A Bean To Avoid!

While beans are actually one of the healthiest carbohydrate sources out there, loaded with fiber and protein, there's actually one variety of beans you should be AVOIDING at all costs: Baked Beans.

Fact is, manufacturers of commercial "baked beans" completely RUIN this health food by adding sugars and other artificial ingredients. Many brands are now even including high fructose corn syrup and numerous other corn ingredients, such as corn starch, in their products...bad news!

For example, a 1-cup serving of canned "baked beans" contains more than 20 grams of ADDED sugar on average while the same 1-cup serving of regular kidney beans, pinto beans, red beans, etc, contains only a gram or two of naturally occurring sugar.  BIG difference!

That said, when buying beans and adding them to your diet (which is actually a great choice), make sure to avoid commercial "baked beans" products and instead go with bean products that don't have all the harmful additives.

Some great varieties of beans and legumes are: Pinto Beans, Red Beans, Navy Beans, Lima Beans, Black Beans, Black-eyed Peas, Marrowfat Peas, Chickpeas, Butter Beans, Lentils

And there are even some natural packaged versions of the above listed beans and legumes that add a number of healthy and natural seasonings to spice them up a bit.

The lesson here is to avoid "baked beans" in favor of the plain stuff (which you can then spice up at home) and when buying anything packaged, take a good, hard look at the ingredients and nutrition facts.

If it's got added sugar and artificial ingredients, skip it!