The Rice and Beans Diet - Inspiried by Dave Ramsey

photo credit: stu_spivack

For the millions of you that are familiar with FPU (Financial Peace University) Dave Ramsey’s rice and beans diet is old news.  With his principles of getting out of debt, this “rice and beans” diet represents exercising self control on several different levels.

Dave Ramsey is a nationally syndicated radio host and author of the best selling book: The Total Money Makeover that has helped millions eliminate debt, and change the financial future for many families.  If you have the book or listened to the radio show, you have heard both callers and Dave talk about living off of beans and rice. Let’s pretend for a moment that Dave literally meant to eat rice and beans at every meal.

At roughly $0.79 cents for a can of beans and $3.00 for a bag of rice, not only is it cheap but it’s also very nutritious.  1 serving of rice and beans is about 241 calories (1.2 grams of Fat, 11.1 grams of Protien, 43 grams of Carbohydrates, and 10.3 grams of dietary fiber).  Some of you may be thinking that 43 grams of carbohydrates is ridiculous but these carbohydrates are not empty (i.e. just sugar).  It’s a great source of energy and the dietary fiber will keep you full much longer than a McDonald’s hamburger that has the same amount of carbs.

The obvious problem with eating nothing but rice and beans is that the lack of variety will drive people up the wall.  Good news is, there are plenty of ways to prepare beans and plenty of meats you can mix that are affordable including chicken breast, steak, or fish.

Here is my favorite way to prepare beans.

• •4 Cans of Beans (Goya or Busch / Pinto)
• •4 Tablespoons of Goya: Sofrito (or make your own sofrito)
• •2 packs of Goya Sazon
• •4 Tablespoons of a Goya Recaito (Cilantro Based seasoning).
• •1 cup of water

Cook on medium heat in a pot w/ a cover and stir occasionally, You should have delicious beans ready in 20-30 minutes.  All the ingredients above can be found in the Spanish aisle of your chain grocery stores (i.e. Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Lowe’s Food, etc).

We can debate the true meaning of Dave’s “rice and beans” diet.  Is it a saying for us to be mindful about how much we budget for food every month?  Or are people really eating this stuff everyday?  Either way, we can agree that losing weight while slimming your budget is still very possible.  It’s just a matter of shopping smarter.

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