Lentil Protein and its legendary nutritional value

Lentil protein is not just for those whom the carnivores amongst us find very strange; how can you possibly not enjoy a burger? Some would say very easily and, if it came from a fast food restaurant, I would agree. Vegan food is for everybody, to go with your steak perhaps. French fries keep for high and holy days; they have an extremely high glycemic index; read, they are very fattening.

This page is about a rich, easy to cook, inexpensive meal. Legumes form probably the cheapest protein you can buy.

What I love about lentils is that they are so simple to prepare. They are small and absorbent enough so that, unlike most other pulses, they do not have to be soaked, yet you still should do so to remove the anti-nutrients like phytic acid that inhibits the absorption of minerals. 

If you are desperate, just throw a handful in when you are cooking brown rice; into all your stews too, and even meat dishes. It is delicious; what could be easier? Better still, toss a cup of lentils into a bowl of water before leaving for work, and rinse them several times on your return before cooking.

Pulses incidentally are all the legumes that grow in a pod, like peas and beans and lentils, of course.

Don't eat white rice; by removing the bran and germ, millers have turned it into 'tired all the time' junk food, with an extremely high glycemic index. It's very fattening. In Indonesia it's known as beri-beri rice; a serious disease caused by the removal of the germ from rice.

Legumes are a group of healthy foods which are high in vegetable amino acids. They include beans, peas, garbanzos and lentils. At 26 percent they are a rich source for vegetarians. But why should only they enjoy the fun? Legumes are for all.

Beans get notoriously bad press but cooked right, after soaking, they are delicious and an important part of the diet. Out of a can you have no idea whether they were soaked and rinsed to remove the phytates and lectins.

This page was last updated by Dr Barrie Lewis on 6th April, 2021.

These days, because of our dread of falling into the hands of modern medicine, we take it the next step and have started sprouting our dried legumes before cooking them. It is not a lot of time, but some aforethought; how to cook chickpeas, for example, means starting to prepare them five days ahead, and then freezing them ready for cooking. Some also recommend going the next step and fermenting them; we are not there yet.

Lentil Protein

Lentils come in a rich variety of hues; yellow to red, green and brown, and even black too. As a general rule, remember that coloured foods are loaded with anti oxidants, so mix and match your legumes too.

They are rich in fibre, vitamins and minerals; personally I am less fond of those that are earthy in colour .

It grows on a small bush, but you will probably never see them in a field. Quite soon our kids won’t even know that milk comes from a cow.

Generally Western society eats too much animal protein which is associated with a host of diseases, including breast cancer. However, vegetable sources are much safer, and legumes make up the best; lentils, peas and and many varieties of beans.

And there there are garbanzos, also known as gram, chana or chickpeas in many parts of the world; they are also a pulse, growing in a pod. 

There are a variety of weight loss fads associated with high protein powders and foods. Avoid them at all costs. In general, all of these dietary fads are ineffective in the long run. Do you want to lose weight permanently? Rather just think about eating more salad and fruit, more legumes, cutting out all the refined carbohydrate like white rice, exercise more, and stop fussing about your weight. Slowly but surely and, what's more important, healthily, it will come off; do it.

I have to say that the Banting diet does have some merit; you do not constantly feel hungry and healthy fats are not the great enemy. However they are obsessed with having close to zero starches, attempting to bring you near to ketosis; they may be important if you are diabetic or insulin resistant but, for the rest of us who want to shed a few pounds the healthy carbohydrates like lentil protein, peas and butternut should not be frowned upon because of their very low glycemic index; they are not fattening; it is the refined carbohydrates in the main that make us fat.

• Modified Banting diet ...
  

Cholesterol

Another proven benefit of legumes is their ability to block the absorption of cholesterol in the gut. Just half a cup of cooked beans, soaked first remember, a handful of lentils, and my next favourite will keep our tums happy. The polysaccarides in the fibre feed the billions of hungry bugs, known as the microbiome, in our colons.

Chickpea garbanzo bean dip

Chickpea garbanzo bean dip is a first cousin to lentil protein; both are legumes, loosely included in vegetables high in protein.

Chickpeas too are a legume, and can be used to make a scrumptious dip called called Hummus or Choumi. The downside is that they must be soaked overnight. Once cooked though, you can freeze them, and then in a flash you can make your

• Choumi, hummus, aka as Chickpea Garbanzo bean Dip.
  
  

These days we have many clever (actually, too clever for our good) food companies selling us foods enriched with this or that. High bran, sterol fortified, vitamin D enriched ... all at ten times the price. Just eat whole wheat bread, rolled oats, apples, pulses for your lentil protein ... just as the good Lord intended ... and take a walk in the sun and eat more salmon for your vitamin D and omega-3.

When you've read about these walking benefits you'll make the time.

• SMOKED SALMON DIP RECIPE ... rich in vitamin D, omega 3 AND tastes divine!
  
• Quick hummus

Growing Chickpeas 

If you have a passion for gardening, and like to try different things, consider planting some chickpeas this spring. Mine are just coming into flower in the southern summer and the first pods are forming. However they grow best in a hot, dry Mediterranean climate like you get in California and Cape Town.

They are a lot of work, but it's the only way to enjoy them green.

Replacing, or at least supplementing, animal protein with a vegetable source has enormous health benefits, not least of which is vegan weight loss. I'm not a vegetarian, but I eat hummus every day.

