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Avocados – No longer a Forbidden Fruit

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The well known characteristics of fruit, which is light, low-calorie, and fat free, does not apply to the avocado. An avocado contains a lot of calories -360 or more. And it is also one of the few fruits with a measurable fat content, about 30 gr. each. That’s almost half the daily recommended amount for an adult.

If you have doubts about the fact that a food that contains so much fat could be good for you, ask a dietitian. He will tell you that adding some avocado to your diet, could actually improve your health.

Avocados have high folate and potassium content. They are also rich in fiber and monounsaturated fat, both are important for people who are concerned about diabetes and heart health.

A favorite part of a Diabetes Diet
People with diabetes have always been told to eat more carbohydrates and cut back on fat. In general that’s good advice, but it hasn’t to be the best advice for everyone.

Doctors have discovered that when some people with diabetes eat a lot of carbohydrates, they tend to develop high levels of triglycerides, a type of blood fat that may contribute to heart disease. However, when people replace some of those carbohydrates with fat that’s found in avocados, the dangerous fats in the bloodstream tend to decline.

The monounsaturated fat in avocados are called oleic acid. They have found that this type of monounsaturated fat control fat levels in the body and help control diabetes.

Scientists in Mexico put 16 women with diabetes on a relatively high fat diet, with about 40% of calories coming from fat. Most of the fat coming from avocados. The result was a 20% drop in triglycerides. Women on a higher carbohydrate plan, by contrast, had only a 7% drop in triglycerides. Someone on a 2000-calorie-a-day diet might be advised to eat 33 gr of monounsaturated fat. You can get about 20 gr. from just one avocado.

Lowering High Cholesterol
Apart from people with diabetes, people with high cholesterol levels can also benefit from
the oleic acid in avocados.

In Mexico, where guacamole is considered almost a food group, researchers compared the effects of two low-fat diets. The diets were the same, except that one included avocados.
While both lowered levels of dangerous low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the aocado diet raised levels healthy high-density lipoprotein, (HDL)cholesterol, while slightly lowering triglycerides.

Avocados also help in another way to lower bad cholesterol. They contain large amounts of fiber, Fiber adds bulk to the stool, causing it with the cholesterol it contains, to be excreted from the body quicker. One avocado contains more fiber than a bran muffin-10 gr or 40% of the Daily Value for fiber.

Support the Heart
Avocados are also a rich source of potassium. Half an avocado provides 548 mgr of potassium. 16% of the DV for this mineral. That’s more than you’d get from a medium banana or a cup of orange juice. Studies prove that people with a potassium rich diet, like avocados, have a significantly lower risk of high blood pressure and related diseases like heart attack and stroke.

In addition, some research has shown that oleic acid can reduce markers of inflammation in your body. Inflammation plays an important role in the development of artery-clogging atherosclerosis.

Rich in Folate
Another benefit from avocado is that it’s rich in folate, a B vitamin that helps prevent the threatening birth defects of the brain & spine. Many women don’t get enough folate in their diets, but avocados can go a long way towards fixing that problem. One avocado contains 114 micro grams of folate, which is 28% of the recommended Daily Value, or nearly 20% of the 600 micro grams that pregnant women need daily.

Minerals for your Bones
Avocado can help you to keep your bones healthy. A cup of mashed avocado contains 120 mgr of phosphorus, which is 12% of the DV. This mineral is a major component for your bones and teeth, and having plenty of phosphorus on hand also helps your body produce energy from the foods you eat.

Zinc for Good Nutrition
You’ll also find 1.47 mgr of zinc swimming in the green depth in a cup of mashed avocado.
That’s just under 10% of the DV. Zinc conducts countless activities in your body.
The mineral helps keep your immune system working properly, for example, and plays a role in wound healing.

Zinc also aids in your senses of smell and taste, which are necessary to be able to enjoy the food you eat.

Shopping for Avocados
If you live in the US, get your avocados from Florida. They provide all the nutrients without all the fat. They have about 2//3 of the calories and half the fat of Hass avocados. The best time to buy avocados is between November and March.
They may have one-third the fat of those picked in September or October.

Warning for Drug Users
People who are taking warfarin should take care when eating avocados. Researchers in Israel found that eating between one half and one avocado could make the drug work less efficient. While the effects didn’t last long,- when people stopped eating avocados,the drug started working better again – this could be dangerous for some people. So, if you’re taking warfarin,check with your doctor before adding avocados to your meals.

