“The Healing Power of Rice, Beans, and Greens”

“Down Through the Ages, the Combination of Rice, Beans, and Greens has Been Life Giving— And Now with the Economic Crunch Around the World People are Going Back to this Healthy Meal”

For thousands of years, people have been surviving on this great meal, going all the way back to the beginning of civilization. This meal is very common in Asia, South America, Central America, Africa, the US, and many more places around the world. I find it interesting, that when the Nazi’s invaded Greece they took everything including all the meat animals and the Greek people had to forage for greens and as a byproduct, they became much healthier. And I was talking to a young man in the southern states of the US and he said “When we were kids we were poor and the only thing we had to eat were beans and greens and we were very healthy. But when get got a little more affluent and started eating meat we started getting sick— Time to go back to beans and greens”.

Healing Qualities of Organic Brown Rice - Organic brown rice compared to white rice has a lot of health benefits. Brown rice is full of thiamine, niacin, pyridoxine, Vitamin K, calcium, iron, phosphorus, and potassium. Brown Rice is rich in fiber, controls blood sugar and cholesterol, and works wonders for ulcers and diarrhea. Plus if a person is debilitated brown rice is very easy to digest and contains needed nutrients for strong bones, muscles, nails, hair, and teeth. Soaking brown rice in water for 30 minutes prior to cooking makes brown rice cook much faster, or using a pressure cooker is faster and helps to retain more nutrients. And organic brown rice is a very inexpensive food compared to eating any kind of animal protein.

Healing Qualities of Organic Beans - It’s been shown that those who switch to plant based sources of nutrition, and especially fiber and protein rich beans have a reversal of their cardiovascular challenges and premature death caused by heart attacks and strokes. Legumes are full of plant sterols which help to remove cholesterol and help with inflammation thus preventing cardiovascular disease.
One cup of beans contains up to 16 grams of total fiber, and up to 7 grams of soluble fiber. This creates 70% of the daily fiber allowance we need to stay healthy and stave off heart attacks. In fact, plant-based diets not only help to prevent heart attacks in general, they even help those people who’ve had 1, 2, or 3 heart attacks in the past and want to keep from having another heart attack. Angiograms with people who have vascular blockages building up put on a whole foods plant based diet completely reverses their cardiovascular disease— Amazing!

There have been many studies showing that animal protein intake is directly related to diabetes. And being on a plant-based diet rich in fiber, with lots of plant based protein, plant sterols, and lots of antioxidants (Black Beans contain more antioxidants that Blueberries) and choosing plant-based low glycemic foods can heal diabetes. The glycemic index of pinto beans is almost 39 or 39%, while white wheat flour has a glycemic index of 100, or 100% which is not good. And the total amount of grams of carbs times the glycemic index gives us the total glycemic load. A 1/2 cup of pinto beans contains 22 grams of carbs, times 39% which is the glycemic index = 9 a very low glycemic load. Thus beans are great for those who have diabetes and want to control their blood sugar and start transitioning to get off of their insulin, getting off of medications, and heal their diabetes.

Studies show that those who eat a fiber-rich diet have a much lower chance of coming down with cancer, and especially colon and rectal cancer. And beans and legumes are full of fiber and antioxidants that help to prevent and heal cancer. In fact, in laboratory studies it’s been shown that cancer can be turned on and off by just changing our diet. Cancers are activated with animal based proteins and these cancers can be put into neutral and negated with plant based diets. Studies such as the “China Study” show that those who eat lots of plant based nutrition full of fiber have a much lower chance of coming down with cancer. Animal protein creates an acidic reaction it the body, while plant-based diets create an alkaline based reaction in the body. Acid creates inflammation, and inflammation leads to disease, and sometimes that disease expresses itself as cancer. Thus eating plant-based diets rich in fiber and plant sterols such as beans is essential for great health. And beans are super inexpensive a single pound bag of dried beans can feed a person for a week.

Health Benefits of Eating Organic Greens - Green live veggies like kale are important. To lower the cost of organic live veggies contract with an organic farmer in your area. Cut out the middleman and thus reap the benefits of lower cost, which is lower than regular food at supermarkets and these farmers also deliver. Google “Buy Organic Veggies Direct from Farmer” and lots of places in the area to order great organic veggies at wonderful prices will come up. Also add in other types of veggies, including the red veggies, orange, white, purple, all of these different types of veggies are important for great health.
Kale is full of lots of nutrients found in green leafy veggies that will alkalize our body… and it’s full of Vitamins, A (more than 500% of your RDA of Vitamin A), C (More than 200%), and B6 and K (About 700%) and also calcium, manganese, and potassium. Kale also contains iron for building our red blood cells and preventing anemia and boosting vitality. And kale, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, turnip greens, swiss chard, and many other greens are full of live enzymes that we need to stay healthy. And most of these green veggies should be consumed raw but they can also be cooked. Remember up to 75% of all nutrients and 100 % of all live enzymes are lost when we cook food.

Plus kale contain lots of lutein and zeaxathin that are great for preventing macular degeneration. And kale boosts our immune system, promotes healthy blood clot formation, and kale is also loaded with beta-carotene helping to prevent cancer and other diseases, and it’s also anti-inflammatory. And kale is part of the cabbage family—all of which contain colon cancer preventing nutrients, plus kale boosts our metabolism and helps us lose weight. Raising our own greens in your yard, or in pots inside, or having organic greens delivered to our door by organic farmers is super inexpensive.

And I recommend these proportions - 1/4 Rice, 1/4 Beans, and 1/2 Greens, that’s a winning combination with lots of live enzymes and a full spectrum of proteins.

Enjoy this Meal Often— It’s Super Inexpensive and Very Healing!

Dr. Paul Haider - Master Herbalist