Beans, beans, the magical fruit...
August 21, 2007 4:00 PM   Subscribe

 
Oh good. I am pretty much covered.
posted by k8t at 4:02 PM on August 21, 2007


That's a pretty good list, but they forgot about food for warding off existential crisis: bacon.
posted by neuron at 4:12 PM on August 21, 2007 [6 favorites]


Dang. I should have guessed that those were black beans and not coffee beans, but that picture got my hopes up.
posted by gurple at 4:20 PM on August 21, 2007


Meanwhile, I'm having Dominos pizza, cinnastix, and Sprite for dinner :-( Tomorrow! Tomorrow I have beans!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:22 PM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


All beans are good for your heart

Some would go so far as to say GREAT for your heart.
posted by snofoam at 4:25 PM on August 21, 2007 [3 favorites]


Most excellent. But they forgot garlic. And coffee. And beer.
posted by loquacious at 4:27 PM on August 21, 2007 [3 favorites]


there weren't any animals on that list.
posted by C17H19NO3 at 4:29 PM on August 21, 2007


Most of these are great, but I will eat walnuts voluntarily when Hell freezes over.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:29 PM on August 21, 2007


The Top Grammar Mistakes You Should Make Everyday
posted by DU at 4:30 PM on August 21, 2007 [4 favorites]


No food should be eaten every day, if nothing else it causes allergies, not to mention every food has a downside in large enough doses. The key is diversity. Yes, eat lots of fruits and veggies of certain types, but keep it varied. It's a wider spectrum of nutrients and less likely to develop an allergy (there is a reason the most common allergies are wheat, milk, eggs and soy). Enter that great unknown of the veggie world and buy stuff you have no idea what to do with (if all else fails, everything can be stir-fried).
posted by stbalbach at 4:32 PM on August 21, 2007


Along with my two beverages to drink everyday: espresso and red wine. As long as I have those, I'll eat anything.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 4:35 PM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


Spinach? Black Beans? Carrots? Sure, if you want to be Popeye the Sailor Bunny with problem flatulence.
posted by jonmc at 4:37 PM on August 21, 2007 [8 favorites]


8 Everyday Foods You Should Eat EVERY DAY.
posted by wfc123 at 4:40 PM on August 21, 2007


I could eat carrots every day, blueberries every day, probably even yogurt every day... but I don't think I could eat black beans every. single. day.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:41 PM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


if nothing else it causes allergies

huh? citation anywhere?
posted by Miko at 4:45 PM on August 21, 2007


So if you have the virus, will a diet of these foods keep you skinny?
posted by caddis at 4:48 PM on August 21, 2007


Spinach? Black Beans? Carrots? Sure, if you want to be Popeye the Sailor Bunny with problem flatulence.

This from the pasty, anemic city guy who sweats hot chili Funyuns and gummy cheeseburgers! Boy, the longer you stay on that diet of styrofoam and grease, the easier it'll be for me and my healthy liver to drink you totally fucking retarded when we finally meet! Have a Twinkie!
posted by loquacious at 4:51 PM on August 21, 2007 [3 favorites]


This reminds me of those pictures on the back of cereal boxes demonstrating that whatever high-fructose corn syrupy-junk is part of a complete breakfast, provided you eat an entire farm.

First person who can make a recipe involving all of these gets a nickel.
posted by dismas at 4:52 PM on August 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


No food should be eaten every day, if nothing else it causes allergies

I'm also skeptical: you don't see too many people in Asia with rice allergies.

Since, until recently, a given human or pre-human would probably eat almost exactly the same thing every day of their lives, you'd think that traits like that would be bred out of the race.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 4:52 PM on August 21, 2007


I'm pretty sure my daily Diet Coke Plus will cover all these bases.
posted by mrnutty at 4:53 PM on August 21, 2007


This from the pasty, anemic city guy who sweats hot chili Funyuns and gummy cheeseburgers! Boy, the longer you stay on that diet of styrofoam and grease, the easier it'll be for me and my healthy liver to drink you totally fucking retarded when we finally meet! Have a Twinkie!