Help them ripen
Like bananas, avocados ripen better off the tree, so they are picked and sold unripe.
Once you get them home, leave them on the counter for several days until the fruit is
slightly soft. Or if you’re in a hurry toeat them, place them in apaper bag with an apple
or banana to soften. Never place hard avocados in the refrigerator, then they will ripen
too slowly.

BLOOD PRESSURE CONTROL

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High blood pressure is often called “the silent killer”. But although high blood pressure works quietly, it’s frequently deadly. Since high blood pressure usually causes no symptoms, you might not even know that you have it until you develop a serious health problem.

“High blood pressure is just a reflection of a cardiovascular system that’s about to burst internally”, says John A. McDougall, MD, medical director of the McDougall Program in Santa Rosa, California, and author of “The McDougall Program for a Healthy Heart.” But if you eat a good diet – lots of fruits and vegetables and whole grains versus rich foods – you can
help to change all that,” he says.

According to the National Institute of Health, nearly one in three adults has high blood pressure.
By eating a healthy diet, you can make sure that you will not be one of them.

Hypertension
Your blood pressure can vary during the course of the day, even from minute to minute. Your heart pumps blood throughout your body through a system of arteries.With every heart beat a new wave of blood is sent out and your blood pressure goes up. This is your systolic blood pressure. Between beats, your heart briefly relaxes and the pressure subsides.
This is your diastolic blood pressure. When you have your blood pressure tested, you’re given two numbers ( your systolic over your diastolic ) measure in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg).A sample blood pressure might be 135/68 mm Hg.

All your organs depend on a reliable blood flow that courses through your delicate “plumbing”.When you develop chronic high blood pressure, or hypertension, trouble follows.

High-pressure blood whooshes through the arteries with damaging force. Your heart has to struggle harder to push out the blood, and it may grow enlarged and unable to bear the extra strain. Your arteries, which should be elastic and flexible, may more rapidly grow stiff and narrow. They may deliver less blood to your organs, and a blood clot can more readily get “stuck” and totally block the flow, causing a heart attack.

In most cases, doctors don’t know the exact cause of high blood pressure. But they do know the preventable lifestyle factors that increase your change of getting into problems:
being overweight or obese, excessive use of alcohol , a diet that contains too much salt or too little potassium, smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, chronic stress, and taking certain medications.
Other risk factors can’t be changed: your age ( high blood pressure is more common in middle age and after), your race (it’s more common in African Americans than Caucasians),and family history of high blood pressure.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Heart Association use the following classifications to identify normal and high blood pressure:

Blood Pressure Classification Systolic Blood Pressure Diastolic Blood Pressure
Normal less than 120 less than 80
Prehypertension 120 – 139 80 – 89
Stage 1 hypertension 140 – 159 90 – 99
Stage 2 hypertension more than 160 more than 100

Even if your blood pressure falls into the normal or “prehypertension” categories, it’s not time to breathe a sigh of relief. Your risk of death from heart disease or stroke rises progressively as your blood pressure goes up in theses early stages.
In other words – you need to get starting concerned well before you have a diagnosis of hypertension.

Research from the major, long-running Framingham Heart Study shows that having systolic blood pressure between 130 and 139 or diastolic blood pressure between 885 and 89 may more than double your risk of cardiovascular disease versus having blood pressure in the “normal” range.

According to the NIH, people in the prehypertension category should be “firmly and unambiguously advised to practice lifestyle modifications in order to reduce their risk of developing hypertension in the future.”

Mild high blood pressure responds well to non drug therapies. If you feed and exercise
your body well, you may be able to avoid blood pressure drugs (and their often
troublesome side effects ) and calm your rushing blood. Don’t be misled by the “mild”
label, though. “Most heart attacks and strokes that occur does in people with stage 1
high blood pressure,” says Norman Kaplan, MD, professor of internal medicine and
hypertension specialist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Give Your Heart a Break
Losing weight – even just 10 pounds – can reduce your blood pressure or prevent you
from developing hypertension. There is a connection between excess weight and
hypertension. The more tissue you have in your body, the harder your heart has to pump
to feed it. And that work exerts more pressure on your artery walls.

