Aunt Bean,

I am trying to get a regular dose of dopamine for my fiance. I don’t have a juicer, do you have any ideas. It would be extremely helpful. We are both interested in nutritional alternatives.

He is very sensitive to the medicine and gets side effects from synthetics quickly.

Thanks

Anita

Not having a juicer is OK…If you have a strong blender or food processor…you still may be able to puree the bean pods with it and strain the juice , removing the hard fibers from the puree.  I am very sensitive to chemicals and pharmaceuticals also….that is why I have to make myself work hard to discover natural ways of getting the L-dopa my body is short on to help me function with my PD.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Aunt Bean

Greetings from Bean Acres.

It is mid August now…and the produce is really coming in. Our food regimen has changed in accordance to the available fresh veggies. I am still mostly just using the dried fava top bud tincture for L-dopa. My friend ( that I am a caregiver to) has started depending now on eating 2 pod chips a day and mucuna capsule AM and PM .

The recipe for doing the bean pods (steaming/juicing/ adding salt & sweetener and ground flax seed is on this  website as a downloadable pamphlet that I put together. I feel this is a better way to use the pods. The sprout tincture to me is a last resort for people who cannot find the beans or grow them. Actually just freezing the steamed sprouted beans works well and I wouldn’t bother tincturing them after all I have experimented with at this point.

For me , it took eating about 16 sprouts early in the morning first thing for a kick start. That lasted me until about 3 in the afternoon. Ate about 4 then and again at bedtime. My L-dopa needs are much less than some. I get a lot of exercise / sunshine and fresh garden produce.

Right now my egg plants are in and I have been consuming them…need for my tincture has gone from 6 times a day to a dropper and a half am and pm. The night shade family…peppers, tomatoes and egg plant have natural nicotine , which help dopamine receptors…helping us function more efficiently. Glen Pettibone has done a lot of research in this area and we communicate frequently about the natural things that we are trying out. I am baking and freezing large quantities of egg plant while they are producing in 1 cup amounts in freezer ziplock bags. I am amazed at how wonderful I feel…thought I felt good before, but this is better. I also have watermelons right now and they are helpful for us also.

Just had a friend recommend Barleens Lignan Flax seed oil for my constipation problem and using it this week seems to have help this considerably.

God is good.

Hope this helps. God Bless you.
Aunt Bean

Where can you buy fava beans that will sprout?

Do dried fava beans sprout?

Alex

Check local health food stores or super market grocery stores for organically grown , sproutable fava beans. Goya Brand sells favas that sprout. A lot of stores will special order some for you from their suppliers. Air dried favas will sprout, but not those that are blanched or dehydrated with heat. Bob’s Red Mill blanched dried will not sprout. We are having a good spring crop this year and I hope to save my own beans for next years planting for the first time ever. They are getting more expensive to buy in bulk. I have plenty of bought planting seeds left over this year, but they are not organic and cannot be used for food. Dry beans keep for at least 3 years and will still sprout (that is as long as I have had them in storage.

Have a blessed day.

Aunt Bean

Fava Bean Sprouts L-Dopa

I live in Texas so I won’t be able to grow fava beans until it gets cold. But if I bought the dried beans and cooked  them, can I still get some benefits as far as symptom relief?

Jeannette

Dried beans soaked and cooked up do not give much L-dopa. But, if you buy organic, sproutable fava beans and soak them in filtered water for 24 hr…then sprout them 3 days according to the instructions on the downloadable booklet on Robert’s site….they have about 2mg L-dopa per sprout. They  can be steamed lightly until chewable..then frozen and used as needed. In experimenting….it took about 16 sprouts at the beginning of my day to jump start me with L-dopa and they took about 45 minutes to “Kick IN” so my finger tapping was up to speed.  I needed 3 or 4 more sprouts about 3:00 in the afternoon and at bedtime to function efficiently just on sprouts.   Make sure you read all the precautions in the book about using favas before you start trying them.    

God Bless You.      

 Aunt Bean

Thank you so much for your wonderful website on the fava bean tincture. It has been a great help and inspiration (source of happiness and hope) for me and my father. Dad is 66 years old and has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s last year. He is not taking any medicine, but is doing all he can to lead a natural and balanced life. Both he and I believe that he can recover from the disease.

We found the link to Aunt Bean’s blog about fava bean tincture from www.parkinsonsrecovery.com. I have a few questions to Aunt Bean about the tincture making process, and really appreciated if you could forward my email to her. My dad has quite severe tremor in his right hand and also suffers from loss of power in that hand and overall low energy levels. Since he does not take any meds (I am so proud of him), we would be very grateful for replies to these questions. We live in Finland and because English is not our native language, I did not understand the recipe so well.

