What I Ate in a Week on the Bean Protocol
I haven’t shared a post like this is foreeeeeever! In the past, I would share What I Ate in a Day posts, but I found that it put me in a weird headspace, it made me feel like people were judging my diet, and then I found proof of that in gossip forums talking about how I ate too much or ate too little. So I dropped that style of post for years. I also found that other people would compare themselves in a some sort of negative way, and that’s not why I shared those posts. I shared them because I think it’s helpful for some people, it gives other people ideas of what they could eat at home, and it inspires others to try new foods. But if looking at people’s daily food intake triggers, just don’t read it. I simply want to share what my diet is looking like these days while on the Bean Protocol to hopefully help someone who is going down the same path with their health.
I started the Bean Protocol over 2 months ago and I’ve seen drastic results in 2 months. My acne is clearing up like I hoped and I’m really loving this kind of eating. For the first 2 months, I was SUPER strict. No sugar, no alcohol, no caffeine, no fat when I ate beans, etc., but now I’m being a bit more flexible with my meals. And that’s because it’s something I want to stick with long term, so I need a bit more balance. If you’re a person who is trying to heal a health issue or autoimmune disease, that flexibility might not be an option, keep that in mind. For me, it’s worked, BUT I still have had some breakouts from not being super strict. Not being as strict has helped with my mental state, but not my physical state, aka acne.
Now before we jump in, let me prepare you for BOREDOM. My meals are boring AF, especially last week when I was absolutely drowning in work. My meals are mostly comprised of leftovers because that’s all I can get together in the 10 minutes I have free. Not all weeks look like this, many others are filled with way more veggies, but it’s a good overview on how it’s averagely looked day-to-day during the Bean Protocol. Just know, I never measure or weigh anything, or even track it in full details, so you’ll see ‘spoonfuls’ or ‘handfuls’ because of that. And just FYI, I’ll be sharing a full blog post at the 3-month mark of the Bean Protocol where I’ll share a full in-depth look at my experience on it!
Below is a photo of the bean dip I’ve been LOVING lately and eating all day every day! I eat it with chips, with veggies, with meals – with everything. So when you see me mention bean dip, this is what I’m talking about!
Monday
Snack 1 – Glass of Oatly low fat oat milk
Snack 2 – Handful of plantain chips with bean dip
Breakfast – Black beans, turmeric rice, ground turkey cooked in everything but the bagel seasoning
Lunch – Black beans, turmeric rice, ground turkey cooked in everything but the bagel seasoning
Snack 3 – Handful of taro chips
Dinner – Stewed beans and steak tip hash
Tuesday
Breakfast – Black beans, turmeric rice, ground turkey
Snack 1 – 1/2 red bell pepper and bean dip
Lunch – Steak tip hash, eggs (leftover from a burrito bowl over the weekend), black beans
Snack 2 – Handful of taro chips with bean dip
Dinner – Modern Market pork grain bowl – I divided it (so I could have leftover the next day) and added black beans
Wednesday
Snack 1 – 1/2 redbell pepper and bean dip
Breakfast – Burrito (made into a bowl) at Bacon Social House (ate about 1/2-3/4 of it)
Lunch – Leftover Modern Market and couple handfuls of plantain chips
Snack 1 – 1/2 yellow pepper and bean dip
Dinner – Bean and steak tostada with chickpea tortilla (ate only 1/2 the tortilla and more of the stewed beans)
Snack 2 – Couple spoonfuls of peanut butter
Thursday
Breakfast – Black beans, turmeric rice, ground turkey
Snack 1 – 1/2 yellow pepper and bean dip
Snack 2 – Couple spoonfuls of peanut butter
Snack 3 – Handful of plantain chips
Lunch – Ground sirloin, black beans, bean dip, turmeric rice
Snack 4 – More plantain chips and bean dip
Dinner – Lentil taco pasta with some garlic dip mix in
Snack 5 – Couple spoonfuls of peanut butter
Friday
Snack 1 –Glass of Oatly low fat oat milk
Breakfast – Turmeric rice, stewed beans, bean dip
Snack 2 – Couple bowls of popcorn
Lunch – 1/2 burger with fries from Five Guys + small bowl of black beans on the side
Snack 3 – Handful of plantain chips and bean dip
Dinner – Ground beef cooked with onions, mushrooms, and lentils paired with a veggie sauté of onions, bell pepper, carrots, and zucchini
Saturday
Breakfast – Oats with leftover ground beef with lentils and a small bit of veggies
Snack 1 – 1/2 yellow pepper and bean dip
Snack 2 – Decaf oat milk latte (drank 1/2 of it) from Rivers & Roads Coffee
Lunch – Ground beef with lentils, turmeric rice, and black beans
Snack 3 – Plantain chips with bean dip
Dinner – Khao Sio from Daughter’s Thai – only ate 1/2 portion (got rice instead of noodle)
Snack 4 – Bowl of black beans with white rice
Sunday
Breakfast – Turmeric rice, leftover ground beef with lentils, and black beans
Snack 1 – Black beans with white rice
Lunch – Inside of falafel wrap with a couple bites of wrap & some fried cauliflower & broccoli from Vital Root
Snack 2 – Couple spoonfuls of peanut butter
Snack 3 -small bowl of black beans
Dinner – The other 1/2 portion from my khao sio
I hope this post gives you a little more insight into what the Bean Protocol for someone who isn’t being too crazy strict on it while still making it part of their daily life! Let me know if you have any questions below!!