Everybody knows that loosing weight is easier said than done. But exercise makes it
easier. And the best weight loss diet is the same as the best diet for controlling blood
pressure: low fat and lots of fruits and vegetables.

Facts about Salt
Experts believe that many people with high blood pressure are salt “responders”,
meaning that their blood pressure levels depend on the amount of salt they eat.
“But there is some controversy about the issue”, says Prof. Lawrence Appel.

“Some people have a greater response than others. Older people tend to be more
sensitive to salt. If you eat more than the recommended 2,400 mg limit – your
blood pressure rises.If you’re sensitive to salt, the sodium it contains makes your body
attract more water like a sponge. You soak it up and your blood vessels expand with it
producing higher pressure.

“If you have high blood pressure, your salt intake has to be reduced by half”, says
Dr. Kaplan. “Don’t put salt on the table or in the food you cook.Avoid most processed
foods, which is where 80% of the sodium in American diets comes from. If that doesn’t
bring your blood pressure down, then sodium isn’t the culprit”, he says.

According to the NIH, reducing sodium in your diet to no more than 2,400 mgs daily
(equal to about a teaspoon table salt) will lower your systolic blood pressure by
2- 8 mm Hg. An even better goal is to reduce your daily sodium intake to 1,500 mgs,
or 2/3 teaspoon, to lower your blood pressure even further.

Mining for Minerals
Potassium and calcium are two minerals that help the blood vessels relax.
When arteries relax, they dilate, or open up and give blood the room it needs to
move calmly.

You can think of potassium as the opposite of sodium, potassium helps the body
excrete sodium. The more potassium you get in your diet, the more sodium you get
rid of. Fruits and vegetables are naturally low in sodium and high in potassium.
A diet high in vegetables and fruits almost mimics a vegetarian diet, which is known
to be linked to lower blood pressure.
Foods that are rich in potassium includes beans, potatoes, avocados, bananas and
apricots.

Calcium has shown similar ties to blood pressure in studies. Some have found that
low intake a actually a risk factor for developing high blood pressure.
Since regular diary foods contain saturated fat, it’s wise to make sure that you get
your calcium from low-fat or fat-free dairy products.

Besides low-fat diary products, your best sources of calcium include tofu, kale,
broccoli, and collard greens.

Sodium appears in many foods in which you might not expect it. Baking soda and
baking powder are both sodium bicarbonate. Dried fruit contains sodium sulfate,
and ice cream often has sodium caseinate and sodium alginate.

Instant chocolate-flavored pudding. A half-cup contains 470 mg sodium.
Ketchup. One tablespoon contains 156 mg sodium
Pastries. A fruit Danish has 333 mg of sodium, while a cheese Danish has 319 mg.
Scones and baking- powder biscuits also tend to be high in sodium.
Cheese. Most types are high in sodium. This includes cottage cheese, which has
425 mg in a half-cup serving.

Eating Right
For starters, you should practice what Dr. Appel calls “active shopping”.
In other words: Read the nutrition labels and be sure to look at the sodium content.
Sodium-free is a good phrase to look for a label, so is low-sodium.
The word “light” is, however, is not as conclusive. Light soy sauce, for example,
can still have 605 mg sodium per tablespoon. “No salt added” doesn’t mean
a food is sodium free, either.

Bread too is occasionally high in salt. If you buy bread fresh at a bakery, where it isn’t
labeled, don’t be shy about asking how much salt is in each loaf.

When you’re buying canned foods, salt can be a real problem. In many cases, however,
rinsing the food will eliminate a good percentage of the salt.

Since produce is the cornerstone of a diet for healthy blood pressue, you should always be
looking for ways to eat more fruits and vegetables. Here are a few of Dr. Lin’s suggestions:
* Buy prepackaged salads for busy days ( best to rinse it before using, however.
* Order a fruit plate as an appetizer before your meal at a restaurant.
* Eat two vegetarian dinners per week.

When you’re buying produce, make sure you choose some oranges, apples and pears.
These fruits are fiber kings. And heart researchers are starting to find that not only fiber
decrease dangerous cholesterol, it may also lower blood pressure.

Finally, it’s essential to reduce the amount of fat in your diet. Dr. Lin recommends making
small, gradual changes that will cut the total amount of fat you use in half.
Buy butter substitutes and trans-fat-free versions of margarine. Use mustard instead of
mayonnaise, and snack on low-salt pretzels instead of potato chips.

