Beans have more servings of fiber than any other vegetable. One single serving will give you 20 percent of your daily-recommended fiber.
Researchers in Japan did a seven-year study. They studied more than 43,000 people between the ages of 40 and 79 that had high cancer rates and ate little fiber. The more fiber they got from beans, the lower the risk of colon cancer, especially in men, became. It was the bean fiber that impacted the colon cancer statistics more than any other source of fiber.
Other research indicates that the fiber in beans like garbanzo’s actually keep your body from absorbing carcinogens. When you take in fewer carcinogens, the less damage is done to your cells, tissues, and other organs. Less damage equates to lower cancer risk in the long run. It’s too bad that the same cannot be said for ingesting flesh foods.
Beans contain phytochemicals, which naturally fight cancer and free radicals, which ruin your cells and tissues through oxidation. The phytochemicals neutralize the free radicals before they do damage.
Greek researchers tested extracts from 11 different legumes (beans are legumes) and found that all of them neutralized free radicals. Not only that, but most of them also protected DNA from oxidative damage, which more or less explains the key to beans’ anti-cancer potential.
What about beans helping women thwart breast cancer? In a study of 90,000 young nurses, the ones who ate beans or lentils at least twice a week were less likely to develop breast cancer.
The experts assumed that the flavonols, again phytochemicals, block the free radicals, prevent oxidative damage to the cells, and encourage cancerous cells to die. All you have to do is to work at least two servings of beans and lentils into your weekly diet.
We all know there’s quite a fad about cutting carbs. If you are concerned, at all, about colon cancer, fagetaboutit.
The carbs in beans are a unique kind that the body cannot digest. As such, they wind up fermenting in your colon, thanks to the bacteria living in your gut. The fermentation produces a compound called butyrate that basically squashes inflammation and the abnormal cell growth that can lead to cancer. In addition, the indigestible carbs help give beans a low glycymic index, meaning a low risk of colon cancer. This is the super benefit of eating low glycymic index foods.
Theory leads to subjectivity. The researchers decided to put their theories to work. They took people that previously had colon polyps removed, changed their diets to include more cooked, dry beans, and after four years, those that ate the most beans were 65 percent less likely to see their polyps return.
All beans work, be it baked, pinto, kidney, navy, white, black, garbanzo, human (only kidding), or lima – all cut colon cancer risk. The more legumes that men eat the less likely they are to get prostate cancer. Three major studies found that eating lots of legumes, including beans, lentils, and split peas, dropped prostate cancer risk between 29 and 38 percent. If flesh foods are eliminated altogether, those percentages climb incredibly.
Another weapon against cancer is the folate found in B vitamins, which beans are a great source of. Eating high-folate foods reduces the risk of pancreatic and colon cancer. In addition, the folate helps to build and repair DNA. Too little leads to DNA damage and supplements will not provide the protection that folate-rich foods do.
But wait, there’s more. Bulking up with beans can help with type-2 diabetes in two ways:
1-As mentioned earlier, legumes have a lower glycemic index (GI). The GI measures how fast your blood sugar rises after eating a food. High GI foods make your blood sugar rise faster, whereas low-GI foods, like beans, cause a slower, more gradual rise. There are over 35 studies showing that diets filled with high-GI foods nearly double the risk of getting type-2 diabetes and make you 25 percent more likely to develop heart disease. High-GI foods create a spike in your blood sugar, causing your pancreas to release more insulin. So, eating high-GI foods creates a demand on your pancreas to produce more insulin. Eventually, the pancreas burns out and stops making insulin. This leads to diabetes.
2-Beans could be the single best food for weight loss. If you eat more beans despite eating more calories, you will weigh less than someone who does not eat beans and eats lower calories as well. Go figga?
If you are worried about developing type-2 diabetes, bear in mind that obesity is a major risk factor for type-2 diabetes. Not only do beans keep you slimmer, but you will get more fiber, more potassium, and you’ll eat less fat and added sugar. It’s a winning combination all across the nation.
