12 Foundation Supplements In This Alkalizing Bean - Save Our Bones

Most varieties of beans, such as kidney, black, pinto, and white beans, have an acidifying effect on your body pH. But there’s one exceptional bean that’s more than just alkalizing. It contains no less than 12 Foundation Supplements. And that’s great news, especially during the winter, since beans are a delicious and cozy comfort food.

I’m referring to the lima bean (also known as butter bean). Not surprisingly, it’s listed as a Foundation Food in the Osteoporosis Reversal Program and for that reason, Bone Appétit, contains quite a few lima bean recipes.

In today’s post you’ll read all about the bone-healthy attributes of lima beans and you’ll get a scrumptious brand new recipe.

So let’s take a closer look at this nutrient-rich bean.

Facts About Lima Beans

Sometimes called butter beans, lima beans are named for Lima, Peru, a city where this healthy legume has been consumed for over 6,000 years. In some areas of the United States, butter beans are considered different than lima beans, and refer to a specific type of lima that is larger, yellower, and flatter. Butter beans also tend to have a softer texture than the standard variety. But their nutritional profile is similar.

Here in the United States, we do not see lima beans in their pods very often. But they grow in flat, curved, green pods that are about three inches long. When properly cooked, limas have a texture not unlike mashed potatoes.

15 Bone-Building Nutrients in Lima Beans!

You might be surprised about this: lima beans are a good source of calcium. In fact, they contain 15 bone-healthy nutrients, 12 of which are Foundation Supplements.

In 1 cup of cooked lima beans, you’ll find:

  • Calcium*: 50mg
  • Molybdenum: 142 mcg (more on this interesting micronutrient later)
  • Magnesium*: 81mg
  • Zinc*: 1.79mg
  • Copper*: 0.442mg
  • Potassium: 955mg
  • Vitamin B1* (Thiamine): .303mg
  • Vitamin B2* (Riboflavin): .103mg
  • Vitamin B3* (Niacin): 0.791mg
  • Vitamin B5* (Pantothenic Acid): 0.793mg
  • Vitamin B6*: .303mg
  • Vitamin B9* (Folate): 156mcg
  • Vitamin K*: 3.8mcg
  • Manganese*: .97mg
  • Phosphorus: 209mg

*Foundation Supplement

How Lima Beans Help Your Bones

Because of their excellent nutrient content, lima beans have a place in a pH-balanced, bone-healthy diet. In Bone Appétit, the companion cookbook to the Osteoporosis Reversal Program, there are many recipes containing these healthful legumes. Mouth-watering yet easy-to-prepare dishes such as hummus, chili, and quesadillas all feature limas.

Lima beans’ exemplary calcium content earned them a place in Calcilicious, one of the bonuses included with Bone Appétit. Calcilicious offers calcium-rich, dairy-free recipes that you can add to your bone-healthy diet.

More Health Benefits

The Save Our Bones philosophy is that what is good for your overall health is also good for your bones. After all, a balanced body environment is conducive to building and maintaining bone tissue.

Lima beans offer all sorts of “whole-body” health benefits. For example, their high fiber content makes them ideal for cleansing the body of toxins and getting your digestion moving. Fiber also reduces inflammation and promotes the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut.

Thanks to their relatively high protein content and the aforementioned fiber, lima beans have a low rating on the glycemic index, so your blood sugar won’t spike after eating them. Lima beans are good for your heart health, too – a 1999 study that spanned 7 countries and included 16,000 participants showed that higher consumption of legumes resulted in an 82% decrease in heart disease risk.1

Molybdenum And Manganese: Components Of Crucial Enzyme Reactions

Molybdenum has a reputation as a “buffer” for sulfite reactions. For some people, the sulfites added to foods like wine, salad bar fare, and dried fruit can cause an allergic reaction, with symptoms such as rapid heartbeat and/or headache.

Interestingly, molybdenum is a component of sulfite oxidase, an enzyme that is crucial for detoxifying sulfites in your body.