Anemic? I lug crates all day for a living. And my internal organs are protected by a delicious hard candy shell. So there. And actually, yesterday I had delicious moist brisket, beef ribs, deviled eggs, sweet potatoes and pecan pie (and beer) at this wonderful place. (best brisket I've ever had), so there is variety in my diet!
posted by jonmc at 4:56 PM on August 21, 2007


yesterday I had delicious moist brisket, beef ribs, deviled eggs, sweet potatoes and pecan pie (and beer)

you're my hero
posted by C17H19NO3 at 4:58 PM on August 21, 2007


First person who can make a recipe involving all of these gets a nickel.

1. Put 1 serving each of spinach, yogurt, tomatoes, carrots, blueberries, black beans, walnuts, and oats in the blender cup.
2. Blend on high.
3. Pour into glass and enjoy.
posted by junesix at 4:58 PM on August 21, 2007


there weren't any animals on that list.

Thankfully.
posted by Gnostic Novelist at 5:00 PM on August 21, 2007


you're my hero

I forgot. I had a jalapeno cheeze Kreuz sausage, too.
posted by jonmc at 5:01 PM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


This list is okay, but nobody ever mentions the health benefits of bathing in the fresh blood of babies.
posted by KokuRyu at 5:02 PM on August 21, 2007 [3 favorites]


If you eat too much of anything, your body can build an intolerance for it. It happened to me with peanuts - cuz I love me peanuts. I had to back off for awhile tho cuz I ate peanut butter every day for months. And I mean MONTHS. Without fail. Then one day my face was two times bigger than the rest of my head. All pinky and puffy. Process of elimination led me to the conclusion that peanuts were the culprit. I stopped eating peanuts and the pinky puffyness went away. I've since worked them back into my diet, cuz I love me peanuts. However, I try to keep it in moderation.

I imagine eight foods is diverse enough to keep your body from freaking out but even if it does it'll take months or years for you to develop the allergy. Occasionally working in the substitutions mentioned in the article could keep that from happening. As for me, I'll work all eight of these into my diet just as soon as they all show up on the Wendy's Dollar Menu.
posted by ZachsMind at 5:03 PM on August 21, 2007


but is he your superhero?
posted by caddis at 5:08 PM on August 21, 2007


I had a jalapeno cheeze Kreuz sausage, too.

you declared a jihad on your own GI tract, man
posted by matteo at 5:09 PM on August 21, 2007 [6 favorites]


I had a jalapeno cheeze Kreuz sausage, too.

now you're just yanking my chain.
posted by C17H19NO3 at 5:11 PM on August 21, 2007


spinach for the wang, eh. i knew i was doing something right...
posted by es_de_bah at 5:16 PM on August 21, 2007


matteo, don't knock it till you try it. This was top of the line 'cue.
posted by jonmc at 5:16 PM on August 21, 2007


No food should be eaten every day, if nothing else it causes allergies...

If you eat too much of anything, your body can build an intolerance for it...


Cites, please.

My partner just came back from the hippie grocery store where she dropped some cash on various heirloom dried beans (like ones you can get here). Good god, they're pretty! I hope they taste as good as they look - we're making fish tacos this weekend, and wanted to fancy up the beanage.
posted by rtha at 5:19 PM on August 21, 2007


Why are you putting beans in fish tacos?
posted by dersins at 5:21 PM on August 21, 2007


Eat your honey every day.
posted by ColdChef at 5:22 PM on August 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


Huh. Excepting the copius amounts of garlic my wife cooks with (thankfully), gallons of orange juice, and the occasional steak or hunk o’liver, this is pretty much the core of my diet. Although I eat a lot of other greens (peas, green beans, etc.) and pasta (e.g. w/tomato sauce) and such, but mostly this stuff is the core.
Although I did buy some Octoberfest beer, ‘cos ya gotta.

And I stick mice up my ass. ...course, that’s off topic.

