Participants in this study significantly reduced their fasting blood glucose, insulin, triglycerides, and LDL cholesterol by replacing some of the meat they were eating with beans:
Substitution Of Red Meat With Legumes In The Therapeutic Lifestyle Change Diet Based On Dietary Advice Improves Cardiometabolic Risk Factors In Overweight Type 2 Diabetes Patients: A Cross-over Randomized Clinical Trial, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Online: 29 October 2014
Conclusions: Dietary advice given for substitution of red meat with legume intakes within a TLC diet improved lipid profiles and glycemic control among diabetes patients, which were independent from BMI change.
They were instructed to replace 2 servings of meat with different types of legumes (lentils, chickpeas, peas, and other beans) on 3 days each week for 8 weeks. Half a cup of cooked legumes was considered one serving of meat. The bean group ended up eating about the same amount of calories, carbohydrate, fat, and protein as the meat group. They did, however, eat significantly less cholesterol, and significantly more fiber and magnesium than the meat eaters.
Good! We eat a lot of beans….
The Paleo Diet is completely devoid of beans and legumes, even fresh green beans. Here’s what Loren Cordain says about beans (Cordain, it could be said, started the whole Paleo movement with his book The Paleo Diet a decade ago):
http://thepaleodiet.com/beans-and-legumes-are-they-paleo/
Cordain recommends a very low carbohydrate (22% to 40%), high fat (28% to 58%), high protein (19% to 35%) diet that should derive most of its calories from animal foods (56% to 65%).
That’s a complete about-face from the diet I think is healthy … a high-carb, low-fat, low-protein diet that derives most of its calories from minimally processed plants.