Subsitute for processed black beans in a can?

usmcmp

Trying to cut back on my sodium intake, I"m 38 and 6 feet 190.

I usually eat the same thing everyday since I'm working out and trying to get into shape.

For lunch I eat chicken breast, white rice and black beans.... I want to get rid of the black beans, maybe the white rice and switch to brown rice as well.

What's a good substitute for black beans since they're high in sodium?

I will post my diet after I get off work.

Dry black beans and why would you switch from white to brown rice?

Because everyone has been told how much better brown rice is and nobody bothers to sit down and do their own research. Why waste our time figuring out what the difference is when we can follow what we are spoonfed blindly? :grumble: I prefer to do my own research, just in case you wondered where my opinion fell.

HeidiCooksSupper

If you don't have a slow cooker, use the oven. I do anything that needs to simmer for a long time in the oven, including beans or rice. Like in a slow cooker, you don't need to watch them. I also surround the pot of whatever with other things so I've cooked several items at once and have them to use in the following days. For example, a few days ago I had the last of the Easter ham and bone in a stock pot making stock for the freezer and several red potatoes and a sweet potato baking in foil on the racks around the stock pot. Today, I need to make bread and will roast a bunch of beets while I have the oven on for the bread. A cold roasted beet with a little salad dressing is a fantastic snack. Alton Brown's instructions for oven brown rice are perfect. I often mix 2 parts brown rice and 1 part wild.

shellgirl144

Can other beans be soaked, cooked and frozen as well? It could be done, right? I use a lot of different kinds of beans and I guess I never thought of freezing them.

bcattoes

Can other beans be soaked, cooked and frozen as well? It could be done, right? I use a lot of different kinds of beans and I guess I never thought of freezing them.

Yes

FluffyMcNutter

This is probably a pretty silly question, but I've never frozen beans before. It seems like they'd get mushy, so how do you defrost and re-heat them so they don't do that? Not cook them quite all the way before freezing? Or do they manage to hold up pretty well with nothing special really happening?

HollisGrant

Trying to cut back on my sodium intake, I"m 38 and 6 feet 190.

I usually eat the same thing everyday since I'm working out and trying to get into shape.

For lunch I eat chicken breast, white rice and black beans.... I want to get rid of the black beans, maybe the white rice and switch to brown rice as well.

What's a good substitute for black beans since they're high in sodium?

I will post my diet after I get off work.

Try cooking dried lentils. They cook faster than most dried beans. You can also buy dried black beans, soak them, and cook them ahead of time for your lunch, and they don't have the salt. I understand the convenience of canned food. I used to think I didn't have time to cook dried beans, but I do have time if I plan ahead.

sgrubby

Trying to cut back on my sodium intake, I"m 38 and 6 feet 190.

I usually eat the same thing everyday since I'm working out and trying to get into shape.

For lunch I eat chicken breast, white rice and black beans.... I want to get rid of the black beans, maybe the white rice and switch to brown rice as well.

What's a good substitute for black beans since they're high in sodium?

I will post my diet after I get off work.

Dry black beans and why would you switch from white to brown rice?

Because brown tastes better...but im guessing im in the minority on that one

Not only does brown rice taste better (IMO) but by leaving the bran and the germ intact, it has more fiber, vitamins and minerals. In other words, it is healthier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_rice

ColleenRoss50

Draining and rinsing canned beans has been shown to reduce the sodium by 40%, or you can buy black beans, chick peas, kidney beans etc. with no added sodium. I buy the "no salt added" brands at my store and they are only a few pennies (about 5 to 10 cents) more than the ones with added sodium.

Of course you can also buy dried beans and cook them yourself but I'm lazy. :embarassed:

bprague

>.>
<.<
cook dry black beans.

tigersword

I do my own black beans from dry beans. I do them in the crockpot, but I wouldn't suggest skipping the soak. The soaking draws out a lot of the enzyme in the beans that causes gas. It really only takes a few minutes to throw them in a bucket of water. Let them sit for 12-24 hours, dump them in a colander and give them a quick rinse, then throw them in the crockpot, cover with water, put in on low. They're done when the reach a texture you like. I usually stick them in the crockpot before I leave for work and pull them out when I get home. Then just throw them in the freezer and use as needed.

That's actually a myth. All soaking does is speed up cooking time, by softening the beans. It has nothing to do with causing gas. Also, it's not an enzyme that causes gas, it's the starch in the bean (essentially, what the bean is made out of) that causes the gas, since the human body doesn't usually have the enzyme necessary to break down the oligosaccharides in some beans. So those oligosaccharides travel to the large intestine, bacteria in the large intestine eat them, and their waste product is the gas.

The way to eliminate gas in beans is to eat more beans, as eating them regularly causes your body to go ahead and create the enzyme needed to digest the beans properly.

tigersword

Trying to cut back on my sodium intake, I"m 38 and 6 feet 190.

I usually eat the same thing everyday since I'm working out and trying to get into shape.

For lunch I eat chicken breast, white rice and black beans.... I want to get rid of the black beans, maybe the white rice and switch to brown rice as well.

What's a good substitute for black beans since they're high in sodium?

I will post my diet after I get off work.

Dry black beans and why would you switch from white to brown rice?