Oh, Hi! I’m Juli.
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48 thoughts on “What I Ate in a Week on the Bean Protocol”
This all looks absolutely delicious! I’ve been wanting to try Daughter’s Thai for months now, this was a good reminder to do that soon!
omg it’s the absolute best
I love these kinds of posts, but what exactly is it about the beans that helps with acne? the fiber? I am just wondering.
the soluble fiber in the beans clings to toxins and hormones so you can excrete them instead of purging them through your skin
Are you able to eat plantain chips as your “fat snack” while being strict on the protocol or not since plantains are a fruit and you can’t have fruits on the protocol? Is it just part of your weekly meals because you aren’t being as strict?
i’m not sure, i’m not the expert! when i was following it super strict for 2 months, i didn’t have any chips, just veggies
Is there a book available where you can access how to do the protocol (ex/ what to eat, how much and how often)?
you can download unique hammond’s ecourse and it has meal plans on it!
Loved seeing your food ideas! Thank you so much!
thanks Christina!
I like how you keep it simple and eat almost the same meals all day. It makes me feel better on how I eat because I can eat the same meals for days. I see it as nutrition for my body that doesn’t take a lot of time to make. It’s hard to do this and live with someone that doesn’t like leftovers and prefers to eat out when there are no other options at home. I do have a question. Do you just prefer black beans or is there another reason?
i just don’t have time to be creative for multiple meals a day lol leftovers are king in my house. and yes, i prefer black beans because they seem to work better with my digestion
Thank you for this post! It’s really helpful and motivating. Hope you don’t get any negative crap from people like you have in the past and none of the mental/emotional fall out either. Anyway, love you, love this. You’re awesome. That’s all.
thanks Julie!!
I love this post. Curious did your acne get worse before it got better when you started the bean protocol?
yes, there is a purging stage during the first month usually, while the liver detoxes
Hi Juli,
Love your posts and sharing of your bean protocol journey and this one week of meals. So happy it is working out well for you. I have been inspired to do it and am on month 1. So you mentioned having gas and I have had too. No other problems for me but this Anything you have found helps?
no i haven’t tried anything. i’m just letting the fermentation process work its way through so hopefully it’s not an issue in the future
wait, five guys is paleo?
hahah juuust kidding!
I loved this post and how real you are with your meals. Nice to see you aren’t perfect!
I was hoping this was going to the week you drank bean soup all day. Those were some of your funniest insta stories!!
Thank you for posting! I just finished Unique’s book, and I wished there had been more details on the diet. I have been doing IF and usually only eat 2 meals plus a snack. Is it imperative to eat many times/day? I started adding in beans and have dropped the fat content of my meals. Was the coaching necessary?
i think it depends on what health issues you’re dealing with. with my hormonal acne, i have beans up to 12x/day to ensure that the hormones are able to get out of my body. so yes, i believe it’s pretty important to get them into your system multiples times per day. she recommends eating 1/4-1/2 cup 6-8x per day and i personally can’t imagine more than that amount in one sitting, my gut would be destroyed. that being said, everyone is different and you have to figure out what works for you. and her ecourse has WAY more about the protocol and i felt like it was incredibly helpful. and the calls with her are even more helpful.
I love these kinds of posts! Do you buy your beans canned or dried?
