The key to a long life: eat more beans

Beans are high in fibre, protein and are quite filling. Here's some tips on how to incorporate the recommended five servings or more of beans a week into your diet.

Your pantry should contain a large assortment of canned beans ready for cooking (rinse twice to remove added sodium) and plenty more dried beans for overnight soaking and cooking. Both are healthy, but dried beans have more crunch and texture and aren't salted and flavoured like many canned beans. We suggest using dried beans when you're cooking a bean dish from scratch (change the water before simmering to remove indigestible sugars that cause bloating and embarrassing personal gas!). Use canned beans when you want to toss some into other types of dishes.

Beans go well in rice dishes and even better in soups. They work fine in pasta sauces and add texture to roasts. Every time you cook a dish, ask yourself, "Can I add some beans to this?"

No need to keep their original form. Blend beans with herbs, garlic, olive oil or other flavourings and use as dips for vegetables or spreads for sandwiches or hors d'oeuvres.

• Just toss together black beans, baby spinach, mandarin orange sections and spicy vinaigrette.
• Add other high-antioxidant veggies left over from last night's dinner, such as steamed broccoli or beet slices.

Keep chickpeas (garbanzo beans) in a sealed bowl in the refrigerator and put it on the table at every meal. Get in the habit of adding a few to your salads, your vegetables or your pasta. Or just nibble on them as you would if a bowl of olives or almonds were on the table.

For those who don't eat beans that often, it's hard to think up many interesting meals in which beans are the star. But a glance at a bean cookbook will be a revelation. Beans are the successful centerpiece of many stews, soups, cassoulets, whole-meal salads and even sandwich spreads. Find a few recipes and give them a try!

The tasty sauce in canned baked beans is full of sugar and calories.

• Keep the taste and lose some of the sugar by mixing in small red beans or kidney beans.
• Serve at lunch with a low-fat sandwich or hot dog.

Not sure which bean's best? Try these flavour suggestions:

1. Black beans: Great with brown rice and in Mexican dishes.
2. Black-eyed peas: Good in casseroles and curries or paired with ham and rice in Southern-style entrées.
3. Chickpeas (garbanzo beans): Toss into minestrone or mash with garlic and a touch of sesame seed paste (tahini) for classic hummus dip.
4. Fava or broad beans: Add to stews or serve alone as a side dish.
5. Lima beans: Use for succotash or mix with canned baked beans.
6. Navy beans: Stir into Boston baked beans.
7. Pinto beans: Pair with rice.
8. Red beans and kidney beans: Good in three-bean salads, chili and spicy Cajun dishes.
9. White (cannellini) beans: Delicious in chicken broth–based soups.