Rice and Beans is Like Meat!?
Who's Kidding Who?

What do rice and beans have in common with meat and other high protein foods? Other grains with beans do too, so let's dredge up the answer.

I'll try to throw you off the track - The reason I'm going into this at all is because I want you to be healthy and maintain a normal blood pressure.

Now, despite my diversion, did you guess what they have in common?

The answer, please: They both provide a complete protein.

Rice alone doesn't nor do beans. But together, one has what the other one lacks. Hence, 100% protein like meat.

There the similarity ends. They both come from plants after all.

The reason those dishes aren't on your normal blood pressure diet is that they are pretty salty. I don't worry about that, however. I just drink a bunch of water and skip salt for a day. (Salt doesn't raise everybody's blood pressure, by the way.)

What makes those dishes great for maintaining normal range blood pressure is that they contain loads of potassium and magnesium, same as meat.

Remember this tip - eat foods that contain lots of potassium to lower blood pressure naturally. Many of the foods we go over on these pages contain this mineral.

For beans, we have black, red, kidney, white, navy, lima, pinto and others. Azuki is one of the best. I go to the health food store for it.

Many bean and grain combos are possible, but I still favor rice and beans.

Of course, you can eat beans without grains and visa versa, but then they would not qualify as protein rich foods.

Also, some of these grains and beans might not be right for you if you are on the Blood Type Diet.

You may have noticed that I left out soy beans. So many soy products exist that soy warrants its own page. I eat several soy products myself, so I promise to add a soy page at some later date. Check back occasionally.

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