All of them seem really similar, but some are still slightly higher % fiber and some may have lower GIs (I presume lentils are easiest to digest but they also seem the “simplest”)
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They vary in their nutrient profiles, fiber content, phytochemical composition, etc.
Rather than focusing on the one “best” it might be prudent to aim for a wide variety to get exposure to as many different phytonutrients as possible. That’s what I do.
But sometimes I lean towards the less gassy ones (lentils, split peas, adzukis, etc.).
Digestive enzymes and beano can help your tolerance. Eating smaller quantities per meal is also good. At almost 60 I can no longer consume massive quantities without issues like I could when I was your age.
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Tbh green “beans” are the healthiest.
But…
“Fullness-per-Calorie” score — now with ancestral beans
Using the same quick-and-dirty index as before
$$
\textbf{Satiety proxy} ;=;\frac{\text{protein g + dietary fiber g}}{\text{kcal}}\times100
$$
*Tepary and pinto values converted from “1 cup” cookbook data to a 100-g basis.
†Mesquite is eaten as a dry flour from roasted pods, not a hydrated bean; its calories are concentrated, so the protein + fiber per calorie looks modest even though the food is 38 % protein + fiber by weight.
How the newcomers stack up
|
What makes it filling? |
Practical quirks |
| Tepary |
Highest soluble-fiber density of any common bean; ~25 % protein by dry weight; very low glycaemic load. |
Harder to find; needs a longer simmer (or pressure cooker) to soften the waxy seed-coat that helps it survive desert droughts. |
| Green beans |
Extreme water content ⇒ big stomach stretch for few calories; still delivers decent fiber. |
Really a vegetable, not a mature pulse, so protein is low in absolute terms; you’ll need a bigger serving to equal the amino acids in dry beans. |
| Mesquite flour |
Galactomannan gums and sweet, low-GI sugars give long-lasting energy; traditionally ground with the fibrous seed-coat intact. |
~4 × the energy density of cooked beans; use as 10-30 % of flour in breads or pancakes rather than as a heaping porridge. Hydrating the dry powder before eating improves satiety. |
Take-aways for maximum fullness on minimal calories
-
Tepary > navy ≈ black if you can get it; otherwise navy/black remain the supermarket champs.
-
Green beans are unbeatable for volume—add a mound alongside any starch or protein to stretch the meal.
-
Mesquite flour is a stealth fiber booster, but treat it like a nut-flour: a spoonful goes a long way.
-
Cool-and-reheat still helps: the retrograded starch trick that works for kidney and pinto also increases resistant starch in tepary.
-
Chew well, eat wet, mind add-ins—the same low-calorie, high-satiety hygiene rules apply.
Bottom line:
For ancestral Native-American staples, tepary beans edge out even modern pulses for protein-plus-fiber per calorie, while mesquite flour offers a uniquely sweet, gluten-free way to sneak fiber into baked goods.
Why navy & black edge out kidney
-
Fiber density: They pack ~35–40 % more soluble/insoluble fiber per calorie than kidney beans, which swells with water and triggers stretch receptors in the stomach.
-
Protein parity: All Phaseolus beans hover near 25–28 % of calories from protein, so fiber is the differentiator.
-
Energy density: At ~1.3 kcal / g after cooking, navy and black are still low-energy-dense, but the extra fiber means slightly larger hydrated bulk for the same calories.
Where kidney beans still shine
-
α-Amylase inhibitor (Phaseolamin): White kidney/cannellini retain a bit of this compound even after home cooking, blocking a fraction of starch digestion and further flattening post-meal glucose—subjectively extending fullness even if the fiber number is smaller. The Nutrition Source
-
Very low glycaemic load: They’re already low-GI; add the inhibitor plus resistant starch formed when you cool and re-heat them, and they can “feel” more filling than their protein-plus-fiber score predicts.
Practical tips to maximise fullness per calorie
-
Cook from dry, then chill overnight. Cooling lets amylose retrograde into resistant starch; reheating doesn’t reverse this fully, so you keep the lower net calories and higher satiety.
I am.back.looking at black turtle beans which may benefit from higher tryptophan. There is a salad sold in the UK called 3 bean. I found it was a sleep aid, by a process of elimination I decided it was the btb I want to work out why, but I think a good source of tryptophan is important.
Oh! I was reading about this a while back because I seemed to have a poor reaction to lentils.
