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Beans on a plant based diet: what the doctors say
Beans and lentils on a plant based diet: what McDougall, Esselstyn, Barnard, Goldhamer and other doctors say on amounts, gas and cans, with sources.
Updated . For education only, not medical advice.
Our view
Beans, lentils and dried peas sit close to the center of the diet most doctors on this site teach: Caldwell Esselstyn puts legumes among the main foods for his heart patients, and Nathan Pritikin built his own diet on them with whole grains after his heart diagnosis12. Alan Goldhamer, Neal Barnard and Jeff Novick all praise them for being cheap, full of fiber and filling for few calories345.
We give most weight to the low-fat clinicians who have fed patients this way for decades, and their advice is not to eat beans without limit: John McDougall has held for about 40 years that a cup of cooked beans a day suits someone with healthy kidneys, because beans are so rich in protein67. Goldhamer goes a step further and calls them optional, since starchy vegetables can supply the calories for anyone who digests beans poorly8.
So we see beans as a welcome staple beside potatoes, rice and other starches rather than a food everyone must eat, and the gas they bring at first usually eases as the gut adjusts, as McDougall and Peter Rogers both describe910.
Where they agree
Beans belong on the plate: Esselstyn told an audience in a lecture posted in 2014 that his patients have scores of bean varieties to choose from, Dean Ornish listed beans in his reversal diet in 2011, and McDougall said in 2016 that he and his wife Mary eat them11126. Rogers said in 2026 that he has some beans every day13.
They also agree that beans are a top fiber food: Barnard called them the fiber champions in 2024, and Rip Esselstyn said in 2022 that legumes lead every other food on fiber, with about 25 grams in a 15 ounce can41415. In an interview posted in 2013, Denis Burkitt singled out peas and beans for their soluble fiber, which he tied to lower risk of diabetes and heart disease16. The Ornish program’s site says pulses carry four times the fiber of brown rice17.
Beans fill people up for modest calories, and the figures these teachers give fall in a narrow band: Doug Lisle put rice, beans and potatoes near 400 calories per pound, Goldhamer about 500, Novick about 550 for legumes and Chef AJ about 600 for beans18192021. Barnard adds that a gram of their carbohydrate holds 4 calories, less than half the 9 in a gram of fat, and that their fiber adds bulk without calories22.
They are also cheap: in 2025 Goldhamer said fruits and vegetables cost some ten times more per calorie than rice and beans23. In a Physicians Committee trial, Hana Kahleova reported in 2023 that people on the vegan diet added roughly 30 cents a day to their bean spending, a cost more than offset by the animal foods they stopped buying24.
The studies these doctors cite point the same way: the Ornish program’s site reports a 2014 review of dozens of trials with more than 1,000 people in which half a cup of pulses a day cut LDL cholesterol by about 5 percent within two months25, and another 2014 review in which legumes four times a week went with a 14 percent lower risk of heart disease26. Kahleova’s trial randomized 244 overweight adults to a low-fat vegan diet or their usual diet for 16 weeks27.
Where they differ
The doctors part ways on how many beans to eat, whether everyone needs them, which kinds to choose, whether cans are acceptable and how to handle gas68282930.
How much
McDougall’s limit comes from protein: in 2016 he said beans are about 30 percent protein while people need only around 5 percent of calories from it, and he worried about fans who eat beans at all three meals7. Rogers wondered in 2022 whether one cup daily should be the upper limit, while admitting he was unsure, and in 2023 he described them as a good food with a lot of protein3132. Campbell saw no such problem in 2021: plenty of legumes may lift protein to 15 or 20 percent of calories, which he said does no harm because plant protein is not the culprit33. Goldhamer, in 2025, named beans with nuts and seeds as foods so rich in protein that whole plant eaters face more danger from too much of it than too little34, while Chef AJ in 2017 and Novick in 2012 pointed people anxious about protein toward beans3536.
Whether everyone needs them
Goldhamer said in 2025 that beans and grains are not required for health and that people who struggle to digest them can eat starchy vegetables instead, though he valued beans for variety and their likely effects on gut bacteria83. The Physicians Committee doctors give beans a bigger role in weight loss: Kahleova said in 2022 that, after avoiding meat, eating beans was the strongest predictor of weight lost in her trial, and Barnard said in 2021 that his team found beans slightly raise the calories burned after a meal3738. Esselstyn’s FAQ, read in 2026, uses beans the other way round, telling patients who lose too much weight to eat more of them39.
Which beans
Rogers ranked beans by fat in 2022: lentils at about 3 percent of calories and black beans at about 4 are his favorites, chickpeas at about 13 he accepts, and soybeans at about 40 he rejects28. Walter Willett, on a panel posted in 2020, grouped soy products with nuts and legumes as the healthy plant proteins to put in place of red meat and dairy4041. A 2026 Physicians Committee release on a study Kahleova led reports that postmenopausal women who replaced animal protein with soybeans, beans and grains lost weight while eating as much protein as before42.
