Beans are a superfood, known for their delicious flavor, impressive nutritional profile and health benefits, and wide array of environmental benefits. They can be a great staple in our regular diets, which may make you wonder: what could happen if you eat beans every day?
Culinary Benefits of Having Beans Every Day
One of our favorite things at Northern Feed & Bean is how diverse beans are. You may originally think that eating beans every day would be boring, but it is far from it! As we share about on our website, beans have terroir and come in unique and exciting appearances, textures, and flavors.
Pinto Bean Salad is a perfect mix of flavors, textures, and summer produce. The pinto beans add healthy protein and fiber to help keep you full.
We offer five types of beans that work perfectly in a whole host of dishes:
- High Plains Pinto Beans – Our pinto beans are known for their bright color and having a rich, slightly earthy flavor. They work well in a wide variety of dishes, including this simple, tasty, and nutritious Pinto Bean Salad.
- High Plains Mayocoba Beans – Mayocoba beans, also called yellow beans or Peruanos, have a mild flavor and a buttery texture. They work perfectly in bean salads, soups, and even pasta sauces. Check the bottom of our Mayocoba bean page for recipe ideas.
- High Plains Black Beans – Black beans have a mild, sweet, earthy flavor and velvety texture. They are an excellent addition to bowls, bean dips, and even desserts! Have you tried a black bean brownie before? Beans are also used in desserts in many countries in Asia, showing the versatility of beans.
- High Plains Small Red Beans – Our small red beans are a deep dark red color and smaller than kidney beans, with a mild flavor.
- High Plains Orca Beans – Our orca beans have a striking, mottled black and white pattern. They are mild and creamy and work well in many types of dishes, including chilis and soups.
As you can see, eating beans every day can be a delicious culinary adventure, drawing upon inspiration from a variety of dishes eaten around the world. Mix and match different beans to enjoy new textures, flavors, and colors in recipes. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more bean recipe ideas!
Health Benefits of Regularly Eating Beans
Beans are a very nutrient-dense food and associated with a wide variety of health benefits. They are rich in dietary fiber, protein, and several vitamins and minerals, including folate. A recent article by Clark and Duncan explains several key potential benefits of beans related to satiety and body weight management:
- Eating beans may help decrease body weight, even when overall energy is not restricted. This means that even when people eat their normal caloric intake, there is some evidence that suggests that regularly including beans can help lose weight.
- Eating beans can increase satiety, or the feeling of fullness after a meal. Naturally, feeling fuller is helpful if trying to reduce food intake.
- The unique, high nutrient level of beans may help reduce the risk of obesity.
Maintaining a healthy body weight promotes overall health, and it appears beans may contribute to this! Indeed, eating beans is associated with the prevention of several chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. Also, beans can improve gut health.
The World Cancer Research Fund recommends making foods like beans part of your usual daily diet. Specifically, if you look at the dietary goals they recommend, you will see:
- Eat at least 30 grams of fiber from whole foods per day. In just a half cup of cooked beans, you already get about 7 to 8 grams of dietary fiber, in only slightly over 100 calories. So, as you can see, eating beans every day makes it very easy to eat at least 30 grams of dietary fiber.
- A suggestion to regularly include beans. The World Cancer Research Fund states, “Include foods containing whole grains, non-starchy vegetables, fruit and pulses (legumes) such as beans and lentils in most meals.” The organization clearly recognizes that beans are a nutrient-dense food that promotes health.
Interesting work is also being done on the potential benefits of beans to influence longevity. Blue zones are regions in the world where people live long, healthy lives, with many living to be over 100 years old. The Blue Zones research team examined what dietary staples people in these regions across the globe eat, and sure enough, beans are regularly on their menus! Blue Zones says, “U.S. Dietary Guidelines suggests that Americans eat about a half cup a day. We only eat about 4 tablespoons. In blue zones areas, we found that the longest-lived people eat a full cup of beans every day.”
Beans are associated with a wide variety of health benefits, including healthy weight management and chronic disease risk reduction.
Environmental Benefits of Regularly Enjoying Beans
As we shared in our post about the many sustainability benefits of beans, beans are a very planet- friendly food. Enjoying beans on a daily basis can help promote the well-being of our planet. Including beans as a staple in your diet means you are helping:
- Improve soil health. Beans are important in crop rotation, which helps disrupt pest and disease pressure. Additionally, bean plants can fix nitrogen, so they require less fertilizers than other crops, reducing runoff and helping reduce costs for farmers.
- Save water. Beans require less water than many other crops and sources of protein, helping save our precious water resources.
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Beans result in the production of less greenhouse gas emissions, for example by requiring less fertilizers, which can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
- Minimize food waste. Beans store well, so you can keep them in your pantry for a long time, making them an ideal pantry staple and reducing food waste.
A beautiful bean field, which can promote human and environmental health.
Here at , we are honored to supply our communities – including you! – with a food you can feel great about eating: High Plains beans.
