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Beans
Can Help: Lower Cholesterol

Stabilize Blood Sugar Levels

Reduce The Risk Of Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer

Prevent Heart Disease In People With Diabetes

A generation ago, beans were culinary outcast. Dusty sacks of pinot and navy beans as well as chickpeas languished on the supermarket. Crocks of kidney beans, usually untouched, sat next to cling peaches at steakhouse salad bars. And the tree-bean salad at the annual family picnic drew more flies than raves.

Not anymore. Our consumption of beans rose from 5.5 pounds per person in 1974 to 7.3 pounds in 1994. There’s a good reason for this surge in popularity. Beans are the ultimate power food-low in fat and high in protein, fiber, and a variety of vitamins and minerals.

“Beans are actually little chemical factories with lots of biologically active substance in them, and there’s good evidence that eating them may protect and against cancer”, says Leonard A Cohen, Ph.D., head of the experimental breast cancer program at the American Health Foundation in Valhalla, New York.

Sending Cholesterol South

While beans aren’t the only foods that can help lower cholesterol, they’re certainly on of the best. Beans are packed with soluble fiber, the same gummy stuff found in apples, barley, and oat bran. In the digestive track, a soluble fiber traps cholesterol-containing bile, removing it from the body before it’s absorbed.

“Eating a cup of cooked beans a day can lower total cholesterol about 10 percent in six weeks”, say Patti Bazel Geil, R.D., diabetes nutrition educator at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and author of Magic Beans. While 10 percent may not seem like much, keep in mind that every 1 percent reduction in total cholesterol means 2 percent decrease in your risk for heart disease.

Beans can lower cholesterol in just about anyone, but the higher your cholesterol the better they work. In a study at the University of Kentucky, 20 men with high cholesterol (over 260 milligrams per deciliter of blood) were given about ¾ cup of pinto beans and navy beans a day. The men’s total cholesterol dropped almost 40 percent. Better yet, the dangerous low-density lipoprotein cholesterol-that’s the artery plugging stuff-plunged down by 24 percent.

It appears that all beans can help lower cholesterol, even canned baked beans. In another University of Kentucky study, 24 men with high levels of cholesterol dropped 10.4 percent, and their triglycerides (another blood fat contributes to heart disease) fell 10.8 percent.

Beans play another part, less direct role in keeping cholesterol levels down. They’re extremely filling, so when you eat beans, you’ll have less appetite for other, fattier foods. And eating less fat is critical for keeping cholesterol levels low.

“Beans are high-fiber food, and high-fiber foods make you feel fuller,” says Geil. In fact, one small study found that people who ate a bean puree felt more satisfied for a longer time than those who ate a similar puree made from potatoes.

Keeping Blood Sugar Steady

Keeping blood sugar levels steady is the key to keeping diabetes under control. “Many people don’t realize how good beans are for people with diabetes,” say Geil. In fact, eating between ½ and ¾ cup of beans a day has been shown to significantly improve blood sugar control.

Beans are rich in complex carbohydrates. Unlike sugary foods, which dump sugar (glucose) into the bloodstream all at once, complex carbohydrates are digested more slowly. This means that glucose enters your bloodstream a little at a time, helping to keep blood sugar levels steady, say Geil.

In addition, beans are high in soluble fiber. Studies have shown that a diet high soluble fiber causes the body to produce more insulin receptors sites-tiny “docks” that insulin molecules latch on to. More insulin gets into individual cells where it’s needed, and less is present in the bloodstream, where it can cause problems.

In an English study, people were given either about 1¾ ounces of a variety of beans-including butter beans, kidney beans, black-eyed beans, chickpeas, and lentils-or other high-carbohydrate foods, like bread, pasta, cereals, and grain. After 30 minutes, blood sugar levels in the bean-eaters were almost half that of those who ate other high-carbohydrate foods.

Beans provide another benefit, say Geil. “People with diabetes are four to six times more likely to develop heart disease,” she says. “Eating more beans will help keep their cholesterol low, thereby reducing risk.”

Me: Hello.
AT&T: Hello, this is AT&T.

Me: Is this AT&T?
AT&T: Yes, this is AT&T.

Me: This is AT&T?
AT&T: Yes. This is AT&T.

Me: Is this AT&T?
AT&T: Yes! This is AT&T. May I speak to Mr. Force please?

