WHY
BEANS??
Mrs. Glee's uses a unique process to convert
the Michigan grown navy bean into a wonderfully nutritious gluten free base
ingredient. The process results in a
flour that is mild tasting and easy to digest while adding fiber and protein to
your diet. Mrs. Glee's products are
excellent sources of protein and fiber as well as great tasting and easy to
prepare.
The articles below provided valuable
information on the nutritious benefits of incorporating beans into your diet.
Beans: Protein-Rich Superfoods
High in fiber and
antioxidants, beans aren't just good for the waistline, they may aid in disease
prevention, too.
By Jenny
Stamos Kovacs, WebMD
the Magazine - Feature
Reviewed by Kathleen
M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD
More than just a meat substitute, beans are so nutritious that the
latest dietary guidelines recommend we triple our current intake from 1 to 3
cups per week. What makes beans so good for us? Here's what the experts have to
say:
Chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and heart
disease
all have something in common. Being overweight increases your chances of developing them and makes your
prognosis worse if you do, says Mark Brick, PhD -- which means that trimming
your waistline does more for you than make your pants look better. Brick, a
professor in the department of soil and crop sciences at Colorado State
University, is investigating the ability of different bean varieties to prevent
cancer and diabetes.
Beans are comparable to meat when it comes to calories, says Dawn
Jackson Blatner, RD, a registered dietitian at Northwestern Memorial Hospital's
Wellness Institute in Chicago and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic
Association. But they really shine in terms of fiber and water content, two
ingredients that make you feel fuller, faster. Adding beans to your diet helps
cut calories without feeling deprived.
Our diets tend to be seriously skimpy when it comes to fiber (the
average American consumes just 15 grams daily), to the detriment of both our
hearts and our waistlines. One cup of cooked beans (or two-thirds of a can)
provides about 12 grams of fiber -- nearly half the recommended daily dose of
21 to 25 grams per day for adult women (30 to 38 grams for adult men). Meat, on
the other hand, contains no fiber at all.
This difference in fiber content means that meat is digested
fairly quickly, Brick says, whereas beans are digested slowly, keeping you
satisfied longer. Plus, beans are low in sugar, which prevents insulin in the
bloodstream from spiking and causing hunger. When you substitute
beans for meat in your diet, you get the added bonus of a decrease in saturated
fat, says Blatner.
Still not convinced? In a recent study, bean eaters weighed, on
average, 7 pounds less and had slimmer waists than their bean-avoiding
counterparts -- yet they consumed 199 calories more per day if they were adults
and an incredible 335 calories more if they were teenagers.
Beans have something else that meat lacks, Blatner says:
phytochemicals, compounds found only in plants (phyto is Greek for
"plant"). Beans are high in antioxidants, a class of phytochemicals
that incapacitate cell-damaging free radicals in the body, says Brick. (Free
radicals have been implicated in everything from cancer and aging to
neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.)
In a U.S. Department of Agriculture study, researchers measured
the antioxidant capacities of more than 100 common foods. Three types of beans
made the top four: small red beans, red kidney beans, and pinto beans. And
three others -- black beans, navy beans, and black-eyed peas -- achieved top-40
status.
The bottom line? Beans are pretty much the perfect food, Brick
says.
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Bean Diet:
According to many nutritionists, beans are one of the most
overlooked health foods in the world today.
Long denounced by many for their supposedly high carb, therefore high
weight gain potential, recent research has actually found that beans in fact
contain complex forms of carbohydrates that actually do not contribute to
weight gain. Instead, these complex
carbs help us by providing a steady supply of stable energy to our muscles and
brain.
Not only are beans not bad for you, they are chocked full of
nutrients that most other foods can only aspire to. They contain Vitamin B6, folate, calcium,
magnesium, potassium and alpha-linolenic acid, all important body building
blocks. Beans are also loaded with a ton
of protein, which makes them rare species indeed in the plant world. Protein is essential for our bodies to
function properly, the rub being that most foods that are high protein also
happen to be bad for the heart. Beans,
on the other hand, are not only a right source of protein; they are also a heart
healthy.
Recent scientific studies have found that beans have the potential
to prevent many threatening illnesses that are prevalent in America at this
time. They can combat cancer, heart
disease, diabetes, and obesity. Heart
disease is one of the biggest killers in our country today and beans have been
proven to help reduce the risk of this totally preventable disease by as much
as 22 percent. Beans are also great at
curbing your hunger and since they are a very efficient fuel that our bodies
can burn off very easily. This can help
give us a boost of energy and keep the pounds off.
Beans have also been found to be loaded with free radical fighting
antioxidants. Free radicals are unstable
compounds that can do a lot of damage to the body including being known cause
of cancer and premature aging.
Antioxidants are nutrients which are known to be able to help cancel out
the negative effects of these radicals.
Since beans are loaded with antioxidants, they have the potential to
fight cancer and make you feel younger and more energized.
Which beans are the beats?
Studies done at Michigan State University have found that beans that are
termed as dry beans tend to be the healthiest.
While there is a strong similarity in the nutrient content of most
beans, researchers have found that kidney beans, lima beans, pinto beans and navy
beans are the better to eat. How
much beans should you eat? Nutritionists
recommend three cups of beans per week, but even including just a cup of beans
per week into your diet can help you feel healthier.
People’s state of health would be much better off if they quit
looking at beans as merely a source of carbs and gassy after effects and
instead acknowledged them for their high nutritional value. Eating beans can help people fight off many
of the illnesses that plague them and given the untold varieties of beans out
there, it should not be hard to find one that fits your taste.
Source; www.greathomeremeddies.com/beandiet.html
