Why does the book say "start with 1/2 -3/4 cup" of beans? Is that a maximum amount daily or is it because they don't want to overload you with fiber too quickly?

It's a fiber/digestion thing, at least that's what I understood. Beans are calorie dense but I've never had a problem eating too many beans - they are filling and never caused my weight loss to slow. I am a vegetarian so some days I eat beans at every meal (today is one of those days!)

i've wondered this too. how are they calorie dense? like, compared to veggies? i always compared it to meat. if it weren't for the beans, i'd be starving.

I think because beans have a lot of carbs and when transitioning from phase 1 to phase 2 you don't want to carb overload. At least that's my guess.

i don't understand why they say there's so many carbs in beans. of course baked beans covered in brown sugar and BBQ sauce is loaded, but legumes that you cook yourself don't seem to be. and there's all that fiber to slow the sugar spikes. on the glycemic index they were fairly low, i thought. depending on what kind. some are lower than others. such as edamame'.

I don't think it has anything to do with the carbs, though I could be wrong. There is no limit on beans in Phase 1 either.

Hmph! Okay. So no limit is good because we eat a lot of beans (even before SB). So thanks for the thoughts!