Having trouble keeping your blood sugar under control? Try beans. We've known for years that the fiber in beans slows down the release of glucose into your bloodstream. But beans are far more powerful than we once thought. The fiber keeps working for you long after the beans are digested. Eating beans for breakfast helps with your blood sugar at lunch. Beans for supper helps with blood sugar at breakfast. Why the delayed effect? It may have to do with what happens in your large intestine hours later. Apparently, your gut bacteria use the bean remnants to produce a substance that slows stomach emptying and calms the rise in blood sugar for yet another meal. So how about a steaming bowl of beans for breakfast? Or lentil soup for lunch? Or a healthy bean burrito for supper? The benefits will stick with you longer than the meal does!
by Dorothea Sarli, Nutritionist