But wait, there’s even more: high cholesterol, blood clots, insulin resistance, and oxidation all have a hand in heart problems. As an alternative to drugs and supplements, beans pit pennies against dollars.
If you took one third of a cup of black beans daily, you could cut your risk of a heart attack by 40 percent. If you ate that same one third of a cup four times a week, instead of one or none, you would be twenty two percent less likely to get heart disease.
Why would that be? Because the complex carbohydrates in beans lower the glycemic load in the meals. Then their unique combination of magnesium, copper, fiber, and alpha-linoleic acid will boost your insulin sensitivity, help prevent blood clots, and drop your risk of a heart attack. In addition, beans are an excellent source of protein, which helps to manage your weight.
If you have high cholesterol and want to take a walk on the wild side, eating half a cup of beans daily will improve your cholesterol numbers. And, if you are healthy, and you do likewise, you should experience at least a 10 percent drop in your cholesterol as well.
Remember the talk about phenols? These same phenols may also prevent hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) because the flavonoids in beans are natural antioxidants. As such, they work against the free radicals before they can attack cholesterol and oxidize it. That’s important because oxidized LDL cholesterol contributes to atherosclerosis. The best beans for this are black, red kidney, pinto and lentils.
Now for a treat: Brownies! Believe it or not, brownies can actually be healthy. Replace up to half the shortening with pureed cannelloni beans. That will cut away 40 percent of the fat, give you fewer calories, and taste just as good. A study was done that did this and it found that the beans did not noticeably change the yumminess, the texture, color, or tenderness of the brownies. And doing this will help you battle heart disease and type-2 diabetes while still enjoying a treat, plus save you money. Canned white beans cost 80 percent less than butter and slightly less than margarine, ounce for ounce and make a great substitute if no cannelloni’s are available. And if you want even less fat and cholesterol, use egg replacer, which also does not alter the taste.
Oh yeah, my favorite beans – human beans!
Aloha!
About Hesh:
I have been doing a radio show in Honolulu since 1981 called “Health Talk”. To listen to the show please go to www.kwai1080am.com on your computer at 8am Hawaii time. FYI, 8am Hawaii time is 11am on the West coast and 2pm on the East coast. To call in, the number is (808) 524-1080.
Starting August 2nd, American Voice Radio will be picking up my streamed show and playing it all week until the next one takes place. See you on the radio!
In 2007, I was “forced” to get a masters degree in Nutrition to stop all the doctors from calling in asking what my credentials were. Besides that, they never liked it when I asked them what their credentials were that would enable them to treat an illness without drugs or surgery.
If you go to www.healthtalkhawaii.com and click on Podcasts, there are years of shows there as well as hundreds of health related articles.
I am an activist. I am vehemently opposed to GMOs, vaccines, processed foods, MSG, aspartame, fluoridation, and everything else that the “pimps” (big pHarma, Monsanto, and the large food companies), and the “hookers” (the doctors, the government agencies, the Public Health officials, and the mainstream media) thrust upon us, the “tricks”.
At 75, I am in 3 softball leagues, racewalk, do stand-up paddling, hike, swim, do weights and cardio, and teach women’s self-defense classes based upon 20 years of Wing Chun training. I have been a vegetarian since 1975 and a vegan since 1990, have no illnesses and take no meds.
After being vaccinated with the DTP vaccine as a child, I developed asthma, which plagued me until 2008 when I learned about and started taking the organic sulfur crystals. My asthma was reversed in 3 days and has not come back.
So far, 22 cases of autism that we know about have been reversed, as has cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, asthma, osteoarthritis, joint pain, gingivitis, and erectile dysfunction. The sulfur has increased sexual activity, eliminated toxins, heavy metals, radiation, and parasites. It speeds up athletic recovery time, increases blood circulation, reduces inflammation, increases resistance to the “flu”, reduces wrinkles, allergies, PMS, monthly period pain, migraines, nausea, and way more, because the oxygen that the sulfur releases floods and heals the cells in the body.
The sulfur, as proven by the University of Southampton in England, enables the body to produce vitamin B12 and the essential amino acids.
You can find out more about this on my website under Products.
My book, “A Sane Diet For An Insane World”, which has been published, can be viewed and purchased at www.asanediet.com. The book clearly explains why what you eat, for the most part, is designed to keep you in a state of declining health.
I have recently discovered an amazing super food – Zeal – that contains 42 amazing probiotics, anti-oxidents and more, all designed to build and strengthen the immune system. For more info about this please email me.
Hesh Goldstein, MSNutri
“Health Talk” Moderator, K-108 Radio
POB 240783, Honolulu, Hi 96824
(808) 258-1177
www.healthtalkhawaii.com
www.asanediet.com
[email protected]
Just to put things in perspective, after I graduated from Weequahic High School and before going to Seton Hall University, I had a part-time job working for a butcher. I was the delivery guy and occasionally had to go to the slaughterhouse to pick up products for the store. Needless to say, I had no consciousness nor awareness, as change never came then despite the horrors I witnessed on an almost daily basis.
After graduating with a degree in accounting from Seton Hall, I eventually got married and moved to a town called Livingston. Livingston was basically a yuppie community where everyone was judged by the neighborhood they lived in and their income. To say it was a "plastic" community would be an understatement.
Livingston and the shallowness finally got to me. I told my wife I was fed up and wanted to move. She made it clear she had to be near her friends and New York City. I finally got my act together and split for Colorado.
I was living with a lady in Aspen at the end of 1974, when one day she said, " let's become vegetarians". I have no idea what possessed me to say it, but I said, "okay"! At that point I went to the freezer and took out about $100 worth of frozen, dead body parts and gave them to a welfare mother who lived behind us. Well, everything was great for about a week or so, and then the chick split with another guy.
So here I was, a vegetarian for a couple weeks, not really knowing what to do, how to cook, or basically how to prepare anything. For about a month, I was getting by on carrot sticks, celery sticks, and yogurt. Fortunately, when I went vegan in 1990, it was a simple and natural progression. Anyway, as I walked around Aspen town, I noticed a little vegetarian restaurant called, "The Little Kitchen".
Let me back up just a little bit. It was April of 1975, the snow was melting and the runoff of Ajax Mountain filled the streets full of knee-deep mud. Now, Aspen was great to ski in, but was a bummer to walk in when the snow was melting.
I was ready to call it quits and I needed a warmer place. I'll elaborate on that in a minute.
But right now, back to "The Little Kitchen". Knowing that I was going to leave Aspen and basically a new vegetarian, I needed help. So, I cruised into the restaurant and told them my plight and asked them if they would teach me how to cook. I told them in return I would wash dishes and empty their trash. They then asked me what I did for a living and I told them I was an accountant.
The owner said to me, "Let's make a deal. You do our tax return and we'll feed you as well". So for the next couple of weeks I was doing their tax return, washing their dishes, emptying the trash, and learning as much as I could.
But, like I said, the mud was getting to me. So I picked up a travel book written by a guy named Foder. The name of the book was, "Hawaii". Looking through the book I noticed that in Lahaina, on Maui, there was a little vegetarian restaurant called," Mr. Natural's". I decided right then and there that I would go to Lahaina and work at "Mr. Natural's." To make a long story short, that's exactly what happened.
So, I'm working at "Mr. Natural's" and learning everything I can about my new dietary lifestyle - it was great. Every afternoon we would close for lunch at about 1 PM and go to the Sheraton Hotel in Ka'anapali and play volleyball, while somebody stayed behind to prepare dinner.
Since I was the new guy, and didn't really know how to cook, I never thought that I would be asked to stay behind to cook dinner. Well, one afternoon, that's exactly what happened; it was my turn. That posed a problem for me because I was at the point where I finally knew how to boil water.
I was desperate, clueless and basically up the creek without a paddle. Fortunately, there was a friend of mine sitting in the gazebo at the restaurant and I asked him if he knew how to cook. He said the only thing he knew how to cook was enchiladas. He said that his enchiladas were bean-less and dairy-less. I told him that I had no idea what an enchilada was or what he was talking about, but I needed him to show me because it was my turn to do the evening meal.
Well, the guys came back from playing volleyball and I'm asked what was for dinner. I told them enchiladas; the owner wasn't thrilled. I told him that mine were bean-less and dairy-less. When he tried the enchilada he said it was incredible. Being the humble guy that I was, I smiled and said, "You expected anything less"? It apparently was so good that it was the only item on the menu that we served twice a week. In fact, after about a week, we were selling five dozen every night we had them on the menu and people would walk around Lahaina broadcasting, 'enchilada's at "Natural's" tonight'. I never had to cook anything else.
A year later the restaurant closed, and somehow I gravitated to a little health food store in Wailuku. I never told anyone I was an accountant and basically relegated myself to being the truck driver. The guys who were running the health food store had friends in similar businesses and farms on many of the islands. I told them that if they could organize and form one company they could probably lock in the State. That's when they found out I was an accountant and "Down to Earth" was born. "Down to Earth" became the largest natural food store chain in the islands, and I was their Chief Financial Officer and co-manager of their biggest store for 13 years.
In 1981, I started to do a weekly radio show to try and expose people to a vegetarian diet and get them away from killing innocent creatures. I still do that show today. I pay for my own airtime and have no sponsors to not compromise my honesty. One bit of a hassle was the fact that I was forced to get a Masters Degree in Nutrition to shut up all the MD's that would call in asking for my credentials.
My doing this radio show enabled me, through endless research, to see the corruption that existed within the big food industries, the big pharmaceutical companies, the biotech industries and the government agencies. This information, unconscionable as it is, enabled me to realize how broken our health system is. This will be covered more in depth in the Introduction and throughout the book and when you finish the book you will see this clearly and it will hopefully inspire you to make changes.
I left Down to Earth in 1989, got nationally certified as a sports injury massage therapist and started traveling the world with a bunch of guys that were making a martial arts movie. After doing that for about four years I finally made it back to Honolulu and got a job as a massage therapist at the Honolulu Club, one of Hawaii's premier fitness clubs. It was there I met the love of my life who I have been with since 1998. She made me an offer I couldn't refuse. She said," If you want to be with me you've got to stop working on naked women". So, I went back into accounting and was the Chief Financial Officer of a large construction company for many years.
Going back to my Newark days when I was an infant, I had no idea what a "chicken" or "egg" or "fish" or "pig" or "cow" was. My dietary blueprint was thrust upon me by my parents as theirs was thrust upon them by their parents. It was by the grace of God that I was able to put things in their proper perspective and improve my health and elevate my consciousness.
The road that I started walking down in 1975 has finally led me to the point of writing my book, “A Sane Diet For An Insane World”. Hopefully, the information contained herein will be enlightening, motivating, and inspiring to encourage you to make different choices. Doing what we do out of conditioning is not always the best course to follow. I am hoping that by the grace of the many friends and personalities I have encountered along my path, you will have a better perspective of what road is the best road for you to travel on, not only for your health but your consciousness as well.
Last but not least: after being vaccinated as a kid I developed asthma, which plagued me all of my life. In 2007 I got exposed to the organic sulfur crystals, which got rid of my asthma in 3 days and has not come back in over 10 years. That, being the tip of the iceberg, has helped people reverse stage 4 cancers, autism, joint pain, blood pressure problems, migraine headaches, erectile dysfunction, gingivitis, and more. Also, because of the detoxification effects by the release of oxygen that permeates and heals all the cells in the body, it removes parasites, radiation, fluoride, free radicals, and all the other crap that is thrust upon us in the environment by Big Business.
For more, please view www.healthtalkhawaii.com and www.asanediet.com.
Namaste!
