Sometimes, it's not what you take out of your diet but what you add to it that has the power to lower your lousy LDL cholesterol, raise your healthy HDL cholesterol and maybe even chip away at your risk of diabetes.

The newest addition to your power arsenal (and your plate) is chickpeas -- aka garbanzo beans -- the luscious legume that's pureed to make hummus (and that tastes great whole, too).

People eating roughly 25 ounces of chickpeas per week for four weeks, that's a little more than three ounces a day (just a hill of beans, not a mountain of them) for 12 weeks saw their total cholesterol and lousy LDL levels decrease and HDL levels increase compared to a chickpea-free diet. That's not all: Insulin levels also improved, and they lost a small amount of weight -- without dieting OR exercising.

Credit should go to the fact that these legumes fill you up with fiber (more than 5 grams in half a cup), protein (6 grams per half cup) and polyunsaturated fatty acids; all qualities your heart and your weight love. Plus, chickpeas are a great source of vitamins, minerals and phytoestrogens.

Hummus isn't the only way to get more of these into your life. Try tossing the whole beans into salads and pasta dishes. Add a new dimension to tuna salad by stirring them right in -- with some parsley and spices, if you want. And make them a fixture in your three-bean salad. Easy. Healthy. Cheap. And you don't have to give up a thing.

The YOU Docs -- Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz -- are authors of "YOU: Being Beautiful -- The Owner's Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty." To submit questions and find ways to grow younger and healthier, go to www.RealAge.com, the docs' online home.

AP Video