Celery: A Strong Protector

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As a member of the parsley family, these stalks contain compounds that may help
lower blood pressure and perhaps help prevent cancer.
Celery is also a good source of insoluble fiber as well as some essential nutrients,
like potassium, vitamin C and calcium.

Lower bad cholesterol
Laboratory tests with animals shows the ability to lower cholesterol.
In a study conducted at the National University of Singapore, laboratory animals were
fed a high-fat diet,plumping them up for 8 weeks and raising their cholesterol.
Then they gave some of the animals celery juice. The animals that drank the celery juice
had significantly lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol than the animals that didn’t
received any celery juice.

Lower Blood Pressure
Celery has been used in Asia as a remedy for people with high blood pressure.
In the United States, a man named Mr. Le with mild high blood pressure and persistence persuaded
researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Rather than cutting back on salt as his doctor advised, he began eating four stalks of
celery per day. Within a week, his blood pressure had dropped from 158/96 to 118/82.

An assistant professor of medicine and pharmacological and physiological science
at the University of Chicago, W. J. Elliott, MD, PhD, decided to put celery at the test.
Test animals were injected with a small amount of 3-n-phthalide, a chemical compound celery
that is found in celery. Within a week, the blood pressure of the animals dropped an
average of 12 to 14 percent.

“Phthalide was found to relax the muscles of the arteries that regulate blood pressure,
allowing the vessels to dilate.” according to Dr. Elliott. In addition, the chemical reduced
the number of “stress hormones” called catecholamines in the blood.
This may be helpful because stress hormones typically raise blood pressure by causing
blood vessels to constrict.

If you have high blood pressure and would like to give celery a try, use this strategy
recommended by Asian practisioners. Eat four to five stalks of celery every day for
a week, then stop for three weeks. Then start over and eat celery for another week.
But don’t overdo it and eat celery by the pound, warns Dr. Elliott.
Each celery stalk contains 35 milligrams of sodium, and for some people, this can cause
blood pressure to go up instead of going down. “Eating a ton of celery can be dangerous
if you have salt-sensitive hypertension.” says Dr. Elliott.

Preventing Cancer
Celery contains compounds that may help prevent cancer, according to research.
Firstly, celery contains compounds called acetylenics, which proved to stop the growth
of tumor cells.
Secondly, celery contains compounds called phenolic acids, which block the action of
hormone like substances called prostaglandins. Some prostaglandins are thought to encourage the growth of tumor cells.
Thirdly, celery contains compounds called coumarins, which help prevent free radicals
from damaging cells. That gives celery a one-two-three punch against cancer.

A Skin Stalker
As celery is such a sweet, succulent stalk, it has to produce its own pesticides to
protect it from hungry fungi.
These compounds protect the celery, however, they could do humans some harm.
For some people, getting these compounds in the diet, or even through the skin,
can make their skin very sensitive to sunlight. So much so that they can get sunburns
after they have spent even a short period of time in the sun.

If you begin having skin problems after eating celery, stop eating it.
You have to wash celery thoroughly before you eat it . That way you remove any fungi
that may have formed on the plant, which sometimes causes the production of those
compounds.

Protect the Flavonoids
Don’t be tempted to cut up celery to eat later. It’s best to eat the celery soon after
you cut it. After only 24 hours in the fridge, the flavonoids are consider ably
decreased, according to researchers in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Save the leaves
While celery stalks are certainly a healthy snack, however, the leaves contain the
most potassium, vitamin C and calcium.

Eat it the way you like it.
While many foods lose nutrients during cooking, most of the compounds in celery
are staying on during cooking. Eating a cup of celery raw or cooked, provides about
9 milligrams of vitamin C, which is 15% of the Daily Value; 426 milligrams of potassium
of 12% of the Daily Value, and 60 milligrams of calcium, or 6% of the Daily Value.

A Heart Healthy Diet Prevent Stroke

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The fact that stroke can strike suddenly without warning is most frighting.
There is often no sign or anything, just a fraction of a second sense that something went wrong.
Although the stroke itself comes out of the blue, the problems that causes it usually develop
over years. When the blood, that contains oxygen and nutrients, can’t reach parts of the brain,
stroke occurs, or when an artery ruptures and blood is lost.