The best way to lose weight to cut out carbs and increase your vegetable protein; then you won't be ravenous. Actually more important than cutting our carbohydrate, is to look to the glycemic index of your starches. Apples are high in carbohydrate but they have a low glycemic factor; they don't initiate an insulin rush. That's the fat storage hormone.

Increasing your animal protein is not advisable. There are too many health risks associated with a high red meat diet.

Vegan weight loss

Why on earth is a chiropractor so passionate about things like hummus and lentil protein and vegan weight loss?

Simple. The high animal protein in our Western diets has been strongly associated with breast cancer and a host of diseases. I've lost so many patients over the years... such a waste. Let's eat more vegetable protein, and that means legumes. In any case, calories in hummus need be no concern and cooking green beans is so easy and delicious. Included in the above link are some instructions are growing pole beans. Dead easy, just three or four beans will keep you in legumes...

The other reason is that statins, the drugs used to lower cholesterol have nasty side-effects for many people. Aching legs... loss of libido, sex drive, rather think lentil protein, hummus, green beans, dried beans... so easy. It's all about keeping away from drugs and wanting to reach a happy, healthy eighty with all your marbles intact! That's what you want, too, right?

VEGAN WEIGHT LOSS is something to be considered if you are obese but unless you are philosophically strong on this way of life, like all other diets it's probably not sustainable; however you can pick up some tips from it; I take the benefits of healthy vegan living, but add to it all the time; I couldn't possibly go without the raw honey from our bees and free range eggs from the hens.

Healthy living tips

Our healthy living tips page is one of the most important at Chiropractic Help; without a healthy substrate muscle and joint conditions will not heal well. Lentil protein is just one other way to wean ourselves off too much red meat, a 'probable' cause of cancer according to the WHO.

Andre Agassi, the greatest tennis player of all time, found that lentil soup gave him staying power for three hours. Good enough for the maestro is good enough for me. Plus it tastes just good!

As a variation, we add green beans, another protein-rich legume. Westerners eat far too much red-meat protein; it's known to increase the risk of cancer of the breast and prostate especially. Regularly add lentil protein and other pulses too to your diet; it's probably the single most important healthy living tip that I have to offer. Like this GREEN BEAN AND LENTIL SOUP.

Breast cancer and prevention and a passion for the care of Prostate gland health must surely rank highly in our lives; they cause so much misery to so many, and mostly it's highly preventable.

If growing and cooking green beans is high on your priorities, then save bean seeds should be too. Because if you love to garden then growing green beans is amazingly easy. Just pop a few bush bean seeds around between your annuals, or encourage a couple pole beans to climb up any available trellis. Really, so simple.

• OPEN Andre Agassi ... a stunning book.

Gigantes butter beans recipe

There are a 101 legume and lentil protein recipes. This Greek giant butter bean (actually just a dried lima bean) is very delic, quick and easy once you've soaked the beans. Butter beans like lentils have the advantage of not requiring a long cooking time as many beans and chickpeas do.

• GIGANTES BUTTER BEANS RECIPE ...
  

Personally I prefer my green lima beans straight from the garden; we had them last night. They are less starchy, but you'll rarely find them at your green grocer or supermarket. They are only for the larger garden; they have a long growing season but go on producing for over a month. Enjoying a wide variety of foods is our motto. This gigantes butter beans recipe is just one aspect of a vegetable high in protein.

Lentil protein is all about reducing our need to eat red meat, dairy products and other high cholesterol foods, three times a day for our protein. Having to take nasty statin drugs for raised cholesterol is too high a price for our desire for animal protein three times a day.

Believe it not, I'm not a vegetarian. I love red meat, eggs and cheese, but by increasing my lentil protein I'm able to enjoy them without guilt. My total cholesterol is 'dangerously low'! consequently, the blessing of a balanced diet.

• Foods that lower cholesterol ...
  

There are some concerns that legumes and bran are high in phytates that bind minerals. Soaked and cooked reduces this worry, and there is no research confirming that vegetarians are more likely to be anaemic or osteoporotic because of a diet high in legumes.

Bran we do not recommend at all; there are far healthier ways to reduce cholesterol, by enjoying foods that lower cholesterol. If you are concerned read the page entitled are phytates bad?

Making a compost pile or heap

If you want to go organic, then making a compost pile is a must. Actually such fun, just look at mine... all that exercise, out in the fresh air, sunshine for vitamin D. Turn off the TV and get out in the garden this summer! With a hat, don't forget the threat of melanoma. Your friendly chiropractor's advice is to first do some lower back exercises. Gardening like football, squash racquets and all sports require proper stretching and warm up before starting. 

A compost heap does look untidy, but it has zero smell if it is properly made; it must be aerobic and no cooked vegetable matter from the kitchen.

Actually, we now do this differently. Our pile started attracting rats so all the waste from the kitchen first goes into the worm farm, and from there to the compost heap; the vermin have gone elsewhere in search of food.

MAKING A COMPOST PILE is not rocket science but they are a little untidy if you want a prim and proper garden; the wonder of worm farms should be considered by every greenie.

What or who is a greenie you may be wondering; someone who does not like doctors and pills and wants to be healthy, and has a serious desire to leave the planet in a pristine condition for their children's children. The green journey will tell you more.