A Buck Of Beans

For big value, a bucks worth of beans can not be beat. You can feed supper to a large family with a dollars worth of dry beans.

There are many varieties of legumes to choose from so you don't have to limit yourself to navy bean soup or the kidney beans in chili. Chickpeas (garbanzos), soybeans, pinto beans, and lentils plus peanuts, split peas and black-eyed peas (cowpeas) are all legumes. And don't forget pink beans, white beans, black beans and lima beans. Then there are cranberry beans, adzuki beans, mung beans and broadbeans (fava beans).

Best of all, legumes have many nutritional virtues. Just tally them up.

Low fat Almost all dried peas, beans and lentils are low in fat.

The main exceptions are soybeans and peanuts and even then the oil is fairly high in monounsaturated fats known to be important in human health.

Protein Legumes generally are good sources of plant proteins. Soybeans rival meats when it comes to furnishing a complete protein i.e. supporting growth and repair of tissues by themselves. But their somewhat lower levels of a few essential amino acids need not be a problem. Just eat the beans with some grains such as cornbread or whole wheat crackers or a glass of skim milk. Your muscle cells will never know that their new amino acids came from plants rather than animals.

Vitamins Legumes have a wide variety of B complex vitamins especially some that could be short in your diet such as folic acid and B6.

Minerals Check out legumes for magnesium, iron, and copper. They are also low in sodium. Many other minerals are present also.

Fiber Legumes are especially high in both insoluble and soluble fiber. You can get half of your daily goal of fiber (25 or more grams) by eating a cup of black or pinto beans. Legume fiber can forestall constipation, lower cholesterol and help regulate blood sugar in diabetes.

Getting rid of gas Our bodies don't make the enzyme, alpha-galactosidase, that digests the offending sugars that produce gas (also called flatulence and less complimentary names) in our bowels. But bacteria who naturally live there do. They can take care of the job but they may also produce more gas than you are comfortable with. Here's what you can do.

• Eat beans more often but in smaller amounts at the beginning. This will help establish the more favorable bacteria that deal with the offending sugars and you will later be able to eat larger amounts comfortably.
• Some beans and peas may not produce as much gas. Try lentils, black-eyed peas, lima beans, chickpeas, and white beans.
• Always throw away the water you used to soak the beans and peas in. Yes, you will lose some of the water-soluble nutrients but you will get rid of many of the gas-formers still leaving plenty of food value behind.
• You can also throw away the liquid in canned legumes and then rinse them. You not only discard the sugars but also about 40 percent of the sodium added during processing.
• Try a liquid preparation like Beano often available where drugs are sold. A few drops on the first bite of beans or other gas-formers such as cabbage and Brussels sprouts can start digesting the offending sugars.
• Last but not least, try tofu, a soybean product. It now comes in lower fat versions as well as the regular kind. Tofu is bland and can be added to many different foods such as chili, spaghetti, and meat loaf. Buy the softer version and mash with a fork before adding it if you think your family will object. Tofu can also be used as a base instead of cream or cottage cheese in salads, sauces and desserts. The calcium used in making tofu is an added bonus.

Mary Clarke, Ph.D.
Extension Specialist, Nutrition Education

11/95 File: DIET: MODIFIED/SPECIAL/General

K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.