Weight Loss and Health Tips: Powerful Legumes

We live in a society where eating has become more of a pleasure than real need. Maintaining a healthy body weight has become a problematic task. When starting out a diet, the first thing we should take care is our nutrition. If we fix this, everything will fall into place sooner or later.

In this weight loss and health tips, I will speak about a very nutritional food;the legumes. Legumes are seeds, or pods of leguminous plants. They are known since antiquity, and are among the most nutritious natural foods. There are currently 600 types of legumes, and 13, 000 varieties. Some of the most popular are: soy beans, black beans, kidney beans, lentils, chick peas, black eye beans, red beans, peas. Legumes are low in calories, have 0 cholesterol, and are very inexpensive, making them an ideal part of a healthy diet.

All legumes are rich in essential nutrients including; protein, fiber, fatty acids, antioxidants, iron, potassium, b vitamins, folic acid. They are good substitutes to animal protein. Soya beans are the legumes with the most protein. Thanks to the protein, legumes can help repair cells from free radical damage, build muscle, burn fat, and assist digestion in the body.

A meal with legumes will fill you fast, and for longer without the insulin levels go up, because they contain a lot of fibre. According to recent studies, people who consume often legumes have low risk to develop a heart disease, and colon cancer. Other studies have shown that legumes have strong anti-aging elements.

You can buy them raw, frozen, or in cans. Preparation and cooking methods vary, but usual cooking time is between 30 to 60 minutes. Some of them, you might need to soak them into the water for a few hours before cooking. If you choose to eat them straight from the can, rinse them once to get rid of the extra sodium. You can make many different meals all nutritious and delicious; salads, dips, soups, and stews.

Legumes have a bad reputation because of the gasses they produce, the reason for that, maybe is the lack of enzymes in the digestive system, to avoid these problems, start introducing them into your diet slowly, and in moderate portions, or pick a legume that is not as gas producing as others, i. e black eye beans;and don't forget to drink lots of water.

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