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Beans and Rice are Super Healthy
They also form the basis for many traditional cuisines
Today I made a delicious dish that featured green tomatoes and chickpeas and served it over rice. It turns out that is a super-healthy combo, at least according to the founder of the Blue Zones diet, Dan Buettner.
The Blue Zones are the parts of the world where people live the longest. Buettner found that in most of these areas, people ate a mostly plant-based diet.
Of course, that was not the only thing they did. They also stayed active and had a social network into their old age. And the foods they ate tended to be local and organic. In many cases, elderly people grew veggies in their own gardens and harvested fruits and nuts from their own trees.
Many people worry that if they eat a plant-based diet, they won’t get enough protein. This is where the combo of beans and rice comes in.
It’s a combo that is common in India, where my parents are from. My mother regularly makes dal, chole, and chana, or cooks up mung beans to serve with rice. The combination provides balanced protein as well as plenty of fiber.
Both beans and rice only contain some of the amino acids we need. In combination, however, they provide the full package.