Check out this table from the paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271140311_Lectins_agglutinins_and_their_roles_in_autoimmune_reactivities
The table is showing what tissues the various agglutinins bind to. Soy, wheat, and peanut
Lentils have an antinutrient in them called lectins/agglutinins, paper explains more. You can see in the table that the lentil antinutrient binds to quite a lot of different tissues, on par with wheat, soy, and peanut. However it’s one of the only one tested other than wheat and kidney/jack bean that binds to brain tissue. I get migraines and I’m already wheat free (most likely celiac as it runs in my family but was never tested). I tend to have a lot of poor responses to different types of food and they can trigger migraines. I feel like lentils was one of them.
Maybe it’s unrelated but after I saw that chart seeing how many tissues it gets to including the brain I got spooked. An interesting read, anyway.
I eat a large amount of chickpeas and black beans without issue. In recent years I am straying from edamame/soy as it seems to trigger cystitis - also one of the very allergenic ones on this list.
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RTHR
#6
Beans have different amino acid profiles.
I think it is also necessary to choose beans by if it is (or closer to) complete protein, especially if it has relative higher Met+Cys.
I tends to taking balanced, complete amino acids, maximize the benefit of every grams of protein.
| Legume |
His |
Ile |
Leu |
Lys |
Met+Cys |
Phe+Tyr |
Thr |
Trp |
Val |
| Soybean |
27 |
49 |
82 |
64 |
26 |
89 |
38 |
14 |
50 |
| Black Bean |
22 |
40 |
65 |
50 |
19 |
72 |
30 |
9 |
42 |
| Lentil |
25 |
42 |
71 |
52 |
22 |
78 |
33 |
11 |
47 |
| Chickpea |
23 |
41 |
68 |
45 |
21 |
74 |
31 |
10 |
44 |
| Pea |
20 |
37 |
62 |
46 |
17 |
68 |
28 |
8 |
38 |
| Kidney Bean |
21 |
38 |
63 |
48 |
18 |
70 |
29 |
12 |
40 |
| Fava Bean |
22 |
39 |
66 |
49 |
18 |
71 |
30 |
8 |
41 |
| Mung Bean |
24 |
40 |
67 |
50 |
20 |
75 |
32 |
10 |
45 |
| Pinto Bean |
21 |
37 |
61 |
47 |
17 |
69 |
28 |
9 |
39 |
| Lima Bean |
19 |
35 |
60 |
44 |
16 |
65 |
27 |
7 |
35 |
| WHO Requirement |
15 |
30 |
59 |
45 |
22 |
38 |
23 |
6 |
39 |
For this topic, soybean looks great.
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Surprised no one is looking at fiber, this is where the bean is king. 150g of pinto beans is relatively a small amount, and almost half of daily fiber requirement.
I don’t actually think it’s necessary to choose a bean based on its protein profile, unless you’re not consuming enough proteins to begin with.
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Nick1
#8
True that! You get fair amount of fibers with beans.
Anti-nutrients such as lectins and phytates are of minor concern. I soak and sprout them which takes care of phytates. Then pressure cooking neutralizes all lectins.
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Do you have a source for those figures?
The label for Pastene boiled lupini beans (from star market) is allegedly 15*8 = 120 calories per 227g/8oz container… not sure if i can trust the label here, that’s really low
but Google says 119 calories/100g (or 540.3 calories per lb), as does an amazon…
white kidney beans (boiled) meanwhile are 100 calories per 130g, or 349 calories per lb
o3 says
| Bean (cooked, boiled) |
Calories / 100 g |
Notes |
| Mung beans |
≈ 105 kcal My Food Data
|
Lowest among the common mature “dry” beans. |
| Lupini beans |
≈ 116 kcal My Food Data
|
Tied with lentils; gets its reputation because it is unusually high in protein (25 g / cup) for that calorie level. |
| Lentils |
≈ 116 kcal My Food Data
|
Practically identical to lupini on a weight basis. |
| Black beans |
≈ 132 kcal My Food Data
|
|
| Kidney beans |
≈ 127 kcal (not shown in table but similar USDA entry) |
|
| Chickpeas |
≈ 164 kcal My Food Data
|
Higher starch content drives the energy up. |
| Soybeans (mature, cooked) |
≈ 172 kcal My Food Data
|
Added fat makes them the densest of the major beans. |
But I sense lupini beans are less dense by volume and that makes a dif
In a standard kitchen measure ( 1 U.S. cup ≈ 240 mL, drained and cooked without added liquid)
| Bean (cooked, boiled) |
Weight per cup |
Calories per cup |
Notes |
| Lupini (lupin) beans |
≈ 166 g |
≈ 198 kcal |
Hydrate strongly; high protein keeps calories low for the weight. My Food Data
|
| Black beans |
≈ 172 g |
≈ 227 kcal |
Slightly heavier packing than lupini. My Food Data
|
| Red kidney beans |
≈ 177 g |
≈ 225 kcal |
Heaviest of the three on a per-cup basis. My Food Data
|
How many of a bean’s calories end up arriving
as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)?
