Magical Snotty Beans
By Elizabeth "BJ" Woolley (04-05-2002)

Beans, beans, the magical fruit. The more you eat, the more you... Well, you know the rest. Aside from musical qualities, did you know that beans can help control and stabilize glucose levels?

Have you ever seen the inside of a prickly pear cactus pad? It's filled with a slippery, gel-like (snotty!) substance. You know how oatmeal can become thick and sticky or beans can turn the cooking water into a thick broth? Well, if you have, you can claim to have seen a "gel-forming high-fiber complex soluble starch" in the flesh! This starch thickens up like jello and slows the release of sugar into your bloodstream. If you are diabetic, this gel-forming stuff should become a dietary staple. You can actually consider it a type of medicine for your diabetes that helps to even out your blood glucose levels after a meal.

Aren't all starches the same? No! Even if they have the same number of calories, simple starches (or carbohydrates) turn right into sugar and are released immediately into your bloodstream. Complex carbohydrates (like beans) take time to digest and offer other healthy benefits.

Fiber is a complex carbohydrate your body cannot absorb. There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. You need both. Each offers unique benefits to your body. Soluble fiber helps decrease LDL (bad cholesterol) and triglyceride levels. These levels are often high in diabetics and can indicate an increased risk for heart disease. Insoluble fiber adds bulk to your stools and may protect you from colon cancer. Both types of fiber help prevent diverticular disease, constipation, and hemorrhoids (the latter may be of special interest to those pregnant diabetics out there!).

Some examples of soluble fiber sources are oats, oat bran, beans, peas, rice bran, barely, citrus fruits, strawberries, and apple pulp. Examples of insoluble fiber sources are whole wheat breads, wheat cereal, wheat bran, cabbage, beets, carrots, Brussels sprouts, turnips, and apple skin.

Okay, okay…back to the subject (beans!). Beans are an excellent source of gel-forming high-fiber complex soluble starch. According to an article called "Primal Prescription" by John Willoughby, which appeared in Eating Well in the May/June 1991 issue, a study performed by Jennie Brand, a nutritionist at the University of Sydney, revealed some of the benefits of beans and some other high-fiber complex carbohydrate foods.

She fed eight healthy nondiabetic Caucasians meals that were made of traditional Pima Indian foods (mesquite pods, lima beans, corn, Emory oak acorns, tepary beans). Another group was fed common western staples (potatoes, bread, processed cereal products). All the foods in the first group (with the exception of corn) "had a significant effect on controlling blood-glucose responses and flattening blood-sugar levels." The foods in the second group caused "rapid and high blood-sugar responses."

So how can this information help you? Corn didn't fare as well as the other foodstuffs, and mesquite pods and Emory oak acorns may not grow in your back yard. That leaves….beans! Frequently eating beans may help you control and stabilize your blood sugar levels. Better yet, try to find beans that are lower in sugar and higher in protein and fiber than your average pinto bean (like tepary beans). If you would like to learn more, or are interested to trying a variety of "better" beans, check out the Native Seeds website at http://www.nativeseeds.org/

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