Hello dear nutrition-conscious person!
After the war, legumes were a cheap but nutritious staple diet. Therefore, they were called "poor people food". Today, they are known to provide abundant proteins, minerals and phytochemicals, making them a valuable component of our diet.
They make you feel full for a long time, are low in fat and low in calories but contain more micronutrients, so they are particularly suitable for weight loss.
There are about 12 000 species of legumes that are very important in nutrition worldwide. Legumes have always been credited with healing effects.
The high fiber content can have a positive effect on defecation. Cholesterol and toxins are absorbed by the fibers and eliminated more quickly.
When shopping, make sure that the skin of the legumes is smooth and shiny. Circular holes and dark spots indicate worm infestation! In addition, they must not smell musty when unpacked, but they should have their own spicy, smelling of dried grass scent. Legumes are absolutely dry, airy, cool and dark to store. Make sure you buy this product in tightly sealed cans or screw jars.
Use in traditional Chinese medicine:
Legumes have the largest organ reference to the kidneys. They are considered as essence food. (In the kidneys is the source energy - what makes us human, the energy that gives us life). Beans and lentils tonify this essence, that is, they increase the kidneys energy.
They are classified as refreshing to cool and their taste ranges from sweet to salty. And they have a diuretic effect, which means they accelerate urinary excretion via the kidneys.
Tips:
Wash dried fruits in a colander, put them in a bowl of water, then the broken beans will float upwards.
Chickpeas, white beans, soybeans and unpeeled peas should be soaked overnight. Lentils also need no soaking time without being peeled.
After swelling, the water is discarded, the legumes are rinsed with fresh water (there are different opinions and recommendations.) From a nutritional point of view, it is better to rinse the beans first and then cook them in the soaking water, so that no valuable nutrients are lost. However, legumes contain phytic acid which needs to be neutralized, so I recommend cooking the beans in fresh water. (I have already mentioned phytic acid in one of my previous posts, but I'll write a short note about it here, too) This is especially true of the lima beans. These contain the toxic hydrocyanic acid, which is released by the swelling process.
- Pulses are only salted when they are firm. If we salt them first, they will stay hard.
- No soda should be added to legumes during cooking. It would destroy the B vitamins!
- When cooking, add savory, ginger, chili to avoid bloating.
- With vinegar, lemon juice and sufficient salt legumes are easier to digest.
- Chew legumes slowly and especially well!
- It is also important that pulses are always really cooked. Half raw they puff even more!
The defoliant spices include: savory, anise, fennel, cumin, coriander, marjoram, lovage, thyme, rosemary, mustard seed, etc.
Cooking time:
Beans for up to 90 minutes
Chickpeas up to 90 minutes
Lenses up to 60 minutes; Red lentils about 20 minutes, beluga lentils 20-25 minutes
Phytic acid.
When it comes to nutrition and health, we are inclined to see a lot of black and white. Some foods are considered good and eat or drink a lot. Other foods are labeled as bad (eg foods with cholesterol, phytic acid, free radicals, nitrate, omega-6 fatty acids, anti-nutrients such as oxalic acid, tannins, saponins, etc.). Just as every person has beautiful and less beautiful sides, every food has its good and bad qualities. However good the call may be.
In spite of everything, we need all the unhealthy substances found in natural, unprocessed products to work. Only when we consume too much of these substances will they have a negative impact.
Without a certain amount of free radicals, infections would be free. For example, a little nitrate keeps blood pressure at a healthy level. And we also need a small amount of phytic acid to bind toxic substances. To a certain extent, phytic acid protects us as the environment contains more and more toxic and polluting substances.
A short explanation about nuts, cereals and phytic acid: If you eat a lot of foods with phytic acid, it is best to remove most of the acid from these foods before eating.
As for legumes, you also may need to get your body used to eating them first. So, eat smaller portions regularly so that not to overload your body right from the start.
Depending on the metabolic type you should either combine pulses with protein, or eat without animal protein!