So a bowl of lima beans may be just the thing to calm or prevent a sulfite reaction.

Manganese is also a trace mineral that, among other important roles, is required for the antioxidant action of superoxide dismutase, an anti-inflammatory enzyme that “repairs cells and reduces the damage done to them by superoxide, the most common free radical in the body,” as I write in the Osteoporosis Reversal Program.

What Is The Best Form Of Lima Bean (Canned, Frozen, Fresh, Dried, Or Other.)?

Many foods lose nutrients in the canning process, but beans retain most of theirs when canned, and the fiber and protein content remain unchanged. However, be aware that most cans are lined inside with a coating that contains Bisphenol A, or BPA, a synthetic estrogen that breaks down very easily and leaches into food. BPA can cause a litany of health problems, including brain damage, reduced male fertility, breast and prostate cancers, and birth defects.

Fresh, organically grown lima beans would be ideal; but for most of us, dried or frozen are the main choices available. I recommend dried lima beans first and frozen second. You’ll find that the lima bean recipes in Bone Appétit call for “cooked” limas – this refers to the dried legumes that have been cooked.

Selection And Storage Tips

If you choose frozen lima beans, shake the bag a bit to make sure they are separate and not frozen into a solid clump. (That happens if the beans have been thawed and re-frozen.) You don’t have to thaw frozen limas first; you can cook with them directly from the freezer.

Dried beans should be relatively uniform in shape and size. Soaking them in cold water overnight is a good way to decrease the gas-producing sugars present in the beans.

For both frozen and dried, I suggest removing them from their plastic bags and storing them in glass containers in the freezer or pantry.

Now here’s the brand new 100% alkalizing lima bean recipe I promised you earlier. It’s perfect for cold weather!

Cozy Comfort Soup

100% Alkalizing

Serves 4

Ingredients

1/2 pound dried large lima beans

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf (optional)

5 cups vegetable stock

1 sweet potato, cooked

1/4 teaspoon sea salt (adjust to taste)

Black pepper to taste

Chopped parsley, for garnish

Note: if you'd like a sweeter version of this soup, you can add 1 tablespoon of honey or to taste. 

Directions

  1. The night before you plan to make the soup, soak the lima beans overnight in cool water. Drain and rinse the beans before starting the soup.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the celery, carrot, and onion, and sauté until tender. Add the garlic and bay leaf and sauté for another minute. 

Add the drained lima beans and vegetable stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
  3. Cover the pot and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the beans are very tender (it could take up to 2 hours). Add salt in the last half hour of cooking. Discard the bay leaf.
  4. While the soup is simmering, peel the previously cooked sweet potato. Combine the sweet potato flesh and one-third of the soup (including liquid and beans) in a blender. (Here's where you can add the 1 tablespoon honey.) Process until smooth. 
  5. Return the purée to the pot and stir well. You can add water or more stock if you like a thinner consistency. 
  6. Season with more sea salt (if necessary) and black pepper. Simmer and heat soup to desired temperature. Serve hot garnished with parsley.

Enjoy!

References

1 Menotti A, Kromhout D, Blackburn H, et al. Food intake patterns and 25-year mortality from coronary heart disease: cross-cultural correlations in the Seven Countries Study. The Seven Countries Study Research Group. Eur J Epidemiol 1999 Jul;15(6):507-15. 1999.

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Comments on this article are closed.

  1. maartje

    what about phytine acid?

  2. Diane Meaney

    Just made and had the soup. Soooo delicious
    Next time I will hold the top of my blender tighter as I almost lost it to the ceiling lol !!!

  3. Pauly G.

    I love beans and I always used the dry variety,soaked them overnight and discarded
    the water three times before cooking and no problems afterwards. Since I developed
    gouty arthritis I am very restricted and can not have any because of there high content
    of Purine. I miss my chilly con carney a lot. If you do not have my problems,enjoy them.