I notice though the more/harder I exercise the less I want, or can tolerate, nasty foods. I came back from a long run and wanted some ice cream, but it didn’t taste good to me and I felt like crap after I ate it. Normally every once in a while that “Mayan Chocolate” calls to me (it’s good with blood too!) but after I hit the gym it’s like pouring water in the gas tank.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:28 PM on August 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


I'm the god of eating the same foods for months or years at a time. My life may be pretty fucked up in lots of ways, but at least there's no allergies.
posted by DarkForest at 5:57 PM on August 21, 2007


Isn't it "beans, beans, the musical fruit"?
posted by crossoverman at 6:08 PM on August 21, 2007


zachsmind: I ate peanut butter every day for months. And I mean MONTHS. Without fail.

I've eaten peanut butter virtually every day for almost 30 years, with no particular negative effects. So I've won twice: this anecdotal argument and because I've been able to eat peanut butter every day.
posted by Adam_S at 6:11 PM on August 21, 2007 [3 favorites]


No food should be eaten every day, if nothing else it causes allergies...

If you eat too much of anything, your body can build an intolerance for it...

Cites, please.


Probably somewhere on one of these two sites. For what that's worth.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 6:14 PM on August 21, 2007


I'm a dead woman.

I like blueberries, but they never have good fresh ones here. Do blueberry pancakes count? Or muffins?

Walnuts are great. I have oat cereal for lunch sometimes. I have yogurt when I remember, which isn't often enough. I like spinach in my salads.

But I never have black beans, and rarely have veggies, other than baby carrots. Yes, I know, I'm a terrible person.

But riddle me this, people: Why is orange juice not on the list?! Orange juice makes everything better! And bananas! That's my breakfast, right there, oj and a banana. Don't mess with my breakfast, you food nazis.
posted by misha at 6:15 PM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


Orange juice makes everything better!

Yeah! vodka, rum, gin, tequila....
posted by jonmc at 6:19 PM on August 21, 2007 [4 favorites]


But riddle me this, people: Why is orange juice not on the list?!

I don't know! I certainly can't live without my glass of OJ every morning.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:24 PM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


Why is orange juice not on the list?!

Maybe for the same reason that, despite the all-star panel of doctors, scientists, nutritionists, and chefs (each promoting some book or TV show,) many people might leave carots off the list: high glycemic sugar jolt and not much else to it.

The rest of these do seem to be on most of the short lists, though exactly which nut sometimes varies.

Then there's the most recent studies that show very little correlation with diet and disease prevention, it's all just glucose in the bloodstream in the end anyway.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:26 PM on August 21, 2007


Oh, and another biggie is Salmon, especially sockeye that eats lower on the food chain and supposedly accumulates less heavy metals.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:37 PM on August 21, 2007


Metafilter: part of a complete breakfast, provided you eat an entire farm.
posted by gwint at 6:38 PM on August 21, 2007


hm, odd... they forgot to mention natto. Every day.

(actually, I wonder if one can make natto with black beans... )
posted by Auden at 6:41 PM on August 21, 2007


Let's see . . . spinach, yogurt and tomatoes pretty much every day, or at least 80-85% of the days.

Oatmeal and walnuts every week, if not every day.

all rightttt! i'm gonna live forever, baby!
posted by jason's_planet at 6:47 PM on August 21, 2007


4.95 for a lb of beans....sucker!!!!!
Bbbbut ... you don't understand! They're magic beans!
posted by swell at 6:54 PM on August 21, 2007


I am so looking forward to the invention of nutritionally complete human chow. Genetically engineered beans may be the way to go, for minimal post-harvest processing. I do enjoy the social aspect of shared meals, but food eaten alone for the sake of satisfying hunger is of little interest to me besides being nutritious and having a reasonably pleasant taste.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 7:11 PM on August 21, 2007


Sure, eating those eight things every day may help you live longer, but that just means that you'll have more time to beg for the sweet release of death.

