Food as Medicine: Eat more Legumes
You can access a recording of this post here
Most of us would benefit from getting more legumes into our diet. They are nutritional powerhouses with significant health benefit. Our goal is a minimum of 3-4 servings per week, where one serving is a half cup cooked. You will find some of my favourite recipes linked at the end of this post.
Legumes are really important for helping keep our hormones balanced, especially as women. They provide important carbohydrates and fiber to feed our gut microbiome and create a feeling of satiety. In most Blue Zones across the planet, legumes are an important feature in the diet. Legumes are a source of important phytonutrients including polyphenols, phytoestrogens and phytosterols. They are antioxidant, anti-inflammatory; they reduce the risk of fatty liver, osteoporosis, cancer, stroke, heart disease and neurogenerative disease; they improve blood pressure, blood sugars and insulin sensitivity. So even those of you struggling to keep your blood sugars in check - include legumes.
Legumes include lentils, and various dried peas and beans such as Adzuki, Black, Black eyed peas, Cannellini, Chickpeas (Garbonzo), Cranberry, Fava (Broad), Kidney, Lima, Great Northern, Lentils, Peanuts, Navy (White), Mung, Pigeon, Pinto, Soy.
Some legumes are commonly available split which removes the outer husk and makes them quicker to cook and easier to digest – think of split peas, split red lentils, mung dal (split mung beans), or chana dal (split chickpeas).
Not only are legumes incredibly nutritious, they are also budget friendly, especially when you cook them from scratch. They freeze really well, so I usually cook up a large batch and freeze the extras. Whenever possible choose organically grown options as legumes are heavily sprayed here in Canada. Canned beans and legumes are fine and can be a useful pantry item to have on hand for a quick meal or if cooking from scratch feels overwhelming for you.
SOAKING AND COOKING
Lots of people complain that legumes cause gas and bloating and are hard to digest. Soaking them before cooking can really help improve digestibility.
Pick over the lentils or beans, removing any stones or debris if need be. Rinse well with water, drain and cover with plenty of fresh water. Legumes tend to triple in volume with cooking so they will soak up quite a bit of water.
I soak lentils, split peas and split mung a minimum of 4 hours or overnight. Soaking time for other beans, depends on their relative size and how long it has been since they were harvested. The longer it’s been since they were harvested, the drier they tend to be. I usually soak beans in the range of 12-48 hours before cooking, refreshing the water every 12 hours or so. When you are ready to cook your legumes, drain the soaking water, rinse well and add fresh water, covering the beans by about an inch.
The length of time needed to cook legumes depends on how long they were soaked, the size of the bean, the hardness of your water, and how fresh they are. Lentils often cook in 30 minutes, while chickpeas or kidney beans that have been in storage for a few years might take 2 or more hours to soften. Cook your beans in plenty of water till they reach the level of doneness that you are looking for.
TIPS TO IMPROVE DIGESTIBILITY
If you have a particularly hard time digesting beans, you might want to try some of the additional suggestions listed below:
Add a pinch of baking soda, or a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to the soaking water
Cook the beans in water along with a pinch of asfoetida spice or a piece of kombu seaweed in the cooking water
If you find your beans take forever to soften during cooking, it may be that your water is too hard. Use filtered water instead.
I find that cooking my beans in a pressure cooker really helps. Other people swear by a slow cooker.
While some varieties of legumes don’t agree with you, others might. Don’t assume that a bad reaction from eating one particular type of legume means you are going to have a hard time with them all. Try a number of different ones. Split mung beans (also called mung dal) are reputed to be among the easiest of all to digest. For those of you who are particularly sensitive to digestive issues from legumes - choose legumes based on your blood type. I have seen this make a difference.
If these tricks don’t cut it, you probably need some help balancing your digestive system and microbiome. In the meantime, you might find it helpful to use the digestive aid Beano.
HOW TO GET MORE LEGUMES INTO YOUR DIET
Soup, Stews, Salads and Pastas
Legumes are great in soups and stews. They are delicious added to salads and pastas. And they make great hummus and other dips. If you are finding it hard to get legumes into your diet, you might want to consider adding a pasta made with legume flour or using a chickpea flour (or other legume flour) in a few recipes - see below. You can get sprouted flours including chickpea and other legume based flours HERE.
I start with a list of some of my favourite legume based soups and stews. The first category is meat-free. In these recipes feel free to use whatever broth speaks to you most - veggie, chicken or beef. The second category is legume based soups and stews with meat.
If you want a run down on making your own broth, see my post HERE. If making your own broth feels overwhelming - do what is easiest for you. At this point I just want to get you eating more soup and eating more legumes. Enjoy winter. Enjoy soup.
RECIPES FOR LEGUME BASED SOUPS AND STEWS – No Meat
Chickpea Soup with Ginger and Turmeric
Lentil Soup with Veggies and Greens
Moroccan Chickpea and Vegetable Soup
Potato Leek Soup with White Beans
Healing Ayurvedic Kichari Soup
Lemony Greek Chickpea Soup with Kale
Minestrone – if need be you could skip the pasta, consider broth instead of water
White Spring Minestrone with leeks, snap peas, fennel and white beans
RECIPES FOR LEGUME BASED SOUPS AND STEWS with Meat
Minestrone with Ground Beef – skip the meatballs, saute the ground beef straight up
Caldo Verde - Portugese Kale and Sausage Soup
Lentil Stew with Bacon and Root Vegetables
Smoked Ham Hock, Bean and Cabbage Soup
Chicken Enchilada Soup with Beans
Hoppin John – Regular rice would be fine here and serve with some collard greens
A FEW RECIPES FOR CHICKPEAS AND SOME USING CHICKPEA FLOUR
Second Spring Foods makes an excellent sprouted chickpea flour. Sprouting the chickpeas before turning them into flour makes them more easily digested and improves nutrient uptake.
Classic Hummus with some great variations
Lemony White Bean and Artichoke Dip
Socco a traditional savoury French flatbread with onions and rosemary
Simple chickpea flatbread adaptable to a wide range of uses