Fanbox for the Dummies

Health Benefits of Beans
and Their Healing Power

• Proteins in Beans
• Health Benefits of Beans
• Beans, a Rich Source of Fibre
• Beans and Flatulence
• Some Serving Suggestions

Beans, (also known as legumes or pulses) are often called "poor people's meat", but they should really be called "healthy people's meat" considering the health benefits of beans.

They belong to an extremely large category of vegetables, containing more than 13,000 species and are second only to grains in supplying calories and protein to the world's population.

Compared to grains, though, legumes supply about the same number of calories but usually two to four times as much proteins.

Proteins in Beans

Legumes are often considered an 'incomplete' protein, because they don't contain all the essential amino acids that we need in our diet, as opposed to 'complete' protein found in foods of animal origin, such as meat, fish, dairy products and eggs, which contain ample amounts of the essential amino acids.

Although it's important to get all the amino acids, both essential and non-essential, it's not necessary to get them from meat. In fact, because of its high fat content - as well as the use of antibiotics and other chemicals in the raising of poultry and cattle - most of the animal protein should be eaten only in moderation.

The best way to go about it is to combine partial-protein foods to make complementary protein. For instance, although beans and brown rice are both rich in protein, each lack one or more of the necessary amino acids. So if you combine them together, you form a complete protein that is a high quality substitute for meat.

To make a complete protein combine beans with one of the following:

• brown rice
• corn
• nuts
• seeds
• wheat

All soya products, such as tofu and soymilk, are complete proteins. They contain all the essential amino acids plus several other