulations can be. These do need to be kept in perspective: it's a small sample size of the most remarkable cases, and the results were achieved within the supportive clinical environment of a skilled practitioner. You can tell from his descriptions how refined his technique is. But nevertheless, it was a paradigm-shifting read for me, and the exercises give you something concrete to play around with. 
 
The book also brought the cranial nerves and the concept of “social engagement” to the fore as arbiters of health. Rosenberg has a solid background in cranial nerve anatomy and shares many interesting tidbits and considerations that you don’t typically hear; for instance, the potential impact of dental and orthodontic work on cranial nerve function.
 
So, is it worth reading? If any of the above piques your interest, go for it! Just read my post on polyvagal theory first – you can use the book to practice separating the wheat (solid informational content) from the chaff (pseudoscientific framing). If nothing else, the book is a nice reminder that genuine healers who get lasting results for their patients do exist.

But if you just want to try the exercises, you can easily find them all on YouTube. 

“You learn techniques to understand principles. When you understand the principles, you will create your own techniques.” -Stanley Rosenberg
I first stumbled upon polyvagal theory during the I first stumbled upon polyvagal theory during the course of my heart rate variability research. I was surprised to encounter it again "in the wild" shortly after, in the book "Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve." Before long, I saw it popping up everywhere, (Baader-Meinhof, anyone?) 
 
Digging deeper, I discovered scientific controversy bubbling just beneath the smooth surface of polyvagal theory's popular presentation. Three months later, I posted a 13k word analysis of the topic. 
 
The technical details are far below the level of practicality for the average person, but the way polyvagal theory has propagated outside of academia has some important ramifications for clinical and scientific progress. 
 
In the wake of a wave of health complaints that our current medical model is poorly equipped to treat, it's clearer than ever that a new paradigm is needed. The grassroots push to emphasize diet and lifestyle factors has been a huge step in the right direction, but it's becoming more and more common to see people who have done everything "right" and are still struggling with persistent health complaints that could range anywhere from mildly annoying to debilitating. 
 
What we need is a genuine integration of mind and body in medicine – not the weak lip service that our current paradigm pays to "stress reduction," like the vague suggestion to relax more and maybe try meditation. And if we're going to develop a sophisticated mind-body medicine, we need a sophisticated mind-body science. And if we want a sophisticated mind-body science, we must subject such topics to the same standards of inquiry as we expect from molecular biomedicine. And that means rejecting pseudoscience like polyvagal theory. 
 
Full analysis and references at alyssaluck.com/polyvagal-theory-a-critical-appraisal
To continue my recounting of the health things I'm To continue my recounting of the health things I'm experimenting with, let me tell you about DNRS: the slightly cheesy, arguably outdated “brain rewiring” program that has changed my life. 

I found it because I was looking for ways to “retrain” my nervous system. I watched some success stories. None of the “target” health conditions matched mine, but I went for it anyway. Probably the best decision I’ve ever made for my health. 

The core of DNRS is built on the principles of neuroplasticity. They call it "brain rewiring" because you intentionally take triggers that would normally stimulate a negative response in your body or mind, and associate them repeatedly with neural signals of safety. If that sounds pseudosciencey, I hear ya – one of my goals with future posts is to bring some concreteness and specificity to the topic. I imagine there are lots of people who could benefit from this type of thing who are turned off by the overly abstract or touchy-feely language. 

There are tons of "brain rewiring" programs like DNRS, but they're all built on similar ideas. Most bring in elements of other popular approaches, ranging from the scientifically validated (cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, acceptance and commitment therapy) to the type of new-agey stuff I always scoffed at (shadow work, inner child work, parts work). 

For me, DNRS has provided the perfect framework to finally achieve what meditation experts and therapists and mystics alike are always advocating – the ability to step into the role of “curious observer.” It's given me everything therapy and meditation promised but could never deliver, helping me recognize my own patterns of thought and behavior and consciously redirect unhelpful ones. If this sounds vague, that's because there isn't a single area of my life that hasn't been improved by using this framework. 

I spend far more time in states of joy and peace and gratitude, and less time in states of anxiety or depression or frenzy. Many chronic worries that used to occupy my mind or keep me up at night – whether related to health, relationships, or my future – have disappeared, and the others are on their way out. (Cont. in comments)
Isn’t it crazy how something can be so easy and Isn’t it crazy how something can be so easy and natural for one person, but so hard for another? 

Me doing food: I can totally cook everything I eat from scratch, no prob

Me doing mental health: just doing my hour of daily mindful cognitive gratitudinal journalization

Me doing physical therapy: I can’t do it I don’t have that muscle

I’ve done many hard things in the name of health, but I think they’ve all been the types of hard things that come naturally to me. And frankly, that hasn’t gotten me where I want to be. 

So I’ve decided to finally tackle something that feels very unnatural: developing a real relationship with my muscles and bones, and learning - through experience, not from a book - how they coordinate with each other and how to use them. 

I never really considered my musculoskeletal system a key player in autoimmune or digestive woes, but now I realize it’s naïve to think dysfunction in one part of the body doesn’t affect another. And since this is so obviously my weakest link, it’s high time to make it a priority!

Even though I’ve done strength training in the past, I never dedicated the time and focus to figure out what my body actually needed to function better, and workouts often felt awkward or led to injury. 

