During summer 2020, I tried once more to come off of hormonal birth control. It went well for several months, and then my cycle started getting longer and longer. Around the same time, Karen Hurd was featured on a podcast I listened to regularly. The podcast host had used Karen’s bean protocol to help with her own health issues.

Beans and other legumes are filled with soluble fiber. When our bodies are trying to get rid of anything it doesn’t want in it (excess hormones, pesticide residues on food we’ve eaten, pollution we’ve inhaled, etc.), it packages them up in bile. Our liver sends this bile to our gallbladder where it’s stored until we consume fat. When we consume fat, the gallbladder releases the bile into the small intestine, where it helps us digest that fat.