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

Beans may be a key to longevity. When researchers studied the diets of men and women age 70 and older in Japan, Sweden, Greece and Australia, they found that the consumption of legumes was the most important dietary predictor of survival among the elderly. Other studies suggest that eating beans may lower your risk of cancer, heart disease and obesity.

Long have scientists wondered if the two go hand in hand because many of the longest-living populations in the world are lovers of legumes (commonly known as beans), such as the Japanese (soy, tofu, natto, miso); the Swedes (brown beans, peas); and the Mediterranean (lentils, chickpeas, white beans).

In new research, scientists identified five groups of long-lived elderly people (aged 70 and older) – Japanese in Japan, Swedes in Sweden, Anglo-Celtic people in Australia, and Greeks in both Greece and Australia – and observed them for seven years, tracking their health status and food choices among nine different categories: vegetables, legumes, fruits and nuts, cereals, dairy products, meat, fish, and monounsaturated fats.

The researchers found that legumes were the most important dietary predictor of survival among the elderly, regardless of their ethnicity. For every 20 grams increase in daily legume intake (20 grams is about three-quarters of an ounce), there was a 7 to 8% reduction in mortality hazard ratio.

A new Nurses’ Health Study shows that women who ate four or more servings of legumes a week were 33 percent less likely to develop colorectal adenomas (non-cancerous tumors that are the source of most colon cancer) than those consuming one serving a week or less. And when men and women previously diagnosed with colorectal adenomas were told to make several specific changes in their diets, those who increased their intake of beans the most were 65 percent less likely to suffer a recurrence of advanced adenomas.

Eating at least four servings of beans per week lowered the risk of coronary heart disease 22 percent, according to a study of nearly 10,000 men and women in the U.S. In Costa Rica survivors of a heart attack who ate at least one serving of beans daily were significantly less likely to suffer another nonfatal attack.

The soluble fiber in legumes may explain some of the benefit. Some of these gel-like fibers bind with bile acids in the intestines. With less bile available to aid digestion, the body converts some of its blood cholesterol into bile. The net effect is lower blood cholesterol and a decreased risk for heart disease.

Beans’ potassium, magnesium and folate likely protect the heart as well. People who eat a lot of legumes are less likely to have high blood pressure. Many studies show that high potassium and magnesium intakes are vital for healthy blood pressure levels.

The fiber, potassium, magnesium and folate in beans are tied to decreased cancer risk too. Other phytonutrients–saponins, lignins, phytosterols–linked to disease prevention are unique to legumes. They may slow tumor growth and inhibit the reproduction of cancer cells.

Beans also contain health-boosting resistant starches. These carbohydrates don’t break down the way other starches do, and in many ways, they act like fiber. In the large intestine, they increase the bulk of the stool, speed up transit time and provide food for friendly bacteria. Studies suggest that resistant starches promote intestinal health.

Don’t allow fear of gas to keep from enjoying beans’ versatility and nutritional advantages. Some cooking techniques and Beano, an over-the-counter product, may also help. The unwanted vapor comes from sugars and starches not completely digested by enzymes in the small intestine. Once these carbohydrates travel into the large intestine, normal, harmless bacteria make a meal out of them and produce gas in the process. Beano provides a digestive enzyme the body lacks, so take it when you sit down to your meal. Draining canned or soaked beans also helps, as it rids your meal of some of the hard-to-digest carbohydrate.

Also it may be helpful as well as tasty to season your beans with herbs and spices. To reduce flatulence and intestinal symptoms associated with eating beans, cook with herbs and spices such as fennel, anise, turmeric, lemongrass, dill, oregano, rosemary, cilantro, bay leaf, ginger, cinnamon, and cumin. Experience shows that the body gradually adapts to increased bean consumption.

Enjoy beans and more beans!

EAT BEANS AND MORE BEANS