Me: May I ask who is calling?
AT&T: This is AT&T.

Me: Ok, hold on.
At this point, I put the phone down for a solid 2 or 3 minutes thinking that, surely, this person would have hung up the phone. I ate my salad. Much to my surprise, when I picked up the receiver, she was still waiting.

Me: Hello?
AT&T: Is this Mr. Force?

Me: May I ask who is calling please?
AT&T: Yes, this is AT&T.

Me: Is this AT&T?
AT&T: Yes, this is AT&T.

Me: This is AT&T?
AT&T: Yes, is this Mr. Force?

Me: Yes, is this AT&T?
AT&T: Yes, sir.

Me: The phone company?
AT&T: Yes, sir.

Me: I thought you said this was AT&T.
AT&T: Yes, sir, we are a phone company.

Me: I already have a phone.
AT&T: We aren’t selling phones today, Mr. Force.

Me: Well, whatever it is, I’m really not interested, but thanks for calling.

When you are not interested in something, I don’t think you can express yourself any plainer than by saying “I’m really not interested,” but this lady was persistent.

AT&T: Mr. Force, we would like to offer you 10 cents a minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Now, I am sure she meant she was offering a “rate” of 10 cents a minute, but she at no time used the word “rate.” I could clearly see that it was time to whip out the trusty old calculator and do a little ciphering.

Me: Now, that’s 10 cents a minute, 24 hours a day?
AT&T: (getting a little excited at this point by my interest) Yes, sir, that’s right! 24 hours a day!

Me: Seven days a week?
AT&T: That’s right.

Me: Three hundred and sixty-five days a year?
AT&T: Yes, sir.

Me: I am definitely interested in that! Wow!! That’s amazing!!
AT&T: We think so!

Me: That’s quite a sum of money!
AT&T: Yes, sir, it’s amazing how it adds up.

Me: Ok, so will you send me checks weekly, monthly or just one big one at the end of the year for the full $52,560? If you send an annual check, can I get a cash advance?
AT&T: Excuse me?

Me: You know, the 10 cents a minute.
AT&T: What are you talking about?

Me: You said you’d give me 10 cents a minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. That comes to $144 per day, $1,008 per week and $52,560 per year. I’m just interested in knowing how you will be making the payment.
AT&T: Oh no, sir, I didn’t mean we’d be paying you. You pay us 10 cents a minute.

Me: Wait a minute here! Didn’t you say you’d give me 10 cents a minute? Are you sure this is AT&T?
AT&T: Well, yes, this is AT&T, sir, but…

Me: But nothing! How do you figure that by saying that you’ll give me 10 cents a minute that I’ll give you 10 cents a minute? Is this some kind of subliminal telemarketing scheme? I’ve read about things like this in the Enquirer, you know. Don’t use your alien brainwashing techniques on me.
AT&T: No, sir, we are offering 10 cents a minute for…

Me: There you go again! Can I speak to a supervisor please?!?
AT&T: Sir, I don’t think that is necessary.

Me: Sure! You say that now! What happens later?
AT&T: What?

Me: I insist on speaking to a supervisor!
AT&T: Yes, Mr. Force. Please hold.

So, now AT&T has me on hold and my supper is getting cold. I begin to eat while I’m waiting for a supervisor. After a wait of a few minutes and while I have a mouth full of food…

Supervisor: Mr. Force? Me: Yeth?

Supervisor: I understand you are not quite understanding our 10 cents a minute program.
Me: Id thish Ath Teeth & Teeth? (Is this AT&T)

Supervisor: Yes, sir, it sure is.

I had to swallow before I choked on my food. It was all I could do to suppress my laughter and I had to be careful not to produce a snort.

Me: No, actually I was just waiting for someone to get back to me so that I could sign up for the plan.
Supervisor: OK, no problem. I’ll transfer you back to the person who was helping you.

Me: Thank you.

I was on hold once again and managed a few more mouthfuls. I needed to end this conversation. Suddenly, there was an aggravated but polite voice at the other end of the phone. AT&T: Hello, Mr. Force. I understand that you are interested in signing up for our plan.

Me: Do you have that ‘friends and family’ thing, because you can never have enough friends and I’m an only child and I’d really like to have a little brother.

AT&T: (click)