Beans in the News and More!

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...

Beans, beans, the magical pill! The more you eat the less you ill. The less you ill the better you feel. Eat your beans at every meal! Silly, I know. . . .but what if there were a magical pill, one that would Lower your total cholesterol & LDL as much as the leading statin (cholesterol lowering drug) Lower your risk of heart attack by 38% (Kabagambe et al, 2005) Reduce your risk of type-2 diabetes by 38% (Villegas et al, 2008) Lower fasting blood glucose and insulin levels Reduce HbA1c as much as oral medication (Sievenpiper et al, 2009) Furthermore, what if...

Look good? You can probably find one just like it at your nearest hospital!   I’m getting a new knee! Therefore, I recently found myself sitting across the desk from Amy, the pre pre-admissions dignitary at my local hospital. After reciting my full name and date of birth (and not for the first time—or last), I submitted to a round of questions from Amy and her pleasant disposition. Did I still live at ……? Did I have an advance directive? Had my phone number changed (since two days ago when I set up this appointment)???? Meanwhile, I noticed an orange...

I've been mostly vegan for over 30 years, and if I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times: "Where do you get your protein?" I have several replies on the ready. Where will we ever find enough protein out here? "I get it from the same place as the largest land mammals--gorillas, elephants, giraffes--green vegetables!" (It turns out that most folks have never considered the fact that, despite a near-vegan diet and restricted access to tofurky and soysage, protein deficiency has never been found among these creatures.) Sometimes I try this response, "I get plenty of protein from...