  4. bea

    hi vivian i went to my doct it is 200ors ad he told me my cholesterol is high it is 200 and if i cant get it down he wants to put me on questran is this bad for the bones i sure would an answer thank you bea

  5. shula

    Thanks for the Lima bean information.

  6. Carol Mitchell

    This recipe sounds great. I will make this and since I don’t like parsley
    I will garnish with a blob of Greek yogurt. Thanks for sharing.

  7. Ann

    Went to my Rheumatologist the other day and she did not fight me on not taking any of the dangerous bone stuff. She understood and just said we just have to tell you to keep from being sued. I ask her if she had ever heard of SAVE YOUR BONES, she said yes, and it is very good information. WOW. what a great Dr. to have.
    Thought you might like to know some Drs are ok with decisions without making a person feel guilty and she knows your material.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Wow Ann! How nice to have such a supportive doctor!

  8. Louise

    Vivian,I think there is a misprint in my book written by you. It says eat 80% acid foods and 20% alkali…isn’t that backwards? Tell me why,please. LO

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      That is indeed backwards, Louise! Thanks for your sharp eyes – that must be a misprint in the book. Where did you find the error?

  9. Mary Anderson

    Thank you, Vivian, for the recipe for Lima Beans. I just cooked some last week
    with a ham bone, chopped celery, carrots and onion and now I will try your recipe. I cooked the beans for 2 minutes and let them set in the hot water for a little while and then drained them and used them in the soup immediately. We did not experience any gas problems. I will try your recipe using a sweet potato – sounds good.

  10. Linda

    I LOVE lima beans! But no one likes me when I eat them! oh well. I have a question off topic. Is it ok to add a teaspoon of baking soda to a gallon of distilled water?? I cant find where I read that I should so I thought I had better check with our “guru”!

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Linda, while baking soda is an essential and powerful alkalizing element, I don’t advise using it on its own. Here’s why: for baking soda to be effective, it must be combined with other important alkalizing elements that promote digestion. Baking soda alone will simply neutralize stomach acid and impair digestion. Plus you have to be very careful with the dosage due to its high sodium content! Instead, focus on pH-balanced foods and drink pure water. 🙂

  11. Jean

    Sigh…another of those “good for you” foods that I now find unpalatable. I used to love lima beans, spinach, chard and others as a kid. Now I find them difficult to savor (along with brussels sprouts) no matter what recipe I use. My taste buds are as old as I am, I suppose, and too many of these good foods no longer taste good to me. But I’ll keep trying.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Don’t worry, Jean! There are so many other tasty foods that are good for your bones; you should have no trouble finding bone-healthy dishes you enjoy. 🙂

  12. Leslie (Ms. L. Carmel)

    Hi! Vivian,

    That Cozy Comfort Soup, Sounds Delicious. I’ll Have To Try It!

    Got To Go Now. Take Care And Stay Well.

    LOVE, LESLIE

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      I hope you enjoy it, Leslie! 🙂

  13. Renate Jacobs

    What about Edamame? Are they alkaline or acid?

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Renate, edamame are soy beans, and they are alkalizing. However, most soybean crops are now genetically modified, so I do not recommend soybeans or soy products. 🙂

  14. Rosemary

    Calcium and Magnesium:

    The 2:1 ratio—that was a mistake; a mistaken translation from French researcher Jean Durlach, who said never ever go beyond two parts calcium to one part magnesium in your food, water, or supplement intake combined.”

    This was misinterpreted as meaning a 2:1 ratio was an appropriate ratio, which it’s not. A more appropriate ratio of calcium to magnesium is 1:1. This may not only pose a risk to your bones but also to your heart. If you have too much calcium and not enough magnesium, your muscles will tend to go into spasm.