Christ, I would hope to die of a heart attack before I'm 60 rather than eat spinach-clusters-o'-oats as part of this complete breakfast.
posted by solid-one-love at 7:11 PM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


Hel-loooo, Popeye!
posted by katillathehun at 7:19 PM on August 21, 2007


Why isn't Drambuie on that list?
posted by notreally at 7:22 PM on August 21, 2007


All of these items are delicious when battered and deep fried. I could eat them every day!
posted by blue_beetle at 7:32 PM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


I'm with the grammarians. Why should I listen to someone tell me what I should eat if they don't know how to use the English language correctly, every damn day.
posted by fourcheesemac at 7:39 PM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


I wish there were some way I could do a reverse SuperSize Me movie, where I had the resources to be able to eat only these eight items for an entire month - and see what it would do to me medically and emotionally and other-ly. Have cameras follow me around all day for thirty days. Go see doctors who'd tell me if my blood had more or less carcinogens during the procedure. Actively go to different farmer's markets throughout the country and talk to people about weird diets and strange exercise regimens and come up with amusing anecdotes or funny asides about modern culture and how fast food places may be slowly poisoning the world, but eating these eight things every day for the rest of your life probably won't do ya much more good in the long run. Or maybe it will. That'd be what the anti-SuperSize Me movie would be all about. Instead of a healthy guy purposefully eating unhealthy, I'd be an unhealthy guy purposefully eating the same eight healthy foods every day for a month.

I think I'd freak out in seventy-two hours or less and plead with the cameraman for a Big Mac.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:56 PM on August 21, 2007 [3 favorites]


We find that a 40lb box of blueberries, frozen and vacuum sealed, lasts about a year for me. I eat perhaps a half-cup a day on average, in my yogurt.

We also participate in a big fresh-dried fruits & nuts annual wholesale club. It costs us between $500—$1000 a year, but we are buying an entire year's supply of dried nectarines, apricots, raisins, figs, cranberries, walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, coconut, pine nuts, raw sugar, high-end chocolate, and another half-dozen foody items. Friggin' bargoon, given the quality and quantity.

Doesn't make writing the cheque any easier, mind.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:16 PM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


I am so looking forward to the invention of nutritionally complete human chow.

What, like bachelor chow?

I seriously want bachelor chow. I like cooking, but I also like "Pour in bowl, add spoon and water, stir, eat. Spoon optional."
posted by loquacious at 8:43 PM on August 21, 2007


five fresh fish -

nice to see a like mind... we freeze about the same amount of blueberries, and dry another 100lbs I'd say. Home dried blueberries (very different than those from, say, Trader Joe's) are fantastic and pair well with toasted walnuts.

This wholesale club sounds great! Is it local, or national?
posted by Auden at 8:44 PM on August 21, 2007


First person who can make a recipe involving all of these gets a nickel.

OK. I'm up.

Breakfast: Yogurt with oat-walnut granola (made with honey and cinnamon), and blueberries.

Lunch: Fresh baby spinach salad with shredded carrots and 3 oz. salmon or chicken, with a dressing of soy, honey, rice wine vinegar, and ginger. Garnish with sesame seeds.

Dinner: Black bean tostadas/tacos. Mash black beans with 1 chopped canned chipotle pepper, lime juice, salt, and garlic. Spread on oven-crisped corn tortillas, sprinkle with 1 T. grated cheddar cheese, and toast in the oven until cheese melts. Top with diced fresh tomatoes and some plain yogurt dressing (in place of sour cream, just like the local burrito joint does it).

Dessert:
Blueberry Cobbler: Cook fresh blueberries in stock pot with water until reduced to a blue syrup. Pour in buttered baking dish, and top with a nixture of oats and chopped walnuts mixed with a few T. of brown sugar and 1 T. of butter, crumbled together and baked.

Since I try to eat stuff like this as much as convenience and time allows, I know it's not a far-fetched menu, really. And carrots - yeah, they are high in natural sugars, but also out of the park in terms of fiber and Vitamin A, so they're worth it. OJ, on the other hand, is concentrated sugar with not a lot of fiber, and not even the amount of Vitamin C you get in 1/4 of a fresh red pepper. So, not worth the calories, IMO.
posted by Miko at 8:51 PM on August 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


Christ, I would hope to die of a heart attack before I'm 60 rather than eat spinach-clusters-o'-oats as part of this complete breakfast.
posted by solid-one-love at 10:11 PM on August 21 [+] [!]