The risk of a stroke will be present by high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes,
and a dangerous prediabetic condition called metabolic syndrome – and all these factors
can be reduced by choosing the right food and a healthy lifestyle.
“Your diet plays a critical role in preventing stroke”, says Thomas Pearson, M.D. PhD,
professor of epidemiology and chairman of the department of community and preventive
medicine at the University of Rochester in New York.

A study involving more than 87,000 nurses at the Harvard School of Public Health showed that women
who ate the most fruits and vegetables had a 40% less change of having a stroke than those who ate the least.
Another study conducted at the University of California, San Diego, discovered that people who ate a single
serving of potassium-rich fruits and vegetables a day where also able to cut there risk of stroke by 40%.

The following six strategies offer powerful protection:
Calm high blood pressure with dairy and potassium. High blood pressure (135/85 or higher)
doubles your risk for a stroke. Here is why. Pressured by high-speed blood flow, arteries
in the brain thicken and can eventually squeeze shut. Small arteries may rupture under pressure.
The risk for developing clot-producing plaque on the artery walls due to high blood pressure.
More than 300,000 strokes annually could be prevented if everyone in the US brought it
under control. Your diet should include low-fat dairy products and plenty of potassium-rich
foods. Not only does potassium fight high blood pressure, it also appears to make blood
less likely to clot, which can reduce the risk of stroke even more.
Potassium rich foods are fat-free milk, low-fat yogurt, vegetable juice cocktail, baby limas,
kidney beans, lentils, baked potatoes, prune juice and died peaches.

Reverse metabolic syndrome with smart meal combo’s.
Metabolic syndrome is a combination of prediabetic conditions including insulin resistance
which occur when your cells stop responding quickly to insulin’s command to absorb blood
sugar – plus slightly high blood pressure, blood sugar, and triglycerides, plus low levels of
good high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Nearly everyone with this condition is
overweight. There are at least 40 million Americans at risk for metabolic syndrome.
People with metabolic syndrome doubles their risk of stroke.

You can prevent this condition by eating high-fiber, low-sugar foods, lean protein, good fats
such as nuts, oily cold-water fish, and flaxseed. Fruits, vegetables and grain products low
on the Glycemic Index, also keeps blood sugar and insulin levels lower.
This will cut cravings and help you lose weight and can almost instantly make your body cells
more sensitive to insulin’s signals. Avoid foods like doughnuts, sugary soft drinks, and white
bread, which send sugar levels soaring, fast.
You can also slow the rise in blood sugar after a meal by combining a high-fiber or high-
protein food with a refined carbohydrate – for example, with some navy beans with instant rice,

Lose weight
Not only what you eat but also how much you eat can play a role in controlling stroke.
Overweight can raise a woman’s stroke risk by 75%. Obesity raises it by 100%.
When researchers at Harvard University compared body weight and stroke risk in 116,759
nurses, they found that overweight women were two to four times more likely to have high
blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol.
Being overweight is perhaps the leading cause of high blood pressure, which rapidly increases
stroke risk. As a matter of fact, people with high blood pressure are five times more likely
to have a stroke than those who’s blood pressure are normal.
Also, being overweight increase your risk of developing diabetes and the risk of stroke.

Treat diabetes with slow carbs
Having diabetes in women seems to be a bigger threat for a stroke than for men, because
of raising blood pressure and brain-threatening blood clots, and makes her risk for stroke
two to four times higher than normal.

The best food strategy for keeping diabetes under control is choosing “good”, “slow”
complex carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
These keep blood sugar levels lower and steadier and also help control levels of insulin
in your body. Experts theorize that surges of insulin after a meal heavy loaded with
refined carbs advance biochemical changes in the body that promote high blood pressure
and blood clot formation – which are two big stroke risks.

Rebalance your cholesterol profile with good fats
High levels of bad low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and low levels of good (HDL)
cholesterol increase the risk of stroke. When the level of good cholesterol is low, your body
is unable to haul away the bad cholesterol , giving it free entry inside the lining of your
artery walls and start the process that leads to clogged arteries.
To get lower LDL and higher HDL levels you should eat less saturated fats and more good
fats. Choose olive oil or canola oil for cooking to maintain healthy HDL levels.
By adding plenty of exercise you give them a boost.

