Beans in the News and More! — nutrition

I remember when I first found out about brown rice syrup. At the time, I was addicted to all things sweet, and it didn’t take much to finagle me into believing its proponents’ health claims. “It’s a natural, healthy alternative to white sugar,” they promised. Henceforth, if it had brown rice syrup, it was ok to eat it! In fact, I thought, I was probably doing myself a favor! Cookies sweetened with brown rice syrup? Finally a sweet treat I could feel good about! Brown rice syrup flavored non-dairy ice cream? Sign me up! Chocolate balls infused with brown rice...

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....

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...