Contact Aunt Bean

Interested in growing your own fava beans and mucuna?  Do you have questions for Aunt Bean? Please feel free to comment on any of her posts. Or, if you would like to contact her directly send me an email and I will forward it to Aunt Bean! She will get in touch with you:

robert@parkinsonsrecovery.com

25 thoughts on “Contact Aunt Bean”

  2. I JUST MOVED TO TN FROM NJ..WE MOVED DUE TO HUBBY GETTING PARKINSON’S AND NOT BEING ABLE TO GET WORK…I JUST FELL INTO THIS BEAN ARTICLE…I AM INTERESTED IN DOING ANYTHING NATURAL FOR HUBBY…HAVE HIM ON MANY VITAMINS, MINERALS, AND SUCH…CAN YOU GIVE ME A LINK OR INFO ON HOW TO TREAT PARKINSONS WITH THESE BEANS? THANK YOU!

  4. Hi,
    My mom has essential tremors! Would fava bean help her?
    She is 83 and has had the same surgery and implants in the brain that Drs do for PD. It didn’t help and made some things worse.
    Thank you for any help.
    Robin

  5. Hi Robin:

    Sounds like a lot is going on with your Mom. I would simply suggest you might want to pause and get some assistance to figure out what might be causing the symptoms. Sounds like symptom treatment is not going well for her at this point.

    Robert Rodgers PhD
    Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease

  6. I found this article informative regarding sprouting fava beans:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3708185/
    In particular, note
    “Result: We obtained L-dopa and C-dopa from fava beans which were in the fresh and dry sprouted form, whose concentrations were 1.4,1.5 and 2.6,2.4 mg/ml respectively. The maximal stimulation of the L-DOPA content was seen on day 8 for the fava beans, which was 100% higher than that of the control level.”

  7. Where can you buy fava bearns that will sprout. Do dried fava beans sprout

  9. Please See the Post for a response.

    Thanks.

    Robert Rodgers PhD
    Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease

  10. I have parkinsonian tremors that may be the result of an antipsychotic I was given for depression, or it may be parkinsons. I can’t go off the antipsychotic fast because i’m super sensitive to it, it may take a year or more. Can fava beans work for neuroleptic induced tremors?

  11. How can I make a tincture from beans or plant for my husband. I am trying to find a recipe. Right now he is taking the beans in powder form in a tea. Also, where can I find the beans, or can I grow them myself? I live in Soddy Daisy TN.

  12. You can make bean pod tincture by washing the fava pods (then remove the inner beans to eat) cut up the pods in very fine dice and pour brandy over them enough to cover them completely. Shake this for a month , keeping it in a dark cupboard (out of sunlight) . Then strain and press all the brandy possible out of the pods and bottle. Check out the fava booklet on Robert’s site. Yes you can grow favas here in TN. Start planting them in March early after soaking them for 24 hours. You will start getting beans in June. You can order beans in bulk from health food stores or natural food markets. Make sure to order organic, sproutable bean seed that is edible. You can also sprout them for 4 days , soaking , rinsing etc and steam and eat them for extra dopamine. Again, check out the downloadable natural booklet for recipes. God Bless you. Aunt Bean

  13. Hello. My parents bought fresh fava beans today. They chopped the pods, but my dad says he can not eat it like that. Is the tincture of pods has the same amount as the tincture of flowers like Aunt Bean is making? Also, what can be used instead of brandy. Or alcohol preserves beans. Thank you.

  14. The mature bean pods are indigestible. They can be juiced and frozen in ice cube trays to use for dopamine supplementation . What is hard is figuring out the perfect dose for each person’s need. We are all so completely different and at different stages of PD. I would suggest trying an ice cube size in a glass of water and taking sips of this to find a good dose. Taking a few sips and waiting 20 minutes before trying more will give you an idea of any changes in your function. Try finger taping with both hands before taking and after 20 minutes. You are the only one who can judge improvement. Also , if the problem is with walking or balance….test those things before and after. Tincturing pods is a long process and this will give you an idea if it will work.

    Aunt Bean

  15. So I have a crop of Mucuna Pruriens, this is what I’ve been giving my husband for L-Dopa. Can I use these pods, and tops for tinctures, or are these the wrong beans? They are purple in color.

    Thank you so much!

  16. Dear Aunt Bean!

    I have been reading about fava bean tincture etc for a long time and I finally managed to get my hands on seeds and also found a fava bean farm in order to get this together. I have few questions and would very much appreciate your response.

    I saw in the booklet that you suggest the buds which is basically one in each stem . I am not sure if we prune the buds will we get more buds? But more importantly do the first few leaves (young leaves like sprouts and or very young pods) do the same thing as the buds?

    Do mature leaves have l-DOPA too? When i went to the farm the farmer gave me the entire plant, i came home collected the buds, the flowers, the young leaves to make tincture sepetately to see their effect separately. However i dried the mature leaves, grinded them and thought of using them like a spoon in a water until tinctures are ready. I have been giving it to my husband. He does not see much effect. Do you think this is the case.

