English Style Beans and Toast (Credits: Getty Images)
Beans, beans, good for your heart. The more you eat, the more complete your nutritional profile will be. Thats how that one goes, right?
Its seems thats the way one man was taught the rhyme, after his girlfriend asked the internet for help due to his new beanatarian dietary choice.
In a post to the subreddit on relationship advice, the woman said: My boyfriend told me 3 weeks ago that he has decided to convert to a beanatarian diet. He told me he will from now only only eat different types of beans.
I thought he was joking at first but I have literally seen him eat nothing but beans and multivitamins every day for 3 weeks.
He insists that Almost all nutrients can be derived from beans, and he takes 2 multivitamins a day just in case.
Each day the man would eat different beans and cook them differently to keep things varied. There was no variation, however, on the fact he was eating wall-to-wall beans.
Clearly their relationship was suffering due to arguments about the validity of beanatarianism, but all the people of Reddit (and later Twitter) could do was argue over whether beans would provide you enough nutrition.
If youve ever watched Im A Celeb, youll know how grim and dull a diet of rice and beans appears and this guy is just eating the beans but is it even safe to do so for long periods of time?
Weirdly, the protagonist in this tale isnt the only person whos gone beanatarian, as a runner and filmmaker called Beau Miles ate only 191 tins of beans over 40 days and tracked his progress.
Although Beau was otherwise healthy at the end of the experiment, he did report low energy, irritability, worse performance when running, and random nosebleeds throughout.
Many people across the world live on a diet mostly comprising of rice and beans, and beans are the more nutritious of these two products, so it would be logical to assume that youd be fine going beanatarian.
Beans are considered a superfood and are described by the NHS as acheap, low-fat source of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals.
Theyre cholesterol and fat-free, have a low glycaemic index so they fill you up, and associated with a reduced risk ofheart diseaseandtype 2 diabetes.
However, while its great to incorporate beans into your diet, there are limits. One serving of beans will count towards your five a day. However, if you eat multiple servings of beans, you will still only have consumed one serving.
This is because they dont have the same variety of vitamins and minerals that other vegetables and fruits do.
Regardless of how good beans are for you, eating any one food without variation will lead to deficiencies somewhere. In the vase of beans, this includes vitamin C and iodine amongst other things.
Jo Ann Hattner, a nutrition consultant at Stanford University School of Medicine told LiveScience: No single vegetable or legume has all nine essential amino acids humans need to build the proteins that make up our muscles.
Thats why most human cultures, without knowing anything about food chemistry, have developed diets centred on complementary veggies that, together, provide all nine.
Jo Ann warns that subsisting on one food along would initially affect your hair and nails, gradually affecting your lean body mass including your heart and lungs.
She says, Eventually, your heart shrinks so much you die.
Its honestly not worth trying it especially not for some self-serving experiment. Supermarkets have a number of offers on fruit and vegetables to supplement a diet that includes beans and other food groups.
That way you can enjoy the musical fruit every single day without the danger of death.
Do you have a story youd like to share?
Get in touch with us at MetroLifestyleTeam@metro.co.uk.
MORE: Why you should choose Paracetamol over Ibuprofen if youre a runner who aches
MORE: People are anxious about leaving their homes and socialising as lockdown is eased
Excerpt from:
The 'beanatarian' diet: is it good or will you die? - Metro.co.uk