Lovely, lovely legumes

Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet and Legumes

I’ve been cooking and eating a lot of legumes recently. That’s pretty normal for me and something I often encourage my clients to do. Most people would benefit from eating more legumes.

What’s a legume?

Legumes or pulses are a group of foods that include lentils, chick peas, soya beans, red kidney beans and broad beans. They come from the pods of plants in the leguminosae family – hence the name legumes and are the seeds of these plants.

Why are they good for you?

As seeds they are packed full of goodness. All the stuff the new plant needs to grow big and strong – so they’re a really good source of nutrients. Legumes contain:

• protein
• low GI carbohydrate
• fibre
• folate
• iron
• potassium
• zinc
• magnesium
• Omega 3 essential fatty acids

They’re also strongly linked with improved life expectancy and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

What about the gas?

Lots of people don’t eat legumes because they’re worried about bloating and gas. This is particularly true if you’ve seen Blazing Saddles.

To reduce this, try eating them with fresh herbs and spices – mint, rosemary, coriander, fennel which all have a calming effect on the digestive system.

How to prepare them

Dried beans take a while to prepare and need soaking overnight – I’ll write a post tomorrow on how to cook legumes.

In contrast lentils don’t require soaking and cook much more quickly (about 30 – 40 mins).

Tinned beans and lentils are available and easy to use.

How much to eat

Try to have 2 – 3 servings of legumes per week.

To get more legumes into your diet, why not:

• add tinned chickpeas or 3-Bean mix to salads
• use hummous (made from chickpeas) as a spread
• add lentils to home-made soups
• put tinned beans into stews and casseroles
• make some lentil soup or dal

12 July, 2006