Canned or cooked from dry
Rogers avoids canned beans because cans can add aluminum and their linings contain BPA, a chemical that acts like estrogen, and keeps them for travel or emergencies43. Novick, writing in 2010, accepted cans as a shortcut since dry beans take hours to cook, but warned that most canned beans are very salty and chose brands with no salt added4429. For dry beans, Barnard said in 2021 that soaking them for 8 to 10 hours mostly cuts the cooking time rather than helping absorption, and that lectins stop being a concern once beans are cooked soft4522.
Gas and digestion
McDougall told newcomers in 2017 to allow a couple of weeks for their intestinal bacteria to change, adding that beans, peas and lentils will always cause some extra gas, though with a milder smell9. Rogers said in 2022 that gas tends to settle as the bacteria get used to the fiber10. Campbell, asked in 2021 about stomach trouble, suggested a mild allergy to one legume might be the cause and proposed dropping them one at a time with a physician’s help30, while Goldhamer simply lets such people swap beans for starchy vegetables8.
What each expert says
JMJohn McDougall
McDougall eats beans, peas and lentils himself and has long set roughly one cooked cup a day as the amount healthy kidneys handle well6. His caution, voiced in 2016, is their high protein share, about 30 percent, against a need he places near 5 percent of calories7. On gas, his 2017 advice was patience while gut bacteria adapt9.
Esselstyn’s 2014 paper on heart patients lists legumes and lentils with whole grains, vegetables and fruit as the bulk of the diet1. In a lecture posted the same year he pointed to the wide range of beans patients can pick from11, and his FAQ, read in 2026, turns to beans, lentils and whole grains for patients who become too thin39.
In a 2021 talk Campbell said a varied plant diet already covers protein needs, and that eating many legumes, which may raise protein to 15 or 20 percent of calories, is fine because plant protein does not cause the harm4633. For digestive trouble he suggested testing for a mild allergy by removing the legumes one by one under a physician’s care30.
Barnard said in 2021 that beans help weight loss through their low calorie carbohydrate and their fiber, and that his team found they modestly raise the calories burned after meals2238. He told viewers that soaking mainly saves cooking time45, and in his 2024 Power Foods talk he urged people to bring beans back to the table4.
In a Charlie Rose interview posted in 2011, Ornish named beans among the foods of his heart reversal diet, beside fruit, vegetables, grains and soy12. His program’s site cites research that pulses lower LDL cholesterol and heart disease risk, and says half a cup of black beans has more iron than a small flank steak252647.
Goldhamer likes grains and beans because they are nutrient dense and among the cheapest calories on earth, the reason, he said in 2025, that billions of poor people live on rice and beans3. He still treats them as optional for people who digest them poorly8, and warns that the protein risk of a whole plant diet lies in excess34.
Rogers prefers the leanest beans, lentils and black beans, and rules out soybeans for their fat28. He is wary of cans and has floated a cap of about a cup a day because of protein, while saying in 2026 that he eats some beans daily433113.
Novick wrote in 2010 that beans may rank just behind greens and other vegetables among the most nutrient rich foods, and recommended no salt added canned beans for busy cooks529. In a 2016 talk he put legumes at about 550 calories per pound and noted that the Tarahumara, known as endurance runners, got about 90 percent of their calories from corn and beans2048.
In a 2022 video Rip Esselstyn called legumes the best fiber source and said most Americans do not eat even one serving of beans a day14. A 2026 post on his PLANTSTRONG site presents beans as a way to replace protein foods that carry more saturated fat49.
In a 2017 episode Chef AJ told viewers worried about protein that they can simply eat more beans and other legumes35. In 2021 she placed beans at about 600 calories per pound, at the top of the starch range she bases her diet on21.
On a nutrition panel posted in 2020, Willett said red meat raises LDL and heart risk when the comparison is a diet whose protein comes from nuts, legumes and soy40. He made the same point for dairy, citing trials in which swapping it for those plant proteins improved blood lipids41.
Kahleova reported in 2022 that in a 16 week trial of 244 overweight adults, with a comparison group on their usual diet, beans were the food whose intake best tracked weight loss on the vegan diet after the absence of meat2737. In 2023 she noted that the extra spending on beans in that trial was small, about 30 cents a day24.
Lisle counts beans among the wet starches, with rice and potatoes, at about 400 calories per pound18. In 2024 he suggested using dry carbohydrates such as tortillas as a vehicle for rice and beans50, and in 2026 he said a big bean and rice burrito leaves him so satisfied that he never misses meat51.
Burkitt, the surgeon known for his fiber research, told McDougall in an interview posted in 2013 that peas and beans are excellent foods because of their soluble fiber, which he linked to protection against diabetes and coronary heart disease16.
In a 1982 conversation with McDougall, Pritikin said the diet he adopted once his heart disease was found was simply whole grains, beans and peas, fruit, vegetables and potatoes2.
We treat beans, lentils and peas as one of several starches, cooked until soft and added gradually while the gut adjusts, as McDougall, Barnard and Rogers describe92210. How much suits you depends on your kidneys, your digestion and your other foods, so if beans keep troubling you or you have kidney disease, ask your own doctor. This page is education, not medical advice.
Each small number links to its reference below: the video at the exact second, or the page where it was said.