This is part of a series on how our food can help certain organs that resemble their same shape. I already shared with you how carrots benefit the eyes, how tomatoes and grapes benefit the heart, how walnuts are essential for brain health and how celery and other stalky veggies are great for bone health.
And now… beans. You know I am not a fan of beans. And red kidney beans least of them all. I have been able to tackle chickpeas / garbanzo beans, white beans, and lentils so far. But to me, the worst are red kidney beans. And the worst thing… the red kidney bean is considered the national bean in Puerto Rico – arroz con habichuelas colorás is the norm in every traditional Puerto Rican home.
According to this theory, beans and particularly red kidney beans are supposed to be good for kidney health. I have not been able to find ANYTHING in this cyber world we live in where it says beans are good for kidneys. The closest I found was that kidney beans are an excellent source of the trace mineral, molybdenum, which is responsible for detoxifying sulfites. Sulfites are a type of preservative commonly added to prepared foods like meats, prepared products and dried goods, like sun-dried tomatoes, dried fruits and some vinegars.
Red Kidney Beans are good sources of fiber and protein. That we do know and combined with whole grain rice, it provides all the essential amino acids a person needs to support good health.
I do not have any recipes with red-kidney beans, but here are a few recipes using other types of beans/legumes you could try today:
KarmaFree Cooking 
I too struggle with red kidney beans but I have managed to come up with a couple of interesting recipes…this one is made with mixed beans, heavy on kidneys http://alisonamazed.wordpress.com/2011/07/08/sandwich-spread-02/
the other – Red Kidney Beans with Apples and Kombu – will be up on my blog Tuesday…