EAT BEANS AND MORE BEANS

Beans, peas and peanuts belong to the plant family Leguminosae. Legumes are edible seeds enclosed in pods. Beans are an inexpensive and delicious food that you will want to eat regularly because of their numerous health and longevity benefits. Beans are inexpensive, nutritious and are linked to lower rates of disease. When dried, they have a long shelf life and are very versatile.

Here are some of the advantages of a bean-rich diet:
Beans have more protein than most other vegetables, and full of energy-sustaining complex carbohydrates, folate and fiber and even provide good amounts of calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium.

Because they have a low glycemic index, beans have the unique ability to provide energy over a sustained period of time by being slowly released into your blood stream. Also, beans are a great source of dietary fiber, which promotes a healthy digestive tract, helps lower blood cholesterol levels, and can reduce the risk of some types of cancer.

Beans are an excellent source of protein, vitamins, minerals, and complex carbohydrates. They’re very low in fat and virtually sodium-free. Plus, they’re filling and satify the appetite.

People in the United States eat a diet that is very high in fat, often amounting to 40 to 50 percent of their total daily calories. High-fat animal-derived foods have been linked with cancer.

Your body does need fat, so choose to eat the foods that have the good kind of fat. Beans and legumes are an unusually good choice, because in addition to providing the good fat, they are also chock full of protein and dietary fiber. They are also loaded with complex carbohydrates, the nutrients that are responsible for providing energy to the muscles and brain.

And fiber? Even the lowest-fiber bean puts most other foods to shame. A cup of high-fiber beans, like pinto or black beans, tallies up 16 grams of fiber. You’d have to eat about eight slices of whole wheat bread to get the same amount of fiber. And it’s primarily cholesterol-reducing soluble fiber, which makes beans an excellent heart-healthy alternative to meat.

You don’t have to settle for the same old pintos or garbanzos, either. Nowadays there’s a tremendous variety of beans in both markets and restaurants, like cranberry beans, black-eyed peas, pink beans, white beans, and fava beans.

The following is a list of commonly used legumes:

split mung dahl
whole mung bean
chick peas or garbanzo beans
split chick peas (channa dal)
black bean, whole or split
black eyed peas
brown lentils, whole or split
toor dahl
pinto beans
navy beans
lima beans
kidney beans
soy beans