Healthy Food Choices: Beans

Video Transcript

ALICE MERRITT: Now I'm going to talk to you about beans. Beans are actually a very healthy protein source and they're a very good alternative for those that don't eat meat. Beans are very high in vitamins and minerals and a great source of fiber. They also house a good source of complex carbohydrates, which makes them a well-balanced food. You can eat a variety of different beans. You have things like kidney beans, pinto beans, lentils--they're all very, very healthy, black beans. Beans are also a wonderful thing to add to any dish instead of meats. You can add Chickpeas to spaghetti sauce instead of your ground meat, and it really, really lowers the saturated fat content and increases the fiber and vitamins and minerals. It's important to remember with beans that you don't always have to use dried beans. Sometimes canned beans can be much more efficient because you don't have to soak them overnight. Canned beans do tend to be a little bit higher in sodium, but if you put them in a colander and rinse them under water, you can rinse away a lot of that excess sodium. Remember, beans are an excellent source of protein, they're high in fiber, and they're a good carbohydrate source. So include them in as many dishes as you can. Beans are great alternative to high saturated fat meats and so they've actually been shown to help reduce coronary heart disease. It's also been shown that diets high in plant sources also reduce the risk for cancer. So these are all healthier reasons on why you should add beans into your daily intake.