Read the Labels: Beans

As I was perusing the USDA potassium:sodium counts of foods, I came across the amazing heart health value of beans. Here are the astonishing facts from the USDA for 2 of my favorite types of beans:

1. Black Beans (1 cup): 611 mg potassium, 2 mg sodium, 0.9 grams fat - a 305:1 potassium:sodium ratio!
2. Kidney Beans (1 cup): 713 mg potassium, 4 mg sodium, 0.9 grams fat - a 178:1 potassium:sodium ratio!

Are you kidding me - 305:1 & 178:1!???!!? That is unbelievable when you consider a 3:1 diet is good for your heart!

Now comes the hard truth. If you buy raw black beans (or kidney), the food preparation time is ridiculous. You have to soak the beans for hours and do all kinds of time consuming preparation. No chance I could keep these in my diet if buying in raw form. Yet, go to your typical grocery store and they have all types of "ready to eat" canned beans. But, here comes the big letdown again - read the labels on your typical canned beans - SODIUM off the charts! Here's one popular brand and what they have done to their canned black beans:

• Bush's Best: 450mg sodium per 1/2 cup (that's 900 mg per cup - canceling out the potassium...)

As I was about to toss beans off my food list, I came across Kuner's brand canned beans with 10mg of sodium per 1/2 cup. Thus, Kuner's canned black beans deliver a potassium:sodium ratio of 611:20 (or 31:1) per 1 cup serving! Similarly, Kuner's canned kidney beans deliver a potassium:sodium ratio of 712:20 (or 35:1) per 1 cup serving. Must be expensive to get beans prepared healthy, right? Wrong - Kuner's cans average about 85 cents at my local stores (as low as 70 cents when on special).

So, it was that easy.... Identify beans as a target high potassium food, browse the grocery store shelves, find the brand willing to prepare them without sodium for a reasonable price and I have a 31:1 to 35:1 ingredient to add to my diet. Just read the labels...