Also, skip full-fat milk, cheese, sour cream, and ice cream….and turn down that fat-marbled
prime rib. What you don’t eat can be just as important as what you do eat.
Research has shown that people who get the most fat in their diet – especially the saturated
fat in meats and other animal foods – have a bigger change of having a stroke than those who
eat healthier foods. This is because a diet that is high in saturated fat raises cholesterol levels.
Cholesterol which is known for clogging arteries in the heart, can also block blood vessels
in and leading to the brain.

“Reducing saturated fat intake is the most powerful dietary maneuver you can make”‘
according to John Crouse, MD, professor of medicine and public health sciences and
associate director of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine General Clinical
Research Center.

Limiting meat servings to 3 to 4 ounces a day, using little or no butter, switching to low-fat
dairy foods, and avoiding high-fat snacks is all what’s necessary for most people to keep
healthy cholesterol levels.

Choose lots of produce as well.
When researchers from the well-known Framingham Heart Study Group scrutinized the diets
of 830 men, they found that for every three servings of fruits and vegetables people ate
every day, their risk of stroke declined 22%.

There are several reasons that fruits and vegetables are so beneficial for preventing stroke.
Most of all, they are high in fiber, which has been shown to lower bad cholesterol.
These foods also contain powerful antioxidants, according to epidemiologist Michael Hertog,
PhD, of the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental protection in the Netherlands.
They help prevent the harmful LDL cholesterol from sticking to your artery walls and blocking
blood flow to the brain. Foods that contain a large quantity of antioxidants are: garlic,onions,
kale, carrots, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, blueberries, plums, cherries, oranges and red grapes.

You don’t need a lot of antioxidant-rich food to get the benefits. In the Nurses’ Health Study,
for example, Harvard researchers discovered that women who get as little as 15 milligrams
of beta-carotene daily, which is the amount in a large carrot, reduced their risk of stroke.

Except fruits and vegetables, tea (both green and black tea) is also an excellent source of
flavonoids. When Dr. Hertog studied more than 550 men aged 50 to 69, he found that those
who got most of their flavonoids from tea were able to reduce their risk of stroke by 73%,
compared with those who got the least of these healthful compounds.
He found that those men who drink at least 5 cups of tea daily can reduce their stroke risk
by more than two-thirds, compared with those drink who less than 3 cups a day.

Dropping just a few pounds can cut stroke risk. You don’t have to be model-thin to stay
healthy, says Thomas A Pearson, MD. PhD, of the University of Rochester.
Losing 10 to 20 pounds is often sufficient to lower blood pressure and with it, the risk
of having a stroke.

Health Benefits of Beans

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Despite their small seize, beans contain a surprisingly rich and varied array of substances that are vital for good health.

First of all, beans are a great source of dietary fiber, according to Joe Hughes, PhD, assistant professor in the nutrition and food sciences program at California State University in San Bernardino, whose research is centered on beans.

Beans are also a good source of minerals, protein, and surprisingly: antioxidants.
They are one of the best foods to lower cholesterol. The soluble fiber in beans traps cholesterol-containing bile, removing it from the body before it’s absorbed.

Eating a cup of cooked beans a day can lower total cholesterol about 10% in 6 weeks.
While 10% may not seem like much, keep in mind that every 1% reduction in total cholesterol means a 2% decrease in your risk for heart disease.

Beans can lower cholesterol in just about anyone, but the higher your cholesterol level, the better they work. It appears that all types of beans can lower cholesterol, even canned beans.

Another benefit from beans is that they keep blood sugar levels steady.

Beans are rich sources of phytochemicals, which are plant components that have antioxidant and other disease fighting properties. Beans may contain hundreds of types of antioxidant chemicals.

Remember that antioxidants help protect you from cancer by limiting damaging attacks on your cells from free radicals.

Some other compounds in beans – like lignans, isoflavons, saponins, phytic acid, and protese inhibiters- have been shown to inhibit cancer-cells growth.

Beans are  also a great source of vitamins and minerals.
A half-cup of black beans contains 128 micro grams, or 32% of the Daily Value (DV) for folate, a B vitamin that may lower risk of heart disease and fight birth defects. That same cup has 2 milligram of iron, 11% of the DV , and 305 milligram of potassium, or 9% of the DV. Potassium is a mineral that has shown to help control blood pressure.

All beans are a good source of fiber. They have the highest concentration of lectin, which protect our cells for viruses, bacteria and cancer cells.
They have to be properly prepared and cooked.