While many of us like to blame the lowly bean for our bloated stomach problems, in reality it is our heavy reliance on processed fast foods that really causes most of us to feel both bloated and sluggish. Instead of blaming the beans, you should instead be looking at other aspects of your diet and examine if you are consuming the right kinds of foods together in order to more efficiently metabolize and digest them.
It is all about the digestive enzymes
In all actuality, beans and other gassy culprits such as broccoli are high in dietary fiber and can actually help relieve gas provided that you eat them with foods that contain the right type of digestive enzymes to help break them down. For every major type of substrate (i.e. proteins, fats, carbohydrates, cellulose) there is a digestive enzyme needed to break it down. In the case of beans to also eat foods that are high in cellulose to help break down the fiber as well as proteases and peptides in order to break down their protein content. Cellulases can be found in raw whole foods while proteases and peptides are readily available in whole grains as well as tropical fruits like pineapple and papaya.
But enough about beans, digestive enzymes are needed to help your digestive system take on just about everything you consume. Along with cellulases to break down fiber, proteases and peptides to break down proteins, you are also going to need lipases to help break down fats, carbohydrases to help break down carbs and nucleases to help digest nucleic acids. Making sure that you are getting all of these digestive enzymes will help ensure proper digestion and eliminate gas and bloating.
Doctor Charles Drew Medical Blog 