Of course, this blog post is about the magical health properties and not the poem, but here goes:
Beans, beans, the magical fruit
The more you eat, the more you toot
The more you toot, the better you feel
So we have beans at every meal!
Both beans and lentils are part of the legume family. Difference between beans and legumes here.
So, why do people fart when they eat beans? (less when they eat lentils which have lower carbohydrate content). Beans and lentils have resistant starches that are digested by the colonic flora. Byproducts of this digestion are CO2 and hydrogen which are expelled from the large intestine as flatulence. Drink plenty of water and you won’t have this problem after 1 week of increasing your bean intake.
Beans and Health
A positive byproduct of bacterial fermentation is colonic butyrate production. Butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid produced by bacterial fermentation of fiber in the colon, can improve brain health.
Beans help with blood sugar control in diabetics. A diet rich in beans reduces risk of coronary heart disease. Beans reduce risk of breast cancer and colorectal cancer. Beans help control your weight. Beans contain a lot of essential nutrients – fiber, iron (improve absorption with added vitamin C), B vitamins (thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, B6, folate).
Dan Buettner in his Blue Zones books talks about beans reducing mortality.
A cup of beans a day increases lifespan by 4 years.
Adventists in the US live for 10 years longer than the general US population. They follow the Biblical diet based on Genesis 1:29 “AND GOD SAID, ‘SEE, I HAVE GIVEN YOU EVERY HERB THAT YIELDS SEED WHICH IS ON THE FACE OF ALL THE EARTH, AND EVERY TREE WHOSE FRUIT YIELDS SEED; TO YOU IT SHALL BE FOR FOOD.’” GOD INTENDED THIS DIET FOR ADAM AND EVE IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN. IT IS THE IDEAL DIET FOR US TODAY.
Beans and environment
Beans and lentils are one of the most energy efficient source of transfer of nutrients from the plant kingdom to humans rather than via animals.
We worry about human farts, but cow farts (methane) are the bigger problem. Cow farts are funny, global warming is not. Incorporating more beans instead of meat in your diet will help this problem as well.