“I like to call this black bean recipe my Coyote Black Beans in honor of the coyotes who accompanied me in making it.” Said my Poppa when he sent me this recipe. He is an amazing cook, particularly when it comes to beans in a crockpot and I was always trying to get him to start a blog, or at lease write the recipes for me…but he was too busy ready about philosophy and the duality of humans to be bothered. He always had a pot of the most amazing, unique, and delectable beans going in the cooker which he could go back and forth to from his dusky book and musical instrument filled office overlooking fruit trees. I think I inherited my ability to create recipes from scratch that are delicious on the first try from his genes. I also inherited his biceps.
This black bean recipe provides 66% or more of your daily thiamine needs in a mere 330 calories!
It is my theory that depression is not a system of faulty hormonal neurotransmitter systems, but a metabolic issue caused by two streams of causation. First, if your body does not have enough energy to run, it will be sluggish. And I am not discussing a caloric energy, but a metabolic energy provided to the cells. Did you know that your metabolism, on the cellular level requires far more than carbohydrates to feel energized? This is because the cellular machinery does not just run off the carbs or glucose. Rather the glucose, and other molecules like fats and proteins, go into a cycle in the cell called the TCA cycle. This cycle is what makes the energy molecules, or ATP, NADP/NADPH, and NADH/NADH2, of the cell. Now in order to make this nutrient you need many of the vitamins, especially the B vitamins. Thiamine is one of the B vitamins that the cell needs to make it’s energy molecules.
Now, I cannot theorize if the state of depression is due to a lack of energy at the cellular level from baseline needs of someones physiology or because the coding of depression causes a need for a higher level of cellular energy. Regardless, research has shown that the symptoms of depression can be ameliorated with a thiamine supplement. In nutritional terms, this translates into consuming more foods with thiamine. Food forms of vitamins are in the unique biological structure to be taken up by the body and utilized most effectively. Additionally supplements are usually contaminated with heavy metals and other compounds you do not need in your body.
The other theory of depression I have is also indirectly related to energy metabolism. From my experience, too great of a toxic load for someone’s unique physiology can result in the systems of depression. This stream is also accompanied by the observation that inflammation plays a role in depression. Inflammation plays a role in all diseases so this is not unique. Another way to approach curing depression is to lower the levels of inflammation in a body. Whether this inflammation is caused by a high toxic load, such as the intake of a greater amount of toxins/herbicides/etc, than the body can handle, or by inflammation from another source, reducing inflammation can result in improved neurological and cellular functioning resulting in improved metal outlook. Methods of reducing inflammation usually involve some levels of detoxification, when done in congruence with the natural body systems (not using drugs). This detoxification will remove toxic load which also results at decreased inflammation. A detoxification works directly on inflammation as well by decreasing the number of reactive oxygen species, on of the key causes of inflammation.
But I digress because the point of this post is to guide you to consume more thiamine as a key method to increasing your energy and thus elevate your body out of depression. Have you ever heard the term “hangry.” We tend to not feel well and get angry when we are hungry. I think part of the cause of depression is a cellular and neurological form of “hangry.” Depression is not just in the brain, usually when someone is depressed they also feel lethargic, unmotivated, and down in their energetic state. This is because your cellular system does not receive the nutrients it needs, whether this be for baseline function, or to combat the level of inflammation that is occurring in your body. Thiamine to the rescue! By eating 2 cups of beans a day, and 1 grain, or other whole grain baked good like found in this Amaranth Teff Crepe Recipe, (which would be delicious filled with black beans and avocado…… or you can find another high thiamine recipe in this Summer Stew here: https://thecarmencooks.com/staging/3924/summer-stew-why-you-need-sufficient-thiamine-to-burn-fat/
Coyote Black Bean Recipe
Equipment
- 1 crock pot
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried black beans
- 1 tsp cumin
- epazote a few leaves or a tsp
- 1/2 c fresh cilantro
- oregano fresh, a lot, or if dry 1 tsp
- 1/2 tsp ancho powder
- 1 can diced tomatoes or tomato sauce
- 4 tbs olive oil or more
- chopped pickled jalapeno to taste 1 Tbs or more
- 1 t salt
- 1-2 chopped onions depending on size
- 1 diced red bell pepper big pieces
- Optional – McIhenny tabasco sauce to taste a dash or two
- chopped garlic all you want.
