The Bean Movement
Like all movements, consistency is key, one step at a time.
We are ready for beans. Yes, I said it, we are. It's different this time. When I started writing the “Start With Beans” Substack in July of 2023 I talked about the bean protocol, eating beans to heal. It was ok for some but a strict protocol is not for everyone. A year and a half later, it's easier, it's flowing. We all can eat as much or as little as we want–so there! Not only that, beans will make you better. Not just healthwise, it's like a knowing, we’re clearer, feeling lighter, giddy.
It sounds crazy. We weren’t ready for it last year, now we are. It can be one bean, a bowl of beans, are you here for it? We have seen it, if you haven’t you will start to see it. Like the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, the frequency of photos, articles and posts on beans is everywhere. Its true beans bring a visceral reaction to many, especially, “My body can’t process them.” Take a look at the front cover of Cooks Illustrated for the January/February 2025 issue—Beans. We can argue that it is a cooking magazine. True. However, beans are mainstreaming, the WSJ back in November, “Sorry, Kale. Beans are the New Nutrition Obsession.” If you are on the bean algorithm on social media channels you may be flooded with bean recipes and opinions.
Everywhere I turn I see it and I am tickled. I feel that giggly feeling one gets, just before Christmas when one is excited for what is to come. And oh my word, here it comes and with it comes our health, our enlightenment and our knowing. I am so excited for us. More and more of us are eating beans and we are not going to stop. One could argue that they, (who are they?) the captains of industry may not want us to feel lighter. They would like us to continue with our sluggishness, eating the standard fair, no questions asked. Sorry, the clouds are parting, it’s lifting, all of the metaphors. You eat the beans, I eat the beans, we eat the beans and we start to feel better and then we say, “Hey, what's going on?” We slowly turn, we tilt our heads back, we squint for a moment and we start the movement. Lets go!
Recommended recipe
Escarole and Bean soup:
Since I last posted a recipe I have gone back into the world of education. I began in August, first as an educational consultant, and in September I added adjunct professor to my resume. The two give me flexibility but what I don’t have more of is time. I needed to feel this constraint because some of the recipes I had put forth required time. I needed to see that even though I thought the recipes were not time consuming, they were. I don’t have a leisurely afternoon to cook beans for hours. That happens on Sundays. I thought, maybe I can make my recipes because I am dialed in to beans; but I understand the unease, now there are days when I can not get my walk in even though I love to walk or roll out my back on the mat even though that is a non-negotiable. Everything takes time so I will prioritize quicker meals or at least items that can be made ahead on your day off and then it is a matter of putting the dinner together.
People are dipping their toes into different things they want to do and I am hoping that you can be expanded by three quarters of the world who regularly eat beans. I am calling it a movement but in most countries this is the daily, I wasn’t the first to eat beans and I thank all of the people who have been eating beans for a long time due to their culture. We in the United States opted to not eat beans regularly once we no longer had to. While I have eaten beans for years as a vegetarian, I did not eat a ½ cup of beans three times a day to heal myself until the first quarter of 2022. It is through this healing that it has inspired me. Made my mind clearer so I can think: What I want to do, where I want to go, how I can slow down, go fast, all of the things.
Yesterday, we spent the afternoon with multiple generations of cousins on my husband’s side of the family. We have not all been together for a few years and it was a complete delight. Everyone arrived ready to enjoy the afternoon. Much love, food and fun were flowing. The temperature outside was frigid so it seemed right to bring a warming-to-the soul dish. I made the pinto beans two days before, and it made whipping up this soup easy. If you are short on time, canned, jarred or boxed beans are your answer. Same for the stock. Buy it. Eating some form of beans is always the answer rather than not eating beans at all.
This recipe is inspired by Giada DeLaurentis’ Food Network version. I was making this soup for a large crowd and that is the recipe below. Giada’s feeds 4-6.
Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
5 large cloves garlic, minced
1 lb escarole, chopped roughly - the head of escarole I had was huge.
1 pinch salt
9 cups of unsalted stock of choice. (I used my homemade veggie stock)
2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (I used 3.5 cups of the pinto beans I made because Michael is allergic to cannellini)
1 ounce parmesan cheese, chunk (not grated) (I used a parmesan cheese rind)
crushed red pepper to taste. I used about a teaspoon.
salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions:
In a large heavy pot over medium temperature, heat the olive oil then add the garlic and sauté until just fragrant (about 15 seconds).
Add the escarole to the pot, stir, and sauté it until it has wilted, about 2 minutes; add a pinch of salt. (I had so much escarole it took longer than 2 minutes-more like 4-5)
Stir in the broth, beans, and the piece of Parmesan, then cover and let simmer for 10 minutes. Originally, I thought I did not have enough stock. See the video below.
But after the escarole released its water and cooked down the ratio of broth to escarole and beans was perfect.
Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste, then pour into the serving bowls. I highly recommend, it came together quickly and received rave reviews from the cousins.
Because it was a Christmas celebration I planned ahead and made sourdough bread this weekend. Otherwise, I would buy a nice crusty boule from the bakery or market, heat it and serve a nice hunk of crusty bread with each bowl of soup. Enjoy and start with beans!
Contact
If you have any questions on integrating beans consistently for gut health now and into the near future, please email me at Denisemancieri1@gmail.com. Feel free to comment below if there are topics you would like to see.
Please share this newsletter with others if you find it may assist them in adding beans to their diet. Or click the heart, below left, so I know you were here. Thank you!
Note: I am not a doctor. I am a teacher and an educator with an earned doctorate in educational leadership. I enjoy research and I can distill large amounts of information into easily understood and digestible pieces allowing people to understand what is happening to their body and possible steps to reverse it with food as medicine. I have healed my own GI issues through choices with food. I followed Karen Hurd’s bean protocol diet, I meditated and still do and I healed. I feel compelled to be in service and educate others as the more people eating beans, alongside a healthy diet and sharing their stories the more people will live a healthier existence. Joy, peace and freedom abound. Please see your doctor and discuss nutritional options before you change any course of action with your health.