Because brown tastes better...but im guessing im in the minority on that one

Not only does brown rice taste better (IMO) but by leaving the bran and the germ intact, it has more fiber, vitamins and minerals. In other words, it is healthier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_rice

False. Well, true that it contains more vitamins, but false due to bioavailability. The bran is indigestible, which means that the body can't break it down. So all the vitamins and minerals (that are in the bran) are completely unavailable to the human body. Doesn't matter how much the food contains, the only thing that matters is how much your body can actually use. In that department, white rice wins hands down, which is why it's been the rice of choice for human beings for several thousand years.

taunto

you can just wash the beans after taking it out of the can. Also there are low-sodium options in the market

jofjltncb6

Trying to cut back on my sodium intake, I"m 38 and 6 feet 190.

I usually eat the same thing everyday since I'm working out and trying to get into shape.

For lunch I eat chicken breast, white rice and black beans.... I want to get rid of the black beans, maybe the white rice and switch to brown rice as well.

What's a good substitute for black beans since they're high in sodium?

I will post my diet after I get off work.

Dry black beans and why would you switch from white to brown rice?

Because everyone has been told how much better brown rice is and nobody bothers to sit down and do their own research. Why waste our time figuring out what the difference is when we can follow what we are spoonfed blindly? :grumble: I prefer to do my own research, just in case you wondered where my opinion fell.

Huh?

Next you'll be telling us that brown bread isn't healthier than white bread.

Pfft.

mockchoc

Don't we still get more fibre from the brown rice versus white if nothing else?

taunto

Don't we still get more fibre from the brown rice versus white if nothing else?

Whole wheat rice and wheat is more nutritious for sure

BeachIron

So many of the suggestions in here are good, but you sound like you've put yourself on the old-school bodybuilder's diet. Why?

You don't have to live on chicken, rice and beans alone. Lean pork, lean beef, fish and dairy are all good sources of protein and other nutrients. What about whole grain, or even white, bread? And what about sweet potatoes, white potatoes, green vegetables? Dig down into the nutrient content of what you're eating and you'll find that it's not the only way that works.

About a week on that diet and I'd be at the drive through at Wendy's at 11:00 p.m. and sucking down a Triple, large fries and a large Frosty. Wait, I do that anyway once in a while. Life is too short.

mockchoc

So many of the suggestions in here are good, but you sound like you've put yourself on the old-school bodybuilder's diet. Why?

You don't have to live on chicken, rice and beans alone. Lean pork, lean beef, fish and dairy are all good sources of protein and other nutrients. What about whole grain, or even white, bread? And what about sweet potatoes, white potatoes, green vegetables? Dig down into the nutrient content of what you're eating and you'll find that it's not the only way that works.

About a week on that diet and I'd be at the drive through at Wendy's at 11:00 p.m. and sucking down a Triple, large fries and a large Frosty. Wait, I do that anyway once in a while. Life is too short.

Yes variety is the spice of life! I'd go insane living on broccoli and chicken breast.

mlcantwell

You could try a mix of rice with wild rice, bulgar wheat, lentils, or quinoa. I like the variety in flavors and texture.

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

So many of the suggestions in here are good, but you sound like you've put yourself on the old-school bodybuilder's diet. Why?

You don't have to live on chicken, rice and beans alone. Lean pork, lean beef, fish and dairy are all good sources of protein and other nutrients. What about whole grain, or even white, bread? And what about sweet potatoes, white potatoes, green vegetables? Dig down into the nutrient content of what you're eating and you'll find that it's not the only way that works.

About a week on that diet and I'd be at the drive through at Wendy's at 11:00 p.m. and sucking down a Triple, large fries and a large Frosty. Wait, I do that anyway once in a while. Life is too short.

There's a lot of sense in this post.

Regardless, cooking black beans is very easy in a crock pot. Start them before you leave for work, make sure there's enough water to cover them well, and on low about 10 hours.

As for brown rice, the nutrient content is only negligibly higher overall (as compared to other nutrient dense foods). For your overall RDA of nutrients, you'd be better off eating non-rice foods. So I guess the moral of that is eat the rice you love.

bcattoes

Trying to cut back on my sodium intake, I"m 38 and 6 feet 190.

I usually eat the same thing everyday since I'm working out and trying to get into shape.

For lunch I eat chicken breast, white rice and black beans.... I want to get rid of the black beans, maybe the white rice and switch to brown rice as well.

What's a good substitute for black beans since they're high in sodium?

I will post my diet after I get off work.

Dry black beans and why would you switch from white to brown rice?

Because brown tastes better...but im guessing im in the minority on that one

Not only does brown rice taste better (IMO) but by leaving the bran and the germ intact, it has more fiber, vitamins and minerals. In other words, it is healthier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_rice

False. Well, true that it contains more vitamins, but false due to bioavailability. The bran is indigestible, which means that the body can't break it down. So all the vitamins and minerals (that are in the bran) are completely unavailable to the human body. Doesn't matter how much the food contains, the only thing that matters is how much your body can actually use. In that department, white rice wins hands down, which is why it's been the rice of choice for human beings for several thousand years.

Why would white rice have more nutrients? Or do you just mean per gram, since it would not include the weight of the fiber. Though fiber is an important nutrient even though it's not absorbed.