What are lentils?

Lentils are part of the legume or pulse family. Legumes are the dried seeds of legume plants which include:

Lentils: yellow, red, green, French, and Puy

Beans: Adkuki, black beans, borlotti, cannellini, edamame, fava, lima, mung, navy, pinto, kid kidney, and soybeans

Peas: blackeyed peas, blue (green peas), dun, maple, and white.

Chickpeas, Lupins, and Peanuts

Legume Nutrition

Protein: Amino acids are the building blocks of every cell in the human body. Pretty much Lego of the human body.

Dietary fibre: Soluble and insoluble fibre for happy bowels and good poos.

Resistant starch: Gut bacteria’s favourite food!

Carbohydrates: Providing our body with the energy it needs to complete all of the processes that keep us alive. You know that important stuff like pumping our blood, breathing, using our brain, and digesting our food.

Vitamins: Thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and folate for normal energy production, psychological function, and reducing tiredness and fatigue.

Minerals: Calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, selenium, and phosphorus for normal metabolic processes, blood, skin and bone health.

Phytonutrients: Isoflavones, saponins, phenolic acids, flavanols, flavones, and lignans are antioxidants that protect cells from free radical damage.

Legume Health Benefits

• Eating legumes helps to increase the amount of calcium your body absorbs from food.

• Legume consumption helps to relieve constipation.

• Legumes may be protective against cancers of the bowel, breast, lung, and prostate.

• Daily legume consumption helps to reduce bad cholesterol, increase good cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and keep blood sugar levels healthy.

• Daily legume consumption reduces fasting blood glucose and insulin levels and long-term consumption helps to improve HbA1c and reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

• Legumes for longevity! For every 20g increase in daily legume consumption, there is a 7-8% reduction in risk of death.

Why are lentils good for gut health?

Lentils contain the short-chain carbohydrate galacto-oligosaccharide (GOS). GOS is malabsorbed and fermented by all humans. We lack the enzyme alpha-galactosidase that is needed to break the short chain into simple absorbable sugar units. For carbohydrates to be absorbed in the small intestine they must be broken down into monosaccharides (single sugar units) glucose, fructose, and galactose. When carbohydrates cannot be broken down into single sugar units the only place they can go is to the large intestine. Once in the large intestine, GOS is rapidly fermented by gut bacteria. The process of fermentation promotes the growth of beneficial groups of bacteria, namely Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli, which use GOS as food for fermentation. The process of fermentation results in gas production and the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). SCFAs including acetate, propionate, and butyrate have beneficial physiological health effects for us the host.

If you look after your gut bacteria they will look after you!

If you have ever made beer, sourdough, kombucha, or kefir you would recall that the bacteria or yeast need a carbohydrate (sugar) to feed on and the right temperature for fermentation to occur. Once the required level of fermentation has occurred, no further sugar is added and the product is refrigerated to stop the fermentation process. If you leave something to ferment for too long the bacteria and/or yeast consume all of the sugar and the product spoils.

Yeast + grains (glucose) —> Fermentation = Ethanol + carbon dioxide = Beer

Water + flour (glucose) —> spontaneous fermentation (Lactic acid bacteria) = Sourdough

Tea + sugar (sucrose) + scoby (bacteria + yeast) —> fermentation = Kombucha

Milk (lactose) + kefir grains (bacteria + yeast) —> fermentation = Kefir

Just because a product is fermented doesn’t mean that it provides health benefits. Beer is a great example of this, yes it is fermented, and no it does not provide health benefits. Unfortunately, there is a lot of nutrition nonsense and marketing out there promising you the world in exchange for your hard-earned money. Let’s take kombucha for example. There are products being advertised and sold as sugar-free and shelf-stable. How can these possibly be authentic? If you leave kombucha at room temperature for too long, the bacteria and yeast consume all of the sugar and it turns into vinegar. Not to mention that the process of fermentation produces gases and gases in closed containers equal explosions! If there is no sugar, the products are at room temperature and we don’t have bottles of kombucha flying off the shelves. How can there possibly be live microorganisms in there?

Chana Dahl Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chana dal

• 1 brown onion, diced

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 tsp garam masala

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 2 tsp turmeric

• 1 stock cube

• 1 tin tomatoes

• Thumb size piece of ginger, minced

• Extra virgin olive oil

To serve

• Pappadam

• Rice

• Greek yoghurt

• Coriander, finely chopped

Method:

1. Place chana lentils in a medium saucepan filled with around 3-4 cups of cold water. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook lentils for 45 mins to 1 hour or until you can squish one and no longer feel any hard bits. Remove any froth and discard. Drain and set aside. If you are organised, you can soak lentils in water for 60 mins or so, (drain and rinse) to reduce the cooking time.

2. In a large saucepan, drizzle in a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and place on medium heat. Add onion and sauté until softened, add garlic and cumin seeds and cook until fragrant. Add the rest of the spices, ginger, tomatoes, and stock cube.

3. Add the cooked lentils to the spice mix, and add enough boiling water to thin the dahl mixture to the consistency of your preference. Simmer for a few minutes to heat through, season to taste.

4. Serve with rice, pappadams, Greek yoghurt, and coriander.

5. I often cook my pappadams in the microwave after coating them with extra virgin olive oil. They’re not exactly the same as when you deep fry them but they’re pretty good. Much easier when cooking for one or two people and none of the hassles or dangers that come with hot oil.