By Sabrina Katz, Staff Writer
@sabrina_katz

Inspired by the show How to Live to 100, my column highlights one nutritious food each week, detailing its benefits on living a happy and healthy lifestyle. Each food item can also be found in either BU dining halls or close to campus, making them really easy to access!

To top it all off, each food is always accompanied by a nutritious recipe that demonstrates how the food item can be used. 

Beans really are the magical fruit. Though technically a legume, these babies are packed with nutritional benefits. From its complex carbohydrates to being loaded with fiber, beans are a great way to stay lean and feel good. Different bean varieties can be spotted in most BU dining halls.

In fact, a cup of cooked beans contains between nine and 13 grams of fiber, which is a great counterbalance for all that dining hall pizza. The large amount of soluble fiber means they can even lower your cholesterol.

Additionally, they are high in iron and folate, which is good for maintaining a healthy body!

Beans are also a great natural protein, which is a healthy alternative for vegetarians and vegans. Want to incorporate beans into your diet? Here’s a really simple way to do it, and you can get it all in the dining hall on burrito day:

Mex-Flexbowl

1/2 cup red beans or black beans or Garbanzo beans
1/2 cup shredded chicken
1/4 cup salsa (more or less, to taste)
2 tablespoon guacamole

Add everything to a bowl (you might have to move to different stations to get everything together). Mix it up, then you can add pico de gallo on top for extra freshness. And voilà! You’ve got a super delicious bowl of food packed with tons of protein, fiber, and complex carbs that’ll keep you satisfied through all your afternoon classes.