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Soak beans over night and rinse 3 times.
- Put in a crock pot and cover with water add bay leaf and cook for 5-6 hours, until soft. Final liquid should be thickish but not soupy, or however you like it, but this is not a soup.
- Add onions and spices and tomatoes, after several hours of cooking.
- Saute red bell pepper and stir into beans after cooking is complete so the bell peppers remain firm, cooked but not gelatinous.
- All ingredients are optional. Creativity allowed.
- 2-3 times during cooking sing your favorite traditional native American chant and dance with gratitude around the cooking pot. Essential for optimal flavor..
Thiamine is a relatively easy food to include in sufficient levels in your body, as long as you are not eating a mostly meat and vegetable diet. This is because the highest amounts of thiamine, per calorie, is in the legume and grain family. The only exception to this is pork which is unusually high in thiamine compared to other foods. But we digress. Per calorie beans provide a superior form of thiamine. Additionally beans have the advantage over meat by providing soluble fiber which is crucial for your microbiome. And we all know that a healthy microbiome means a healthy body.
Nutrition Facts
0 servings per container
| Amount Per Serving | ||
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 327 | |
| % Daily Value* | ||
| Total Fat 10 g | 16 % | |
| Saturated Fat 2 g | 8 % | |
| Trans Fat 0 g | ||
| Cholesterol 0 mg | 0 % | |
| Sodium 373 mg | 16 % | |
| Total Carbohydrate 46 g | 15 % | |
| Dietary Fiber 12 g | 48 % | |
| Total Sugars 4 g | ||
| Includes – Added Sugars | ||
| Protein 15 g | 30 % | |
| Vitamin D 0 µg | 0 % |
|---|---|
| Calcium 111 mg | 11 % |
| Iron 4 mg | 23 % |
| Potassium 1,128 mg | 24 % |
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Nutritional Information for Coyote Black Beans: All vitamins and minerals
Most nutritional information is extremely lacking, so I like to provide an analysis of all the information. Some percentages are not included for the DV% because these nutrients are no longer included in the recommended dietary intake by the American Dietetics Association/USDA, but they are vital nutrients for the body to run. That means if you never got these nutrients, you would die. Selenium is particularly crucial for the prevention of depression because your thyroid and metabolic systems need this nutrient to provide you with enough energy. If you do not have sufficient energy, you will feel down in the dumps, literally because part of depression is an extreme fatigue, or a depressing of your energy systems.
Nutrient Amount % Daily Value* Fat 10 g 16% Saturated 2 g 8% Trans 0 g – Monounsaturated 7 g – Polyunsaturated 1 g – Carbs 46 g 15% Fiber 12 g 48% Total Sugars 4 g – Added Sugars – – Protein 15 g 30% Cholesterol 0 mg 0% Sodium 373 mg 16% Calcium 111 mg 11% Magnesium 122 mg 29% Potassium 1,128 mg 24% Iron 4 mg 23% Zinc 3 mg 23% Phosphorus 251 mg 36% Vitamin A 45 ¬µg 5% Vitamin C 34 mg 37% Thiamin (B1) 1 mg 66% Riboflavin (B2) 0.35 mg 13% Niacin (B3) 2 mg 11% Vitamin B6 0.5 mg 26% Folate (Equivalent) 307 ¬µg 77% Folate (Food) 307 ¬µg – Vitamin B12 0 ¬µg 0% Vitamin D 0 ¬µg 0% Vitamin E 2 mg 14% Vitamin K 16 ¬µg 14% Iodine (µg) 14 Selenium (µg) 9.5 Biotin (µg) 3 Choline (mg) 27