So many thanks for such wonderful work!

I read the instructions about how to make tincture about sprouted fava beans. However, I did not understand everything and have a few of short questions about the process.

Aunt Beans answers to questions about her fava bean tincture:

1) Do you sprout dried fava beans?

ANSWER: I sprout the organic fava seeds/beans
** Is it fine to use dried fava beans for sprouting if one does not have an access to the fresh kind?
ANSWER: You cannot sprout the fresh beans unless they are very mature, in which under the right conditions , they will drop out of the bean pod onto the ground and begin to grow if covered with soil or mulch

2) After the 4 day-period of sprouting the beans you write that you mashed sprouts in a jar with 3/4 C brandy. Do you mash both the bean and the sprout or do you separate these?

ANSWER: I did mash the bean and the sprouted growth. One batch I let grow several inches in a shallow bowl (rinsing daily) and cut up the whole bean and plant that had started. These tinctures have not been tested for l-dopa content yet…..but, praise God, I may have a professor now that is interested in natural l-dopa at the college who may test for me when he returns from India the end of January…first chemist yet that showed an interest!

3) I do not understand what 3/4 C means (sorry). Is it the same as centiliters or another unit?

ANSWER: One Cup is 16 ounces…(3/4 Cup would be 12 ounces)
does that help?

4) What do you mean by shaking it for a month? Can I just leave the mixture at room temperature (or cold?) and shake it 1-3 times a day or do you mean something else?

ANSWER: Yes room temperature is fine. I usually put them in
a cupboard in the kitchen so they are in the dark and get them out to
shake them

5) You write that a person could start with a few drops. Does this apply for both the clear tincture and the sediment or should one be more careful with the sediment i.e. if it’s more concentrated?

ANSWER: The sediment after straining out the plant material is not really more
concentrated, it just needs to be kept separate from the clear liquid that
is siphoned off because it will not keep well as far as shelf life goes

6) My last questions are about the part of the plant that is best to use for the tincture. In the recipe I read about sprouts, but in the other parts of the blog I find some information about using pods or flowers and young leaves of the fava bean plant. What is best?

ANSWER: If you are growing your own plants…you can eat the leaves or
dry and powder them to put into food (like using parsley) The flowers
make a nice tincture against anxiety and panic attacks and don’t have
to be dried before adding brandy to them. The part I use for my l-dopa
supplement usually is a cluster or bud at the top of each stem.
I separate it from the leaves and stem and break it in half if it is larger
than a half inch around and dry them in a dehydrator at low temperature
before putting them in brandy to tiincture.

Is it possible to grow the beans inside an apartment in pots?

ANSWER: If you have a very sunny window. I had one reach a foot tall in my
kitchen window…which only gets a couple hours of sun a day
It was very spindly and tall…trying to find sunshine

Sorry to post you so many questions and many thanks in advance. We really appreciate it.

ANSWER You are very welcome, let me know if this answers your questions sufficiently. I am thankful to be able to share what knowledge I have gained over the past 5 and a half years of growing favas. . Also have him try eating pumpkin seeds and passion flower extract for the tremor/ I also eat papayas, if he doesn’t have a latex allergy.

May God Bless you and Guide you as you strive to take care of your dad’s PD symptoms naturally

Aunt Bean

Below are answers prepared by Aunt Bean to questions submitted by Binod from Napel about her fava beans tincture.

Robert Rodgers PhD
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
Parkinsons Recovery

Hello Aunt Bean,

Thank you for the post about the importance of Fava beans against PD.

1> Does Fava Bean cure Parkinsons Disease or just work to control?

ANSWER: Favas do not cure…my symptoms are still progressing but taking a larger amount of tincture has still kept things under control.

2>Does it work for everyone with Parkinson’s Disease?

ANSWER: Favas do not work for everyone , just like dr. meds do not work for everyone. Also there is a condition called favism that make favas dangerous for those people. Thinking of using favas…please get a G6pd blood test to make sure you do not have favism. People on MAOI should talk to their doctor about using fava..used together can cause blood pressure spike. Fava beans are rich in tyramine, and thus should be avoided by those taking monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors.

3>Can one eat sprouted steamed fava beans after peeling them for the
best result?

ANSWER: Sprout favas/ peel/ rinse well then steam and there are endless possibilities on how to use them… ground and made into humus/ cookies/ veggie patties/ just throw steamed sprouts in at the end of stir fried veggies..yummy!

