{"id":215197,"date":"2025-10-15T16:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T16:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/215197\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T16:32:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T16:32:09","slug":"cholesterol-lowering-food-swap-shown-to-melt-pounds-without-calorie-restriction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/215197\/","title":{"rendered":"Cholesterol-lowering food swap shown to melt pounds without calorie restriction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swapping beef for beans could help you shed pounds without counting a single calorie, according to new findings that show it could support weight loss while actually allowing you to eat more food each day.<\/p>\n

A six-week trial showed participants who chose beans over meat dropped around two pounds, even though they consumed about 240 extra calories daily.<\/p>\n

This is good news for anyone who loves a hearty meal but wants to improve their health, as simply choosing bean tacos or mixing legumes into burgers could make all the difference.<\/p>\n

The bean-eaters also saw their LDL cholesterol levels drop more than those sticking with meat, the study revealed. <\/p>\n

\"WAIST<\/p>\n

Bean-eaters saw their cholesterol levels drop by a significant amount over six weeks<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

The research<\/a> involved 102 healthy Finnish men with an average age of 38, who were split into two groups for the experiment.<\/p>\n

One group continued eating their typical amount of red and processed meat – about 760 grams weekly, which provided a quarter of their protein intake.<\/p>\n

The other group cut their meat consumption to just 200 grams per week, replacing the rest with legume-based foods.<\/p>\n

The bean group got 20 per cent of their protein from legumes and only five per cent from meat. <\/p>\n

Both groups kept eating their regular diets otherwise, with researchers tracking their food intake and taking blood and urine samples at the start and finish.<\/p>\n

After six weeks, the legume group shed roughly 2 pounds, while the meat group lost only about half a pound.<\/p>\n

What’s more, the bean-eaters weren’t restricting their food intake at all. They actually consumed around 240 more calories each day than the meat group, yet still lost more weight.<\/p>\n

Their BMI decreased more noticeably, too. Both total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol – the harmful type – fell more substantially in those eating beans compared to the meat group.<\/p>\n

It makes perfect sense when you consider that legumes pack more fibre and beneficial fats than red meat.<\/p>\n

But like any research, this study has its limits. The trial lasted just six weeks, which isn’t long enough to see lasting effects.<\/p>\n

Only men participated, so we can’t say if women would see similar results. The participants tracked their own food intake, which can sometimes be unreliable.<\/p>\n

\"BLACK<\/p>\n

Legumes pack more fibre and beneficial fats than red meat<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Those eating beans reported exercising more, which likely influenced the weight loss. The bean group’s vitamin B12 levels dipped slightly but stayed within healthy ranges.<\/p>\n

Iron intake actually went up for bean-eaters, though plant-based iron isn’t absorbed as easily as meat-based iron. Both groups ended up with similar iron levels overall.<\/p>\n

Finally, the weight loss might partly reflect temporary changes like water retention rather than permanent fat loss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Swapping beef for beans could help you shed pounds without counting a single calorie, according to new findings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[49,48,2771,84,890,395],"class_list":{"0":"post-215197","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-diet","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-lifestyle","13":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}