"I hope I die before I get old." Roger Daltrey, 63
posted by caddis at 8:52 PM on August 21, 2007


Heh, my MSc supervisor once saw a 3 or 4 yo girl who was orange - as orange as the Orange Goblin in the old dead-tree comics and the "Yellow Bastard" of Sin City.

That little girl would eat nothing but baby carrot sticks and her parents let her.

It was uncanny.

Several months of no-carrots reduced the beta-carotene build-up in the skin.
posted by porpoise at 9:00 PM on August 21, 2007


It takes a LOT of carrots to make that happen, but it does happen. More than 3 carrots a day will do it, according to this site. There's plenty more if you Google it.
posted by Miko at 9:07 PM on August 21, 2007


...we are buying an entire year's supply of dried nectarines, apricots, raisins, figs, cranberries, walnuts, almonds, pine nuts...

That's a lot of poopin'!
posted by infinitywaltz at 10:01 PM on August 21, 2007


But it's damn fine poopin'.

Miko is kindred spirit! :)
posted by five fresh fish at 10:21 PM on August 21, 2007


Auden: local couple run a business where they take off through the California orchards selecting product, bring it back, and sell it at what I expect is a startlingly high profit. Even at that, though, it's half the price of the local bulk food store and negligible compared to health food store prices.

I should think there's a local food co-op near you. It's mostly a matter of asking around and watching the "upcoming events" column in the paper.

Too, I live in fruit orchard centre BC, so I basically get to live on fruit all summer. Next, I need to secure a source of organic meats. I got hankering for buffalo burgers.

I relish being omnivorous.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:26 PM on August 21, 2007


I went a little crazy my last year in college - I was a morning show radio host taking 18 credits. Anyway, I ate sauerkraut, beets and bacon every day for about six months. I supplemented it with green olives and sardines. I have no idea if this is nutritionally complete, but it made me smell really, really funny.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:30 PM on August 21, 2007


Miko: I meant just one meal, not a whole day. I guess junesix's shit smoothie wins a shiny nickel.
posted by dismas at 10:55 PM on August 21, 2007


The whole tomato Lycopene--anti-cancer link was busted right after it came out (most recently here), but the tomato/catchup(ketchup?) industry had already seized it and spread the falsehood worldwide.

It turns out that people who eat a lot of tomatoes also eat a lot of broccoli. So add broccoli to the list, but leave on tomatoes, because it turns out broccoli+tomatoes works has an even stronger link to reduced cancer than just brocoli.

(Personally I like Mexican Baby broccoli much better than the typical mega-grocery store type).
posted by eye of newt at 11:24 PM on August 21, 2007


Boy, the longer you stay on that diet of styrofoam and grease, the easier it'll be for me and my healthy liver to drink you totally fucking retarded when we finally meet!

With the supermanic abilities I have developed as a result of my strict kimchi-centred diet, I would very much enjoy drinking you both retarded someday. Or at least dying trying. Hot diggety!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:59 PM on August 21, 2007


When did the aim of life become getting the high-score?
posted by howfar at 3:26 AM on August 22, 2007


jonmc: "Spinach? Black Beans? Carrots? Sure, if you want to be Popeye the Sailor Bunny with problem flatulence."

I'm pretty sure that's already an anime series in Japan.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 3:31 AM on August 22, 2007


First person who can make a recipe involving all of these gets a nickel.

Using the substitutes, easy. Swap the carrot for butternut squash, use wild rice instead of oats, and use the blueberries as something to flick at the cats while you're waiting for the beans to cook.

Fry a large, sliced onion. Toss some pressed garlic and shredded ginger in.

Add one each of sliced red, green and yellow bell peppers and fry until softened.

Add a litre of stock, a can of chopped tomatoes, a few sprigs of thyme, some dried chilli flakes and about a pound of already soaked black beans. Let that simmer for about fifty minutes to an hour.

