|
|
Among the many things that legumes (legumes include beans, peas and lentils) do is protect the heart. Although heart disease and health have many potential causes which can interact in complex ways, increased intake of legumes, as part of a general regime of good physical health, can reduce significantly the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Regular and frequent (at least four times per week) consumption of legumes helps your heart due mainly to three things: legumes are high in soluble fibre; legumes are high in folate; you might be replacing heart-unhealthy foods in your diet. Soluble fibre has been shown to reduce levels of LDL and VLDL (low-density lipoprotein and very-low-density lipoprotein, respectively) in the blood – LDL and VLDL can clog arteries and are generally bad for the heart and for health. One cup of a given type of legumes, once cooked, contains about four grams of soluble fibre. That amount of soluble fibre is equal to about one tenth of the average recommended intake of fibre – that's impressive, but we haven't considered the insoluble fibre yet! On average, that cup of cooked legumes can yield on average about ten to fifteen grams of fibre.
Legumes' high folate content is another reason to include them in your diet. Among folate's health benefits, especially for women of child-bearing age, is the lowering of homocysteine levels in the blood (Boushey et al., 1995). Homocysteine has been positively correlated with increased risk of heart disease.
The benefits to health of regular consumption of legumes come not only from the legumes themselves but also from the fact that you might be eating legumes over the long term instead of eating foods that are not good for heart health. Having a bean burger, tofu or chili instead of foods high in saturated fats, such as red meats, over the long term can reduce significantly your risk of heart disease. Legumes are also rich in other nutrients and trace minerals, as well as providing lots of protein, so they can certainly form the basis of a great meal.
Legumes can be bought either canned or dried. Dried legumes are cheaper and, in my opinion, taste better than do canned legumes (once they're cooked, or in some cases, sprouted). Canned legumes are great if you forget to soak the dried ones before cooking or if you don't have time to wait for them to cook. However, canned legumes tend to be very high in sodium, which in excessive amounts is bad for heart health. If you used canned legumes, be sure to rinse them well after draining so that the sodium content is reduced.
For those that want to cook legumes from dried, here's a list of the soaking and cooking times for some legumes. Soaking is not necessary for some legumes but it increases all legumes' digestibility and shortens their cooking time. To soak legumes, put them in a bowl, cover by at least two inches (they will expand) with water and let soak at least eight hours. Legumes can take soaking periods of more than eight hours, but don't let them soak for more than a day. Before cooking, drain them and rinse them well. To cook, put them in a pot, cover with water by at least an inch, bring to the boil, cover and put on a low simmer. Don't add salt or any acids (such as lemon juice or vinegar) until the end of cooking, because those things slow down the cooking time. The cooking time can vary depending on the quality of the water used to cook. Beans are done when tender, underdone when al dente and overdone when mushy. Depending on the variety of legume, a given amount of dry will yield about 2 to 3 cups cooked. If you have extra cooked legumes, you can keep them in the fridge in a container with their cooking water for about a week.
Black beans (soaked): 1.5-2 hours
Black-eyed peas (unsoaked): 30 minutes – 1 hour
Broad beans a.k.a. fava beans (soaked): 30 minutes-1 hour
Chickpeas a.k.a. garbanzo beans (soaked): 2-3 hours
Red kidney beans (soaked) 1-1.5 hours
Red lentils (unsoaked): 10-15 minutes
Green or brown lentils (unsoaked): 40-45 minutes
Navy beans (soaked): 1-1.5 hours
Pinto beans (soaked): 1.5-2 hours
Yellow or green split peas (unsoaked) (cooking at medium heat): 45 min-1 hour
References
Boushey, C. J., Beresford, S. A. A., Omenn, G. S., and Motulsky, A. G. (1995) A quantitative assessment of plasma homocysteine as a risk factor for vascular-disease - probable benefits of increasing folic-acid intakes. Journal of the American Medical Association 274, 1049-1057.
