Beans, Beans, The Musical Fruit

The more you eat, the more you….you know.

Growing up, we had to sing the ‘musical fruit’ version in lieu of the ‘good for your heart’. Why? The ‘F’ word was banned at our house. (Not that one, THAT one was ok.) COME ON, gang. I kid, I kid. (They were both, obviously, no-go’s.) But I am referring to the one that rhymes with Bart. As in Simpson. Bart and Homer were also a no-go. (That list was comprehensive. I am pretty sure if I were a kid today, we would live in a cave. Wait a second: How PALEO would that be!?!?)

Turns out, both ‘musical fruit’ and ‘good for your heart’versions are bad, and your children will need to put on their thinking caps to designate an appropriate version for your house. (Post them to comments, I beg of you!)

By now, you are on to what we are going to dissect today. It’s a question I have heard at CFR many times, in many ways. It sounds something like this:

NO BEANS? Why can’t I eat beans? They are full of fiber and, uh…other good stuff! What will I order at Taco Bell?!?!

Alright, I took some liberties with the Taco Bell part. But know this: I know. (What? I am making zero sense.) What I mean is, I know from the regularity of this question, and from other banter one picks up when they spend many an hour each week at the box, that many of you have seemed to miss the boat on beans. (Write that down-they sound like new lyrics!)

Beans take a lot of…WORK.

Can you pick a lima bean off a branch and consume? NO. Even if you COULD, you WOULDNOT. Why? Think about what RAW (aka unprepared) beans look like at the grocery store. They are in a dusty bag on a hard to reach shelf. You would probably purchase said bag to make ‘cornhole’ bean bag replacements before thinking ‘chili!’. Imagine crunching down on one of those suckers….the magical root-canal maker!  Most legumes are far, far away from the state that you will end up eating them in. It requires much preparation to get a lima bean to the (undesirable) texture that it ends up in that can you pulled off the grocery store shelf. A good rule of thumb in general…the more steps it took for your food to become  edible, the less desirable it likely is.

Beans, while toted as being a fabulous source of fiber, protein, and ‘low-cal’ carbohydrate, really cannot be outdone by of other, more readily prepare, paleo foods.

As a protein source:.

BEANS < MEAT

1/2 cup of beans has 4-9 grams of protein, depending on the variety. A mere three ounce serving o’ meat (palm sized) has 21 grams of protein. Absolutely no argument there. Eat the meat.

BEANS < VEGGIES

Beans do not beat out other vegetables, particularly our favorite: locally sourced, leafy, green varieties, and beyond, in either micronutrients or absorbed fiber content.  Eat the veggies.

Beans ARE, however, a fantastic source of PHYTATES. Hold your horses, this is not me changing my tune. Phytates are anti-nutrients (like in: GRAINS…dun dun dun), which bind to the minerals in beans, making them UNAVAILABLE for our bodies to use. These now unavailable nutrients include magnesium, calcium, zinc, and iron. All really important. Guess what your body holds onto when you eat meat, eggs, and vegetables…

Beans also contain the anti-nutrient called lectin. Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins that are present in nearly every living thing. Think of a lectin like a little built in pesticide, designed to make whoever ate beans want to NOT eat beans again. Mark Sisson says it like this:  “In order to avoid being completely decimated by insects, foraging animals and Groks, plant species evolved assorted anti-nutrients that would make said pests regret their gorges with a variety of mostly digestive related ailments…They’re relatively sticky molecules, which makes them effective in binding with their sought after sugars but undesirable for our digestion, in which their binding powers can lead them to attach to the intestinal lining and wreak havoc.”  

AKA…gas.

And now, my favorite kid-friendly explanation goes like this: “Kidz World explains that beans contain sugars the human body simply cannot digest. Once these sugars reach a person’s lower intestines, “the bacteria go berserk, start feasting, and make loads of gas.” Before you know it — toxic fumes.”

 This is Why Beans Make You…Musical.

We urge you to stay away from grains because of the damage that anti-nutrient inflict on your intestinal tract, which increases the permeability of your intestines, leading to inflammation….which can lead to a whole host of unwanted effects from bloating (small problem) to leaky gut to diabetes and heart disease (very big problems).

Seems to me like this is also ample reasoning to also stay away from the beans.

Step away from the beans and make this

easy, delicious Eggplant Pizza

instead!

You Will Need:

• 1 eggplant
• Sugar Free Spaghetti or Pizza Sauce
• Toppings of your choice
• 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until Next Time…

Mallory

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