"Beans, beans, the musical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot The more you toot, the better you feel. So we have beans at every meal!"
If you have children, you've probably heard them sing this harmonious little tune before. As hair-tearing-out and annoying this song may be, if it gets your kids to eat beans, let them sing it all day long.
Fava beans, also know as broad beans, faba beans, field beans, bell beans, or tic beans, are loaded with tons of nutrients that are great for your health! These delicious beans are cholesterol free, low fat, and are low calorie at around 47 calories per 1/4 cup.
FILL YOU UP
Beans, specifically fava beans, are known for their high amounts of fiber. Anything that has high fiber is great for your digestive health and makes you feel full. Consuming beans, such as fava beans, in your diet consistently will fill you up faster, helping you resist that high calorie, high fat brownie you crave after dinner. Not only do beans fill you up, they also have been shown to decrease cholesterol levels.
LOSE POUNDS WITH FAVA BEANS
If you or any of your children are struggling to lose weight, fava beans would be a great addition to your diet to help with weight loss. Not only do they make you feel full without consuming as many calories, fava beans increase your dopamine levels. Dopamine is an amino acid that is a neurotransmitter in the brain that helps communicate with the body. Yeah, okay, try explaining that to children right? Try taking a different approach and explain to your children that beans have magical powers that help tell your brain your tummy is full. (Or try the song if you must).
POTASSIUM, PHOSPHORUS, VITAMIN A, OH MY!
Fava beans are a great source of potassium, phosphorus, vitamin A, vitamin K, and iron! There are plenty of reasons why to convince your kids that fava beans, or any kind of beans, are great for you! Potassium can help yourself and your kids maintain blood pressure. Phosphorus found in fava beans helps promote healthy bones and teeth so your kids can grow tall and strong. It's important to eat beans to get vitamin A to help your skin, vision, and bones grow as well! Along with these wonderful nutrients, protein is also something found in high amounts in fava beans. As your kids are growing older and constantly running around, it's important that they receive enough protein. Fava beans can help with as they contain 7g per 1/2 cup.
How do you get your kids to eat beans at all, let along fava beans? I know, this one is tricky because it's not as easy to stick them into a dish as other ingredients. Now, I do not have children and have always been pretty open to trying different foods, even with I was young. Hopefully, your children already love beans and are open to trying fava beans if you start to grown them in your backyard garden. This probably isn't the case though. My suggestion is to toss them into a summer salad, or maybe even a hot dish, and if they pick out some, that's okay because maybe they will eat a few and that's what's important; trying new things.
Truth be told, I've never eaten a fava bean, or at least I don't think I have? Good news is that I do love beans and love trying new things. I plan to try this mouth watering fava been recipe out that I found on Pinterest sometime soon.
FOR ALL THE MOMS OUT THERE
Good news concerning the consumption of fava beans: research shows that the phyto-nutrient, isoflavone, is sure to help prevent breast cancer! So not only should you encourage your children to eat fava beans, you should set a good example and help yourself as well by eating them too!
Fava beans are also a great source of folate, crucial for cell division during pregnancy in order to prevent neural tube defects in newborns.
CAUTION
There are some people out there who should NOT consume fava beans. Favism, an allergic reaction to raw fava beans, can occur in those who lack an enzyme necessary to help protect damage of red blood cells by vicine. Vicine is a toxic substance found in fava beans.
SOURCES
http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/health-benefits-of-fava-bean-6866.html
http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/fava-beans.html
Foods That Harm, Foods That Heal. Pleasantville, NY.: Reader's Digest, 2004. Print.
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