The Beauty of Cooking

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Beans, beans, the magical fruit. The more you eat…the younger you’ll look!

Seasonal vegetables like green beans not only provide healthy benefits to our bodies, they keep our skin smooth and healthy, bolstering it with antioxidants proven to prevent premature skin aging. Studies have shown that those with high antioxidant levels in their tissues actually have fewer wrinkles than those without!

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Green beans are in season and are easily accessible at farmers markets and grocery stores. Nutrient dense, they’re low in calories and high in health and beauty-benefitting nutrients—a win-win situation.

But because they’re green—a rather typical color for a vegetable—we do not associate them with other colorful phytonutrient containing foods, like red bell peppers or berries, or carrots. 

MORE: Sneak in Beauty-Boosting Veggies

But they are!  

Green beans contain the carotenoids lutein, beta carotein, neoxanthin and violaxanthin, which help boost the skin’s ability to fight aging. They also pack an impressive antioxidant capacity as well as vitamin C, A, K, calcium, potassium, folate and small amounts of fiber, protein and iron.

Green Bean Buying Tips

Look for green beans in farmers markets or grocery stores that sell them loose so you can sort through them for the best quality beans. They should have smooth green skin without wrinkles, bruises, rust or brown spots and be crisp and snap when you break them. Try to buy what you’ll use within three days and store them unwashed in a perforated bag in the refrigerator.

A Beautiful Green Bean Recipe

Now for the best part! We are lucky that fresh basil and chives are in season and plentiful now too: That means you can make a great tasting vegan chive, basil, spinach, parsley, walnut and pecan pesto green bean salad.