|
Scenario (per 100 g cooked beans**, ≈ ½ cup)** |
Digestible kcal that reach the small-intestine* |
kcal that reach the colon and re-enter as SCFAs† |
Share of total kcal that are SCFAs |
|
Plain beans (no drug) |
~115 kcal |
~12 kcal |
≈ 8-12 % |
|
Beans + acarbose 50 mg (blocks part of starch hydrolysis) |
~95 kcal |
~18 kcal |
≈ 15-20 % |
*Calorie values for protein, digestible starch and fat use Atwater factors (4-4-9 kcal g⁻¹).
†SCFA energy assumed at the FAO/WHO figure of 2 kcal g⁻¹ fermentable carbohydrate .
How the numbers were derived
-
Macro-composition of cooked beansA typical 100 g serving of boiled red-kidney beans provides 7.4 g total fibre (≈ 2 g soluble) and 21 g total carbohydrate, of which ≈ 3 g is resistant starch (RS) .
- What actually ferments?
- ≈ 60 % of insoluble cell-wall fibre, nearly all soluble fibre, and virtually all RS reach the colon and are fermented.*That yields ~6 g fermentable substrate (= (0.6 × 5.4 g insoluble) + 2 g soluble + 3 g RS).
-
Energy that returns as SCFA6 g × 2 kcal g⁻¹ ≈ 12 kcal, i.e. ~10 % of the bean’s label energy.
-
Effect of acarboseA 50 mg pre-meal dose typically diverts ≈ 4 g extra starch to the colon (human balance studies) .
- That starch would have delivered 16 kcal if fully digested in the small intestine, but returns as only 8 kcal of SCFAs.
- Net result: lower absorbed glucose energy (127 → ≈ 95 kcal) yet more SCFA energy (12 → ~20 kcal), so the SCFA share nearly doubles to 15-20 % of what you actually absorb from the beans.
Why the fraction is a
range
, not a single number
| Variable |
Low end |
High end |
| Bean species / preparation |
Long boiling (more starch gelatinisation) reduces RS to ≈ 1-2 g 100 g⁻¹. |
Brief simmer, or cook-cool-reheat beans raise RS to 4-5 g 100 g⁻¹ . |
| Gut transit & microbiota |
Faster transit, low butyrogenic taxa → less carbohydrate fermented, more lost in stool. |
Slow transit, high Faecalibacterium + Roseburia → near-complete fermentation. |
| Drug / additive |
None. |
Acarbose, other α-glucosidase inhibitors, or viscous fibre that escorts starch to the colon. |
Hence the 8-12 % (plain) and 15-20 % (with acarbose) figures should be read as typical mid-points for healthy adults eating common North-American bean portions.
Putting the numbers in context
-
Whole-diet perspective. Across an average Western diet SCFAs account for ~10 % of total absorbed energy . A single serving of beans already matches that population average; adding acarbose turns one humble bean dish into an SCFA-rich, low-glycemic “calorie bargain.”
-
Metabolic upside. SCFAs deliver fewer calories per gram and down-regulate ROS, glycation and inflammatory signalling—as you noted earlier—making this energy “cleaner” than the glucose and fat it replaces.
-
Practical tweak. If you cool cooked beans overnight (retrogradation → more RS3) and take acarbose with them, the SCFA share can push toward one-fifth of the calories you actually extract—about as high as you can drive any staple food without outright fibre supplements.
Bottom line:
For plain cooked beans, about one calorie in ten ultimately returns to you as microbiota-derived SCFAs; slowing small-intestine digestion (e.g., with acarbose or by cooling/retrograding the starch) can raise that figure to ~15-20 %, while simultaneously trimming the glucose load that would otherwise spike blood sugar and oxidative stress.
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Wow so having acarbose with legumes causes the fibre to feed gut bacteria more. That’s cool.
