Legumes & Longevity
Nowadays there is a large body of information related to healthy longevity. One of the most underrated foods that is associated with longevity, and eaten by all the Blue Zones communities (communities with a high proportion of centenarians and people living longer), is beans. Beans are also known as legumes or pulses (which are the dried forms), and include kidney beans, black beans borlotti beans, mung beans, chickpeas, all the different types of lentils, green peas, green beans, broad beans, soybeans and even peanuts.
Bean Benefits
Not only are legumes good for us, according to this 2004 study, they are THE most important dietary predictor of survival in older people of different ethnicities. There is a reduction in risk of death by up to 8% every year, for every 20g increase in legume intake daily. Legumes have been an important part of many long-lived food cultures, from the Japanese, to northern European, to the Mediterranean.
Beans are one of the most important foundations of a Blue Zone, or longevity diet, and they have been eaten by humans for at least 8000 years, and who knows, perhaps longer. What is recommended is at least 1/2 cup beans a day, but up to 2 cups a day is even better. I aim for 1 cup. Does that scare you, because of the reputation of beans to cause flatulence? One of the good things about beans is the amount of soluble fibre they contain- it helps feed the healthy microbes in our gut. So when we start eating more of them- the bugs have a party! But they do settle down within a couple of weeks of regular consumption, and so does the wind.
Digesting Beans
That wind is actually a good sign of increasing gut health- but if you need to take it slowly, start with small amounts of hummous- which is usually well digested- and add in just a tablespoon of other beans a day, slowly increasing the amount as your tolerance improves. Also, the smaller legumes like split mung or brown lentils- especially when soaked first before cooking- can be easier to digest. In fact, cooking your own beans is a good idea because you can soak them (up to 24 hours for the bigger beans) and thereby deactivate some of those windy factors and make them easier to digest.
Bean Protocol
There is even a Bean Protocol by Karen Hurd that has helped many people heal. The story in her words is here, but here is my short version. When they moved into a freshly treated home, Karen Hurd’s 18-month-old daughter was poisoned by freshly sprayed toxic (organophosphate) carpet chemicals. Her daughter’s health deteriorated- her nervous system was poisoned and damaged- and she was given a few months to live; there is no cure. Karen went and studied at the local university library for the answer- this was pre-google and home computers- and found it. She gave her daughter a slurry of beans and psyllium husks- which are also a soluble fibre- with a syringe. The poisons which had been circulating in her system, were now able to leave.
Karen explains this in this way. The liver processes poisons and expels them through the bile, which is excreted through the large intestine and out of the body. Except that the bile is also designed to be reabsorbed, and this is what was happening with her daughter. The bile was reabsorbed and so were the toxins. The soluble fibre in beans chemically binds with bile and stops it from being reabsorbed, so that it then leaves the body. Her daughter started getting better immediately and is now a healthy 30yo with no residual nerve damage.
Bean Nutrition
Beans are high in plant protein, and combine well with whole grains to form complete proteins. Rice and red beans in China, dhal and rice in India, black bean and tortillas in South America, white beans and bread in Greece, beans and teff bread in Ethopia, and so many others. Beans are a staple in so many countries, and are an inexpensive form of protein, carbohydrates, and many micronutrients like zinc, folate, iron and magnesium. In the west, they have fallen by the wayside as we have gravitated to a more processed food, and high meat diet. There has been a shunning of beans in some dietary approaches, yet their association with longevity is undeniable.
How to Eat More Beans
With such a wide variety of legumes available, we are spoilt for choice and there are thousands of bean recipes on the internet. It doesn’t matter if you use canned beans, but cooking them yourself is even cheaper, and you can soak them first, which helps increase digestibility.
Here are 6 easy ways to include beans in your daily diet:
Canned baked beans on wholemeal toast (This 110yo Australian man has eaten baked beans daily for breakfast for 30 years)
Sardinia Minestrone. (you can make a large pot which can be a meal for several days)
Mix mashed potatoes and green peas such as in this dish Muneeza’s Spicy Potato Pea Mash
Broad Bean and Avocado salad (Broad beans are also called fava beans)
And here is my hummous recipe:
Ingredients:
1 -2 cups of chickpeas- a can will be fine, but home cooked ones are always good.
Garlic to taste. I used a jumbo elephant garlic clove.
A heaped tbs tahini. I use the unhulled one.
1/2 a lemon squeezed - it was a big lemon.
1/2 raw zucchini - chopped- this bulks it up and helps make it creamy too. Substitute with 1 cup of roasted or steamed pumpkin
1/2 tsp salt
A handful of parsley, chopped
1/2 cup water
1 tsp cumin
A pinch of cayenne
Method:
Blend together and adjust seasonings to taste.
This makes a decent sized batch.
Yum with crackers or vegetable croutons.
So good for the gut. No baddies added.
You can also just add 1/2 can of beans to any other meals, and they absorb and combine with other flavours so well.
Enjoy your beans and live long and healthy :)
