Beans are amazing little foods! They’re inexpensive and they’re versatile ingredients! It’s so easy to fit them into your budget and your menu plan that there’s really no reason not to be eating some every week. On top of that, all kinds of beans are full of wonderful nutrients! Take a look at these 5 Amazing Health Benefits of Beans!
5 Amazing Health Benefits of Beans
1. Great Source of Protein
You can get protein from a lot of sources, which is good since it’s critical to your body’s function. There’s even a little protein in kale! But few foods can compete with the protein found in animal meat or animal by-products, making it a little tricky for vegetarians and vegans to find good sources of protein. Luckily, beans exist! They’re a great source of protein and are free from the weird hormones and other things given to animals (they’re even cleaner if you get organic beans). Some beans may even be better sources of protein than meat, with 100 grams of black beans containing 20 grams of protein and 100 grams of ground beef containing only 14 grams of protein!
2. Reduced Cancer Risk
Did you ever think that eating beans could be preventing your body from developing cancer? Who knew that little beans were so powerful! But in fact, one of the benefits of beans is that they are full of antioxidants, fiber, and phytochemicals that your body uses to prevent cancer. And the good thing is that you don’t have to eat pounds of beans every day to get the good effects! All you have to do is eat a few cups a week and all the good nutrients in beans will help keep you healthy!
3. Aid Weight Loss
Anyone who’s trying to lose weight should be eating beans! Beans don’t help you lose weight by burning fat off of your body, but they do have another handy way of helping. Your body is slow to metabolize beans, which means that you don’t burn through them as fast as some other foods. As a result, you keep feeling full for longer. The longer you’re full, the less likely you’ll have a second helping or eat a snack, the easier it’ll be to lose weight!
4. Good for Your Heart
Beans are really good for your heart! One of the many health benefits of beans is that they can help improve your cholesterol. Good cholesterol means good heart health! Bad cholesterol means a higher risk of heart disease. Good thing beans are full of fiber and very low in saturated fat (usually less than 1 gram in a cup), so all they do is aid your heart health. This is the result of the fiber in beans binding with cholesterol and preventing your body from absorbing it.
5. Mood Boost
Whether you suffer from depression or just need a mood boost one day, you may be happy to hear that one of the benefits of beans is that they can help improve your mood! This is due to how slowly your body metabolizes them. Do to this slow metabolizing, beans are able to help stabilize your blood sugar levels, which can help keep your mood stable. Beans are also full of folates, which is great because a lack of folates has been connected to depression.
Do you eat beans often?
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