    So excessive amounts of calcium without the counterbalance of magnesium can lead to a heart attack and sudden death. Quite simply, with insufficient amounts of magnesium, your heart simply cannot function properly.
    Found at Dr. Mercola

    I also read that we should take magnesium first then wait to take calcium. Calcium overrides magnesium absorption.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      That’s very interesting, Rosemary! Thank you for your contribution, and good for you for doing research and sharing what you found with the community!

      • LynnCS

        Nice to here these ratios, but I can’t imagine how you can possibly evaluate how much of what you are getting. I love lima/butter beans, but how do you measure the exact amount of whatever nutrient you are getting or supposed to get? It’s crazy to think that you have to have a cup of this but none of that till an hour later and then…what…eat your greens? but this kind and not that kind? I will never get that right. I need to alkalize my diet and am doing it, but this all sounds kind of crazy. Sorry, but it does. Isn’t the best thing to just eat all whole foods and eat a balance of grains, tubers, squashes, vegis, greens, some beans, and some fruit and let it be ok? How on earth do you separate everything?

  15. Shirley Gekler

    Lima beans in soup — WOW
    I haven’t had lima beans in a long time but I do like them as well as the butter beans. and I am definitely going to make this soup as a regular habit. Thanks

  16. Carol

    Are there any other recommendations besides soaking beans at night to keep them from causing abdominal disturbances? I need everything advantage I can get. I remember coming to the US when I was about 9 and being offered Lima beans. We didn’t have Lima beans in Liberia and being an adventurous eater, I tried them. I had so much pain afterwards that I had to lay down in the back of our host’s car on the way home from the restaurant. I could not even speak the pain was so intense. I have tried them in recent years and found they still cause a lot of problems. I always soak my beans first – usually overnight. I want to do everything I can to prevent problems. So is there anything in addition to soaking them that would help me prevent problems?

    • Maggie Skewes

      Hi Carol. There is a fantastic Indian herb called Asofoetida powder that you add to the legumes (or anything else that bloats). It really does help. You can take it also with water if there is a bloating problem. You will find it in any Indian spice shop.

    • Ann

      I just made a pot of lima beans and I put a tablespoon of Apple Vinegar in the soup, never have gas, use it with all beans. You can put more vinegar in if desired. You can not taste the vinegar and I use distilled only, cook the beans in distilled water also.

      Is that true with the calcium and Mag. not taking together have never read that and use the True Osteo……

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Carol, if you can’t eat lima beans because of allergies, digestive reactions, or another health conditions, that’s not a problem. 🙂 I am happy to share the benefits of lima beans, but of course you do not have to eat them to be successful on the Program! Lima beans are just one choice among many. There are a great many other foods that can help your bones! 🙂

  17. mary

    May I cook the peeled sweet potato in the soup with the lima beans, step #3?
    Thanks!

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      It would be worth a try, Mary! Let us know how it turns out.

  18. L.D.

    Dear Vivian, Thanks for that great looking recipe. I’ve always loved lima beans. Mama cooked the dried ones frequently and I’ve continued that way but to make a soup, YUM!!! Many of my favorite accompaniments in there too. I live in NC now and “butter beans” are a favorite of most. We are cold here today and this soup will be a warm and wonderful way to cheer up a dreary Monday.. Thanks very much!!!!

    • L.D.

      Hello, I made this scrumptious soup and love it. I will make it a daily part of my menu to help further speed my recovery… This is a real keeper, Thanks so much Vivian!!!!

      • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

        I love it when bone-healthy recipes become “stand-by” dishes! Thanks for sharing, L.D.

  19. Lynda

    Well I never ! …. thanks for that …. I thought all beans were acid.

    Butter beans were a regular on the school dinner menu when I was at primary school 60 years ago and I loved them. They were just served as a vegetable accompaniment to the main meal. My mother never used dried beans, so that was the only place I ever had them.

  20. Karen

    Does soaking dried beans overnight reduce the gas causing sugars in all types of beans?

    • shayla

      Yes it does Karen – vital to do that befor cooking beans. And be sure ro throw away the soak water!

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