I work hard at eating healthy. I look for foods that are convenient, low
cost and healthy. Beans are foods that
fit my criteria perfectly. Beans are
easy to add to soups and salads. Beans
are some of the healthiest foods around.
They are high in complex carbohydrates, protein and dietary fiber and low
in fat, calories and sodium. They are
cholesterol-free. They also contain
omega-3 and many nutrients including thiamin, iron, folate, potassium,
magnesium and B vitamins.
However, I don’t think beans get the respect they
deserve. Sure beans are found in some lists
of “super-foods” when you do a web search.
But you typically don’t see them touted in many articles about healthy
foods. You see kale, blue berries, green
tea, açaí, seaweed, pomegranates, quinoa and other foods. The more exotic the
food is the better. You’ll even see
eggs, salmon and yogurt which I don’t think deserve super-food status since
they have drawbacks like cholesterol, saturated fat or added sugar.
I think beans have a perception problem. Beans are not seen as sexy or exotic. Beans are seen as simply common and as a poor
man’s substitute for meat. Why do we
need beans when we have meat?
I think we need to see beans as better than meat. Although meat is a good source of protein, meat
has a few problems. High consumption of
meat is associated with chronic ailments including heart disease, some types of
cancer and diabetes. The big problem
with meat is that its protein comes along with a good helping of saturated
fat. Saturated fat is linked to high
cholesterol levels and heart disease.
Beans are good. Think
of including some beans in your diet.
Here are some good links I found about beans when I was :
SuperfoodsRx: Has a good overview of beans
American Diabetes Association - Superfoods
Bicycling.com:
Cycling Nutrition - Magic Beans
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