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Black Beans

A

AngelSprings

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
At risk of diabetes
I've just been reading about the outstanding health benefits of black beans, and that they can actually lower blood sugar. Has anyone discovered that they are beneficial, and if so in what quantities can they be consumed?
 
Black beans are great, as are other beans and legumes. I don’t think they have a magic blood sugar lowering effect like a medicine, but if you add them to a meal, they could make the meal lower GI and thus slow down any rise in your blood sugar. They’re also very versatile and tasty.

The Blue Zone diet recommends them as does How Not To Die and others. Here’s what The Blue Zone says:

DAILY DOSE OF BEANS​

Eat at least a half cup of cooked beans daily. Beans reign supreme in blue zones. They’re the cornerstone of every longevity diet in the world: black beans in Nicoya; lentils, garbanzo, and white beans in the Mediterranean; and soybeans in Okinawa. People in the blue zones eat at least four times as many beans as Americans do on average.

The fact is, beans are the consummate superfood. On average, they are made up of 21 percent protein, 77 percent complex carbohydrates (the kind that deliver a slow and steady energy rather than the spike you get from refined carbohydrates like white flour), and only a few percent fat. They are also an excellent source of fiber. They’re cheap and versatile, come in a variety of textures, and are packed with more nutrients per gram than any other food on Earth. Beans are a meal staple in all five of the blue zones—with a dietary average of at least a half-cup per day, which provides most of the vitamins and minerals you need. And because beans are so hearty and satisfying, they’ll likely push less healthy foods out of your diet.

www.bluezones.com

Food Guidelines

These 11 simple guidelines reflect how the world’s longest-lived people ate for most of their lives. We make it easy to eat like the healthiest people in
www.bluezones.com www.bluezones.com

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Thank you very much Inka for the information on black beans. I think I'll try adding some to my diet and see how my body reacts. And Leading Lights, I seem to remember trying the black bean pasta some time ago, but I can't remember whether I enjoyed it or not. Over recent years I've kept my readings in check following a keto diet, but sometimes feel I need a bit more variety, hence the interest in the beans. They appear to come well recommended by the Blue Zone.
 
AngelSprings said:
I've just been reading about the outstanding health benefits of black beans, and that they can actually lower blood sugar. Has anyone discovered that they are beneficial, and if so in what quantities can they be consumed?
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I don't eat any kind of bean, I do have a small amount of frozen peas once in a while - usually when I heat up too many for my husband.
When testing foods after diagnosis I found that all legumes seem to provide more carbs than the book value would suggest and were causing spikes. I have used up what stocks of dried lentils I had in the cupboard 9 years ago in tiny amounts and not replaced them. They have not been missed.
 
saffron15 said:
If you want a cheap alternative buy own brand baked beans usually haricot or cannelloni and rinse the sauce off.
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What a good idea to rinse the sauce off. Thank you and why on earth didn't I think of that? Please don't answer...
 
Drummer said:
I don't eat any kind of bean, I do have a small amount of frozen peas once in a while - usually when I heat up too many for my husband.
When testing foods after diagnosis I found that all legumes seem to provide more carbs than the book value would suggest and were causing spikes. I have used up what stocks of dried lentils I had in the cupboard 9 years ago in tiny amounts and not replaced them. They have not been missed.
Click to expand...
I like beans but am similarly wary. I hope once I get a chance to test them I can add them back to my diet, but if not, I will also continue to live without them. They're great for lots of things but not necessarily diabetes.
 
saffron15 said:
If you want a cheap alternative buy own brand baked beans usually haricot or cannelloni and rinse the sauce off.
Click to expand...

Or simply buy haricot beans in salted water. They are a staple bean in our house 🙂

I’m always a little cautious of the slightly over-enthusiastic claims often made about this or that superfood @AngelSprings . Which suddenly can cure all ills (and in the tabloids then often is demonised for causing exactly the same ills a month or two later!).

I tolerate beans really well. For the majority of people with T1 you have to be a little careful dosing for them and deliberately under-estimate your dose, because a proportion of the carbohydrates pass undigested through to the lower intestine and are never absorbed. The bacteria lower down have a lovely time and the CO2 they create gives beans their farty reputation. 😉

Essentially, I mostly ignore completely the carbs any beans might theoretically add to the carb count of a dish, and just include them in the “and a bit” spare I have for things like onion, tomatoes and other irritations too much faff to count.

We probably include various pulses (including Black Beans) 3-4 times a week in various things. 🙂
 
You're so right, Everydayupsand downs, there's so many on You Tube and other sites who say this food or that food is good for us, and I'm afraid I am a little gullible on this front believing it could improve my health, but nine times out of ten it doesn't. The best results I've had in keeping my pre-diabetes in check is following a keto diet, but really miss chips and jacket potatoes. Not cakes, biscuits, sweets, or chocolates, but potatoes in any form. And I do get fed up of eating the same foods over and over again - meat, fish, eggs, low carb vegetables. But getting back to the black beans, I thought I would give them a try and made a stew with them incorporating lots of healthy vegetables. And having read about the marvellous benefits on the web of sweet potatoes I included some of these. After eating a generous bowl two hours later my blood glucose levels were the highest I've ever experienced! So I threw the rest of the stew away, and will try and be good and return to a strict keto diet, which works for me. P.S. It may help if I throw away the potatoes I have lurking in my fridge, which can quickly be turned into delicious chips in my air fryer. Get behind me chips!
 
I think perhaps you need a slight change of mentality. Adding sweet potatoes to your stew was making too drastic change. Why not just have the beans? I would have had a less generous portion of the stew next time rather than throw it out. It feels like you might be throwing the baby out with the bath water! You seem to be taking a bit of an all or nothing approach. Maybe try to be a bit more cautious and moderate with your experiments. Add one higher carb food rather than 2 together and moderate the portion but pad it out with other stuff.
Can I ask how high you spiked at 2 hours? Just wondering if your perception of high is unrealistic.

The beans may take longer to release than the sweet potato so your "high" reading was perhaps more associated with the sweet potato and your body might have tolerated the beans OK. Certainly worth more experiments.

Some people here use celeriac for chips instead of potato and that is quite nice with a steak and fried mushrooms and salad and coleslaw. I speak from experience here. :D
 
Butternut squash is a good substitute for potatoes and can be used to make chips, wedges or roasted or mashed and used as a topping for cottage pie or in corned beef hash.
I also use in curry with cauliflower and chickpeas and paneer.
Celeriac is also another one to try.
 
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