Lentil soup must be one of the most calming comfort foods around. I was in my 40s, I think, before I ever tasted it. I wondered how I had missed out on this all my life! In fact, I don’t think I ever ate lentils till I was well into my 20s or even older.
Here’s a few reasons lentils are so good for us:
Free radical scavengers
Free radicals are unstable molecules that damage DNA, our cell membranes and other cell parts.
Our bodies are undergoing chemical reactions inside them at a pace of trillions per second.
For example, you drink some water: the H2O is 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom. These get split up by a process, and those 3 atoms have to find a partner quick smart in order to have the balanced amount of electrons in their outer shell. They will share their own electrons with their new partner to make up a total of 8 electrons.
In these high-speed games of musical chairs, often – all the time – someone misses out on their desired ‘atomic partner’, therefore has less than 8 electrons in their outer shell, and they start bouncing around, trying to link up with atoms in our own bodies to get enough electrons. They are ‘unstable atoms’ or ‘free radicals’. The damage they cause to our body is called ‘oxidation’.
Optimally, we will eat something that contains a spare electron – to share with these dangerous free radicals inside us already. Then they will calm down and go about their chemical business.
THIS IS A MAJOR REASON WHY WE HAVE TO EAT A LOT OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES!!!!
Because they are full of antioxidants – that have that spare electron to settle the free radicals and stop them from doing further damage.
If the free radicals don’t settle down quickly enough, and continue damaging the same cell in the same place inside its DNA, cell mutations can form, and this is the start `(the very, very early and still reversible start) of a cancerous tumour.
Please take note that the free radicals did not form because you were subject to radiation or smelt the petrol at the Servo (although these definitely can do that) – they form through completely natural, benign body processes, every single day.
Lentils get top marks for antioxidants, because their seed coats are loaded with them. And since you eat lots of lentils at once – with their coats ON, you get a huge lot of antioxidants!
Lentils Reduce Hunger
Slow digesting, starchy foods slow down the rate at which the stomach empties. Legumes, especially lentils, are such foods.
But it gets better!
The next meal with NO lentils in it at all, up to 4 ½ hours later, also digests slower – up to one hour slower!!
This means you feel fuller for longer with BOTH meals. A daily bean/lentil meal means you will tend to eat less over all, while not feeling hungrier at all. In time, this will lead to weight loss!
Clearly, eating lentils (or beans) at lunchtime gives you greater benefits than saving them for dinner, because dinner to breakfast is more than 4 ½ hours.
A Top Source of Soluble Fibre
Lentils are very high in fibre. In fact, only ⅓ of the calories in lentils is actually absorbed into our body, because ⅓ is soluble fibre and the other ⅓ is resistant starch (a different type of fibre), both of which pass through.
The resistant starch makes it all the way down to our large intestine and feeds the good bacteria in the colon, reducing the risk of colon cancer.
The soluble fibre grabs onto fats (both in the meal it is with, and cholesterol cleared by the liver in the bile via the gall bladder). The soluble fibre forms an unbreakable chemical bond with these fats, denying them the ability to reabsorb down at the end of the small intestine, the duodenum. In this way the fats are carried OUT of the body. Logically, this causes cholesterol to plummet in a very short time, like weeks.
As a result, eating lentils daily is one of the best ways to lower cholesterol AND lose body fat.
Supplements or Lentils? What’s best?
It is customary today to isolate and sell functional components of foods. But the extracted ingredients may not produce the same effects when delivered outside of a whole food.
I have described the role of lentils in lowering the risk of cancers – the mechanisms used to accomplish these risk reductions. I have also described just how lentil-eating can lower cholesterol (improving arterial and heart health) and cause weight loss.
But is taking a fibre supplement, like Metamucil, or a pill full of antioxidants such as Vitamin C, A, E or selenium, the same as eating a bowl of lentil soup? Which will work better?
Experiments have shown those whole lentils IN A MEAL “improved inflammatory responses that could not be explained by either the fibre or the antioxidant fractions alone.”
Whole plant foods are more than the sum of their parts because the parts work synergistically. They are much more powerful.
This is why people in Blue Zones of the world (where people live the longest, healthiest lives) all have been found to eat legumes every single day. They don’t need vitamins because they eat lentils and beans. (And do other healthy things also). You can read about them <here>. (You can also find out here how to do a Blue Zones project in your own home, to benefit your whole family! This is my most favourite post ever.)
Application
If you’ve read my posts, you will see I eat a vegan diet; a diet that completely leaves out meat and dairy products.
A person can, however, be healthy while continuing to eat both meat and dairy, shown in both science and practice. See how below:
A big reason I omit them, however, is that once you add meat or dairy to a meal, that adds a lot of calories – then you will be unlikely to WANT to eat things like lentils. This is because our stomachs measure calories (energy amounts in foods) roughly as we eat, sending a message to the brain that we need more calories (energy) or less. We have receptors in our stomachs that do just that.
People who eat meat and dairy (eg. cheese) at most meals tend to find themselves saying “I’m full” before they finish or even start their vegetables, and especially the more bland tasting lentils. They feel good to be stopping early.
But look at the benefits that will be missed. Like filling your car with rich but low-quality fuel, and having no room left for the stuff that will really keep your car in top shape.
Since I learned these things that vegetables, and especially lentils, do, I determined to prioritise these foods. Every single day.
This is exactly what Blue Zones people do – then they add a little dairy as a condiment to a meal (eg – sprinkle of feta cheese, or splash of yoghurt), or a serve of meat once a week or so. That’s how you get the benefits of fibre and antioxidants every day that keep you in great health.
Lentils taste great!
Here’s one of my favourite lentil recipes. It’s a winner.
1. Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan.
2. Add 1 chopped onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 Tbsp grated ginger, 1 Tbsp curry powder (less if you don’t like ‘heat’), 1 tsp ground turmeric, ½ tsp harissa or ground chilli.
3. A minute later, add 3 diced medium potatoes, 2 sliced carrots, 200g red or yellow lentils, then 1L (4 cups) vegetable stock (low salt is good).
4. Stir & let boil for 30 mins. Taste and adjust spices, adding salt if needed.
5. Add 2-3 diced tomatoes. Boil 5-10 more mins till lentils have dissolved.
6. Can serve with rice or roti; I often throw in some spinach leaves too, and coriander leaves.
How can something so good for you taste so terrific? All your meat-eating friends will want seconds too.
Enjoy!
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