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Issue No. 046 · The Bean Swap Hack
Keep the rice. Add the beans.
I swapped a third of my rice for black beans and kept the carbs the same. My glucose monitor noticed.
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I love white rice.
For years, I ate it plain because plain felt safe. My doctor told me to cut back, so I shrank the scoop and kept the bowl boring.
So I ran a test on my glucose monitor.
On Monday I ate a bowl of plain white rice with about 50 grams of carbs. That rice raised my blood sugar 56 points. On Wednesday I ate a bowl with the same 50 grams of carbs, but a third of the rice was gone and black beans filled the space. The bean bowl raised me 45 points. I started both tests at a similar baseline and did not walk after either bowl.
Nothing got smaller… the bowl just got smarter.
They told me rice was the enemy. That was wrong, because rice just needed a partner.
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Plain white rice
Rice + black beans (1/3 swapped)
Rise in blood sugar (mg/dL) after about 50 g of carbs. Same carbs in both bowls.
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Jackie’s personal CGM readings, rise from baseline. Your results may differ. Not medical advice; talk to your care team before changing how you manage blood sugar.
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🍚
Plain rice
+56
Point rise
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20%
Less rise
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🫘
Rice + beans
+45
Point rise
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Here’s why the beans won.
White rice has a glycemic index of about 73. Black beans sit near 30. Mix them in one bowl, and the blend comes out lower than rice alone.
But the GI gap is only half the reason. Beans carry fiber and a slow starch that your gut breaks down at a crawl. They also hold plant compounds that may slow the enzyme that turns starch into sugar.
In other words, the beans make the rice wait in line.
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And this goes beyond my kitchen. In a 2012 study, adults with type 2 diabetes ate 50 grams of carbs as plain rice or as rice with beans. The black bean bowls came in about 19% lower over three hours, and the pinto bean bowls about 22% lower. A University of Guelph team saw a similar result when lentils replaced half the rice, with blood sugar dropping by up to 20%.
That’s a big drop for a swap you can make with one can opener.
My doctor never mentioned this, and he never told me to change the bowl.
I’ll be clear about the limits. That 2012 study had 17 people, and my monitor is one body. A 2026 study that added a daily cup of beans for 12 weeks found no drop in blood sugar markers. Your body may respond more, or less. So treat this as a tool for one meal, not a magic bean.
The bean bowl still wins.
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⚡ Your mission this week
The one-third bean swap
⏱ 2 minutes
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Pull out a third of the rice
Serve your usual bowl. Then scoop about a third of the rice back into the pot for another meal.
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Fill the gap with beans
Add canned black or pinto beans to the empty space. Rinse them first to cut the salt.
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Eat the bowl you love
Keep your sauce, your salsa, your toppings. The beans do their work while you eat.
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🎯 Your first win
Make one bean swap at any rice meal this week. If you wear a monitor, test the plain bowl and the bean bowl on two different days.
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Do
Pick black or pinto beans. They gave the biggest drop in the rice study.
Swap rice for beans so the total carbs stay about the same.
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Don’t
Pile beans on top of a full bowl of rice. That adds carbs instead of swapping them.
Count on kidney beans to match. They made the smallest change in the study.
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By the way… my friend Rosa grew up on rice and beans.
When Rosa got her prediabetes news, a nurse handed her a sheet that said to skip white rice. She skipped it for six months and missed it every day. Last month she tried the swap with pinto beans. Her monitor rose 14 points less than with her plain rice bowl.
Rosa called me laughing. Her grandmother’s plate was the hack the whole time, and she looks forward to dinner again.
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Where this comes from: Thompson, Winham & Hutchins, Nutrition Journal (2012): 17 adults with type 2 diabetes ate 50 g of carbs as white rice or as rice with beans. Glucose area over 3 hours was about 19% lower with black beans and 22% lower with pinto beans; kidney beans did not differ significantly. Winham et al., Nutrients (2017) found black bean and chickpea rice meals lowered glucose at 60 to 120 minutes in healthy women. GI values: white rice about 73, black beans about 30 (International Tables of GI). Jackie’s and Rosa’s numbers are personal CGM readings, not a study. |
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Don’t shrink the bowl.
Change what’s in it.
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★ Welcome to the revolution
Jackie
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