    And finally do you prepare the tincture for the year. Is that ok if buds stay longer in brandy or you only suggest for a month?

    Thank you very much for your response and tome in advanve. By the way i am subscribed to your site and i have learned a lot. Thank you for your efforts.

  17. Dear Sudi, I will try to answer your questions. Glad you have found fava beans and are trying to grow your own. The stems get only one bud at the top, but in removing it for making a brandy tincture, it does not hurt the plant and actually seems to cause more stems to come up from the roots, so you get more buds than if you hadn’t taken them. The ants and aphids are very attracted to the bud and removing them discourages these pests also. The leaves are edible and can be cooked, dried or eaten raw , but do not have much L-dopa content. The dried leaves are very nice to add powdered greens to soups, vegetable patties, eggs , etc. The flowers make a very nice tincture in 2 weeks time, without having to dry them first. They don’t seem to have much L-dopa either, but do a wonderful job on helping people with anxiety and anxiety attacks. It does not seem to make the fava tops tincture any stronger to do it more than a month (I think it might cause an off taste when left longer) It is important to shake the tincture a couple of times a day when you are making them to get more medicinal properties. I have made them from dried tops and undried tops and seem to prefer the dried one better. The outer bean of the favas (the pod) has a lot of L-dopa and we juice them to take out the heavy fibers (first removing the delicious inner bean to enjoy). You can freeze the juice in ice cube trays to use as needed or make “bean blobs” a dried chip with the addition of ground flax seeds and salt to use as a supplement of L-dopa . I recommend eating papaya and foods with thiamine to help with PD symptoms, also green tomatoes, egg plant and peppers as Glen Pettibone discovered also helps his PD. I hope this will help your efforts to support your husband thru your journey with Parkinson’s Disease. May God Bless and guide you. Aunt Bean

  18. Thank you for all your efforts to help people with PD. I have been on the carbidopa/levodopa drug for about 6 years. I’m needing higher and higher doses and the dyskinsea has now set in. I’m going to try fava beans (along with learning and practicing QiGong) in hopes that I can stay off anymore drugs and even reduce the one I’m on. My first batch of dried fava beans are now sprouting in my kitchen. I have some questions:

    1) How long has Aunt Bean been taking fava beans for PD, and has she ever had to start taking any of the PD drugs?

    2) In her booklet on how to sprout fava beans, she said to sprout them for 3 days. However, one scientific article I read, Simultaneous Determination of Levodopa and Carbidopa from Fava Bean, Green Peas and Green Beans by High Performance Liquid Gas Chromatography, states that they will increase in their l-dopa content until day 8 of sprouting. Why does Aunt Bean stop the sprouting process at day 3?

    3) Some types of sprouts require darkness to grow. Since Aunt Bean didn’t mention darkness in her directions, I assume that it is not a factor in sprouting fava beans. Is that correct?

    Thank you .

  19. Hi
    I wonder when i read about this article. My husband has pd since 2 years ago. He started madopar about 1 months ago but i think that he has no response to this drug. What should we di?

    Can he stat using this fava beans? How?
    Thanks

  20. You can try favs beans to see if they help with his symptoms. Unless he has eaten them before, it is wise to get G6pd blood test just to make sure he does not have favism, which is rare but would make the beans harmful. This simple blood test can tell you if they are ok to try out. Aunt Bean

  21. Dear Aunt Bean,
    I have access to green fava beans. I travel a lot so would like to make the tincture. Will it work with the frozen beans?
    Secondly do tins of ful madamas have as much levadopa as green favas. How would they compare? (If nothing else was available)
    Marigold

  22. If you have access to fresh organic green favas still in the pod…that would be your best
    Choice . Eat the inner beans and grind up the outer pods to tincture in brandy for
    l-dopa supplementation.

    I don’t know what madama is…sorry.

    Aunt Bean

  23. Dear Aunt Bean
    I only have access to frozen Favas without the outer pod shell. Could I make a tincture just from the green bean for travelling?

    Marigold

  24. Sorry Marigold, there is not enough L-dopa in the (pea) inner bean . We just use that part for eating. If you are using the beans as a natural source of L-dopa (eating a cup a day)and you are planning to travel, you might be able to buy canned or frozen favas where ever you go. Or, just a thought, never tried this….I have seen dried fava beans for snacking somewhere in a market. Drying lightly steamed beans (maybe with some seasoning at a very low temperature until crisp would make them more portable. You could try it perhaps. Sorry I couldn’t help more on this. Good luck.

    May the Lord bless and guide you.

    Aunt Bean

  25. I have seen dried Fava beans but they need long cooking. Still a bag is lighter than tins. I have access to a kitchen when travelling. Could cook some up and add them to soups. Do you think dried Favas contain as much levadopa?

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