4> I could not get how to prepare tincture. Would you please tell me on this?

ANSWER: This question has been answered on many previous posts…please go back and read again

5> I come to understand Bakula as fava bean in Nepal. Am I correct?

ANSWER: You would have to consult with an agricultural person in that country that speaks english and would know if they are favas

6>The fava beans available and grown in Nepal is good for this purpose or not?

ANSWER: I do not know

7>What is the dose? How much and how many times a day to be taken?
How much time does it take for the positive result to come to patient?

ANSWER: Everyone with PD is so different and it has happened from different causes. Everyone’s needs are different and each person will have to start slow and listen to his or her body on how much they need and how often. Some people start feeling relief after only a day or so on beans. I had relief after less than an hour on tincture. If you have fresh organically grown beans available…wash and use the pods…they have l-dopa also…good for juicing to get rid of the fiber which is indigestible…juice then can be frozen/ dried into chips, leathers etc. Use your imagination and the possibilities are endless.

May I suggest also eating pumpkin seeds and a lot of papaya. May God Bless all you
PWP ‘ers out there trying to find their own way on your journey as I am.

Aunt Bean

Below are answers prepared by Aunt Bean to questions submitted by Janne about the
fava beans tincture.

Robert Rodgers PhD
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
Parkinsons Recovery

Question #1: Can the fava beans be grown indoors — hydroponically or in pots?

*I have grown fava beans hydroponic and in soil on a
windowsill where it only got good sunlight about 4 hrs a day. They
looked pretty until about 8 inches tall and then became spindly
(almost like a vine) . If you have a window that gets good light or
have a sunroom I feel they would do much better. The hydroponic ones
I only grew to about 4 inches tall before washing well and chopping up
and drying for tincture. It has not been tested though for l-dopa
content.

The couple of plants in pots never did make a “top” or bud …just
got long and lanky .Ate leaves from them in salads finally.

Question #2: When researching where to buy beans, I noticed there are many
varieties. Does one seed/bean variety have more levodopa than another?

*There are approximately 40 varieties of favas I have been told. Broad
Windsors seem to be the cheapest and dependable for sprouting. I have
tried many varieties . Fond of the ones that are purple , but they are
more expensive. Hope to save more of my own seed next year…receive
much better germination that way. I don’t know that any variety has
more l-dopa , but one could …if studies have actually been done….
I like to know the findings.

Question #3: When searching for information (on your blog, forum posts
and radio interview) I noticed that on different occasions you mention having
used sprouted beans, bean tops and/or the whole plant for tincture. In
your final analysis, which seems to be the best part of the plant to
use?

*Plant Buds or tops that have been dried for a few hours seem to do
the best. What I call the Top is the little “bud” I am holding in between my
fingers in the picture on the fava blog site. They can be small (size
of a dime) or as big as a nickel…seems to depend on the fertility of
the soil. It takes quite a few dried to fill a small jar to make
tincture.

Question #4: Depending on your answer to No. 3 – at what point in the
plants growth do I harvest the top or whole plant?

*I found a bud yesterday on a plant that was sown July 26th. The seed
was soaked for 24 hrs before planting, so it was swollen and ready to
sprout when put into the ground. At approximately 6 weeks. start
checking for the bud growth to harvest. I pinch off the first 3 inches
of the plant, strip off the leaves and stem and save the bud for
drying. You can wear 2 clean water jugs on a belt (I cut out the
pouring spout and part way down the jug to leave a good opening, leave
the handle to put the belt thru. This is also my method for berry
picking!) Put the leaves in one jug and tops in the other. The dried
leaves ground up make wonderful additions to soup, vegie patties etc..
Taking the tops off encourages new bottom growth and discourages
aphids. Each new stem that comes up also gets a “bud” at the top. Some
can get up to 15 to harvest over the season. Watch carefully.. some
send up just a tiny 1 1/2 inch stem and make a bud almost at ground
level to harvest. They are easy to miss. I like growing them in a
raised bed.

Question #5: I know in 2013 your recipe calls for mashed up sprouts — but if
tops or whole plants is better, should they be dried or fresh to make
tincture? Does this matter?

*I don’t care for the sprout tincture as much as the top tincture.
After many experiments…I prefer to use the sprouted beans for
steaming and adding to foods/ making humus l-dopa is great…use your
imagination

Question #6: Can I use rum or vodka or some other alcohol to make tincture
or is brandy best?

*Brandy crosses the blood brain barrier and that is all I use