I’m in Australia and we don’t have that bean dip that you purchased- maybe as an idea for a future blog post you could make up the recipe to replicate? Or not, up to you!
canned because i’m lazy haha!
You should soak and pressure cook your own legumes.
It’s super easy and will remove the lectins to improve your gut health even more.
Interesting stuff.
I just got back on legumes this week and my elimination is wayyy better.
Hi Juli,
great post as always. I have been noticing your boobs. They look great. Do you mind to share your doc???
Thanks 🙂
Dr Andrew Wolfe did them about 12 years ago!
I ate a lot of beans growing up so I stayed away from them but your recipes have really helped me add them back in because your recipes taste so good. Also, your Turmeric Rice & Beans was so good I couldn’t stop eating it and I caught my husband eating two bowls of it. Keep sharing!!
so glad you liked the recipe!!
I too love these posts and hope you don’t get any crap for it (they are so helpful to see). I just started my 14 year old, who is dealing with some terrible acne on this same protocol, thanks to you for the information. The improvement in her skin in ONE week is crazy unreal. Who would have thought— beans and acne? We rarely ate beans before, so I really appreciate your recipes on incorporating them. We love all your recipes anyway and have two of your cookbooks. Keep up the great work, Juli.
that is AMAZING!! omg i’m so happy you were able to find this info and help your daughter!! i wish i would have had that when i was younger!! so happy for her!!
Curious if peanuts (aka legumes) count as a bean source on bean protocol? Realize they are also a fat source so probably not ideal if so
Really appreciate you sharing your journey!
These daily meals showed me that it is possible, I’ve been back and forth about trying the bean protocol and I think I’m going to go for it, thank you!
Since you aren’t having anymore coffee, are you still having collagen everyday? If you are, what are you putting it in? Can you still have collagen on the bean protocol?
Do you think sardines are too high in fat to have with the bean meals? I eat mostly fatty fish for protein.
i’m honestly not sure, you may want to contact unique hammond to ask her about that one!
How much does it cost to ask her a question? Is there a way to do this protocol without paying Unique Hammond $200 for an ecourse?
If not, there should be. These are trying times and some of us don’t have $200 to throw around to find out how to do TBP.
i’m not sure! reach out to her on instagram!
Talking about healing your gut and letting the beans do their fermenting magic, have you ever had issues with probitioics, kombucha, etc prior to your bean journey? I know you mentioned in a post about coffee causing some histamine issues (what does that look like for you btw?) and wasn’t sure if healing your gut helped with any prior gut issues? Just started today and I’m so excited! Avid pimple popper here (jk) and gut dysbiosis after 4 rounds of antibiotics since June so this has me very hopeful.
No, I’ve never had issues with those things!
THANK YOU this helps me meal plan SOOOOOO much!
Are you allowed a tumeric latte with almond milk and dash on honey
not if you’re doing the protocol super strict at first to fix any health issues
These posts are amazing! I’m preparing to start the bean protocol but I had a few questions. How long did you stay super strict on the bean protocol? And did you find you were able to ease out of the strictness as you felt better? And did the bean protocol help your mental health? Thank you again!
i stayed strict for 3 months then i began easing back a bit, mostly with not obsessing around the amount of fat in my meals with the beans then being a bit more lenient with some sugar. but i found that the more lenient i became, the more my skin acts up so i go back to more strict. nowadays i have one decaf coffee per week, but i try to be as strict as possible the rest of the time because my skin looks better and i feel better. and i definitely think it helps with my mental health!
This is so encouraging Juli! I’m 45 and STILL suffer from cystic hormonal acne. I can track my most recent horrible breakouts to mask use during this pandemic (just bought a silk mask, we’ll see if that helps) – but I too have concluded that exterior fixes are only temporary. I started on a hormonal diet protocol (Dr. Jolene Brighten’s) that focused on cruciferous veggies and seed cycling with the same goal – ridding the body of excess estrogen. I’ve also followed the paleo advice that legumes will cause inflammation, but I’m now encouraged to add beans back to my diet due to your incredible results … and because DUH! Of COURSE we should eat beans! Already feeling better.
amazing!! beans are truly the best! i hope they help you!!
Hi Julie!
This is very inspiring! Can you tell me how you prepared your oatmeal? Is there non dairy milk in it or just water, and what about a sweetener if any? Thanks! Melissa
for savory oats with the bean protocol, i would just mix a little bit of water with oats along with salt and garlic powder then just heat in the microwave!