I’ve always dreaded PT-type exercises because they felt simultaneously like “not enough” and also SO HARD, especially when there’s no way to confirm whether I’m doing them “right” (my nightmare). 

But I’m pretty sure the fact that targeted “mind-muscle” work is so hard for me means it’s what I need the most. (That’s how that works, right?)

Anyway, I’m happy to report that I’m finally through both the initial phase of being a giant baby because I have to do something I’m bad at, AND the second phase of neurotically worrying about doing it “wrong.” And hopefully I’m on my way to better posture, improved breathing, and greater strength! 

Super thankful to have people in my life who remind me to have fun and stay curious, when my natural disposition is to write a 27-step plan to “fixing” everything “wrong” with me. And to remind me that it is, in fact, a JOY to be a novice at something (as @_john_the_savage_ would say).
"If your nervous system is balanced, your heart is "If your nervous system is balanced, your heart is constantly being told to beat slower by your parasympathetic system, and beat faster by your sympathetic system. This causes a fluctuation in your heart rate: HRV." (whoop.com) 
 
This statement is a formidable example of one of the biggest misconceptions about heart rate variability (HRV). 
 
HRV is highest during rest or sleep, when sympathetic input is lowest. If HRV was the result of an autonomic “tug-of-war,” why would it be greatest when one of the contenders has entirely dropped the rope? 
 
Part of the misunderstanding may stem from failure to recognize that the heart has an intrinsic rate, well above the resting heart rate maintained by the vagus nerve. Varying vagal impulses create HRV without any sympathetic input at all. 
 
There are many other common misconceptions, such as the notion that HRV metrics measure autonomic tone, or that HRV itself is a metric with one interpretation. 
 
Such misconceptions aren’t only found in layscience – they also pervade academic and clinical literature. For instance, you’ll see LF used as a measurement of “sympathetic tone” and LF/HF as a measurement of “sympathovagal balance,” even though it’s been clear for decades that those interpretations are not physiologically accurate.
 
This post (and the associated article at alyssaluck.com/hrv101) can be thought of as “foundations for understanding HRV research.” And it provides a good example not only of the insufficiency of “sound-byte” science, but also of real science in action. 
 
The unfortunate reality is that we can’t always take researchers’ conclusions at face value. Few have the time to adequately assess a field before adopting one of their metrics, and once a misinterpretation has taken root it can easily become an accepted fact that propagates through repetition, becoming more entrenched with each published paper.
 
Thankfully the ramifications in this case are not very serious - misdirection of experimental design and analysis, and many false statements, but no dire consequences. Nevertheless, it’s a good reminder that science is a human institution, and it never hurts to question oft-repeated “facts.”
My latest diet experiment: the bean protocol! This My latest diet experiment: the bean protocol! This was one of the changes I made immediately prior to my drastic increase in HRV. 

Brief background: the bean protocol entails eating lots of soluble fiber (particularly beans) as a way to support detox. It rests on the assumption that most chronic health issues are the result of fat-soluble environmental toxins, excess hormones, and other fat-soluble things being recirculated in the body rather than eliminated. 

There is some scientific merit to this: the liver does eliminate many toxins and other compounds through the bile, these things can be subject to reabsorption via enterohepatic recirculation, and certain types of fibers do interrupt this process by binding bile, preventing reabsorption and allowing excretion in the feces.

That said, there are many unanswered questions that would need to be answered for me to be on board with that as the sole or even primary explanation for the anecdotal success of those on the protocol. I think there are almost certainly other mechanisms at play, and I doubt things work exactly as proponents of the protocol describe. 

But at the end of the day, what matters is not mechanisms, but practical outcome. And whatever the reason, it works for many! It seems especially popular and effective for hormonal issues and acne, but the preeminent bean spokesperson @uniquehammond cured her severe Crohn’s with it. 

For me, I experienced better digestion and clearer skin, among other benefits (like not having to wear deodorant). On the less-good side, I lost weight I didn't need to lose, had cold hands and feet, and developed some dry patches on my skin. 

(The dry patches [and perhaps weight loss] were probably because I kept fat too low – mostly because their favored fat source, nuts, is a no-go for me.)

I'm continuing to experiment, hoping to find a balance that lets me reclaim the benefits (which I lost after returning to my normal eating pattern) while avoiding the pitfalls. I’ll share any exciting developments, and will eventually dig into the science behind it too. 

For info about what the protocol entails, you can visit alyssaluck.com/the-bean-protocol-for-ibd!
Load More Follow on Instagram

Recent Posts

  • Polyvagal Theory: A Critical Appraisal
  • Lymphatic Support for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease
  • Heart Rate Variability 101: What It Is, How It’s Measured, and Controversies in the Literature
  • Autonomic Nervous System 101: Anatomy and Physiology
  • Vitamin A Detox Diet for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease

Recent Comments

  • chris on Polyvagal Theory: A Critical Appraisal
  • Alyssa Luck on Quitting Controlled-Arch Braces [AGGA 2.5-year update]
  • Shannon on Quitting Controlled-Arch Braces [AGGA 2.5-year update]
  • Alyssa Luck on Vitamin A Detox Diet for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease
  • Adrian on Vitamin A Detox Diet for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Monochrome Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in