Fry some butternut squash in a wee bit of butter on a high heat. When it's starting to brown add a table spoon of soft brown sugar. Keep stirring until the sugar melts, then toss that in the pot. Use some of the stock to clean the caramelizing sugar from the fry pan, then toss that in too.

Give it another 20 minutes of simmer until the squash is cooked through.

Serve with wild rice.

I've cooked this plenty of times, it works great. A bit of spinach for the last five or ten minutes won't kill it either. I'd probably go for kale though, we have a garden full of it and it has a much better taste, imo.

Errr, fsck. Yoghurt. Pick up the blueberries you've flicked at the cat, clean them off as best you can and toss them in some yoghurt with the walnuts. Nobody need know.
posted by vbfg at 5:33 AM on August 22, 2007 [2 favorites]


Credit to my former neighbours from Jamaica, from whom I've nicked many a recipe - including this one.
posted by vbfg at 5:34 AM on August 22, 2007


ZachsMind: I wish there were some way I could do a reverse SuperSize Me movie

You have a webcam/phonecam/video camera. You can do this. You don't need cameras following you around everywhere, just do a bit of a vblog. I am sure any number of nutritionalists would be on hand to interview about your project.
posted by asok at 6:00 AM on August 22, 2007


I wish there were some way I could do a reverse SuperSize Me movie

I think that is a VERY good idea.
posted by Miko at 6:22 AM on August 22, 2007


misha writes "I like blueberries, but they never have good fresh ones here."

Frozen berries are just as good as fresh, nutritionally, and taste-wise, they aren't bad, depending on what you do with them. Try to find wild blueberries though, because farm-raised berries are the mall rats of American berries - all fat and pasty, and though they talk a good game they have no flava.
posted by caution live frogs at 6:42 AM on August 22, 2007


Why is orange juice not on the list?!
Possibly the Atkins/South Beach idea that OJ has almost 3 times the glycemic load of oranges.
Of course, they don't like carrots, either.
And I don't think the list was meant to imply you eat only these 8 items. It's just a list, like any other internet list.
Now excuse me, I have to test this folate thing.
posted by MtDewd at 7:19 AM on August 22, 2007


"...think I could eat black beans every. single. day."

fart machine
posted by vronsky at 8:38 AM on August 22, 2007


I tried Atkins. My teeth felt loose in my head. I need apples, strawberries, orange juice, bananas, watermelon...
posted by misha at 8:58 AM on August 22, 2007 [1 favorite]


All beans are good for your heart

Plus, the more you eat, the more you fart.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:57 AM on August 22, 2007


You could make a hell of a salad with all those, assuming dried blueberries are legit.

What I'd do is chop the walnuts into pieces and make little sweet crunchy clusters using them, the oats and some sugar syrup. The yogurt would make a decent base for a salad dressing, especially if we get to have full-fat: run it through the food processor with some garlic, some herbs and a little goat cheese.

Wash and chop the spinach, shred the carrots, dice the tomatoes, and toss it all together with the creamy dressing on top and the nut clusters and dried blueberries as garnish.
posted by nebulawindphone at 2:27 PM on August 22, 2007


With the supermanic abilities I have developed as a result of my strict kimchi-centred diet, I would very much enjoy drinking you both retarded someday. Or at least dying trying.

Hmmm...a kimchi diet supplemented by beer. That would probably make Auschwitz seem like a summer camp.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:58 PM on August 22, 2007


I grew up with loads of wild Maine blueberry bushes at my doorstep, so I have a really hard time paying good money for anything other than fresh wild blueberries--tough to come by even in Maine. The difference in flavor is uncanny. Now and then I buy some local cultivated blueberries at the Union Square farmer's market or even Whole Foods that are pretty good, though. Still there's nothing like the real thing. I love blueberries.
posted by lampoil at 5:12 PM on August 22, 2007


babybalrog, you're such a tease.
posted by CitizenD at 10:22 PM on August 22, 2007


« Older Obesity may really be an epidemic   |   Isle of Man TT Race Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments