Beans in the News and More!

One gianormous salad a day helps keep heart disease and diabetes away. It’s no secret that the standard American diet (SAD) is hazardous to your health. Most of the foods comprising the SAD foundation—like animal products (including beef, chicken, eggs, milk, cheese, fish, etc.), refined carbohydrates (bread, cereal, pasta, bagels, cookies, soda, etc.), and oils (including olive and coconut oils)—are strongly linked to obesity, heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and autoimmune illness. Similarly, the foods correlated to a reduction in all the leading causes of death—nutrient-rich powerhouses like leafy greens, fresh fruit, and beans—are conspicuously absent from the typical American fare....

  When: Saturday, Feb. 23, 10-5 p.m. Where: SLO United Methodist Church ,1515 Fredericks St., SLO What: SLO County's 2nd annual celebration of all things vegan! Not only that but the purveyors of your favorite (and the world's only) whole-food, bean-based snack bar will be there handing out FREE samples! Of course, we wouldn't want you to fall in love with one of our Chewy Fudge Brownie bars (made with black beans, fruit, nuts, and 69% dark chocolate chips) and then have to leave without one, so we'll have some special deals, one of which includes a FREE WellBean tote...

If you’re at all like me, you like food. And if you’re at all like I used to be, you like rich, sugary, salty, oily food while stoically tolerating green leaves and broccoli. Maybe you were even raised in the South (like I was) where they take home-grown, fresh-picked crooked-neck squash and swaddle it in thick batter before plunging it into a roiling skillet of hot crisco. And where Lay’s potato chips are still considered a vegetable. If you are like me, you’ve found it difficult to switch to a diet style based on fruits, veggies, beans, nuts, and seeds....

It was a Friday morning—or maybe a Tuesday or Sunday; the particular day doesn’t really matter because this demoralizing situation was a recurring one. My mood and energy were low to begin with, which, as you may know, is a perfect circumstance for that perpetually hungry brain to take a shot at finagling yet another gustatory pleasure. And sure enough, my mind began serving up visions of all things chocolate. You’ll feel sooo much better if you eat just a little, it insisted. And I won’t stop bothering you anyway until you do! (At least my internal evil doer is...