Beans and Legumes

Beans and legumes are extremely important part of any diet, these are packed with nutrition very less numbers of foods can provide also the amount oc calories and nutrition available through beans, legumes and lentils, is with few fats. Unlike other foods beans and legumes contain very less calories but are rich in nutrients like proteins, calcium, fiber, vitamins and potassium are just some of these.

Beans, legumes and lentils are available fresh as well as packed, these are ideal to cook in a very short time and can make a very nutritious snack, within minutes. Almost all vegetarian diets of the world have beans, lentils and legumes as a staple. These are used to make curries, used as add-ons (especially beans), baked beans are generally well known.

Soluble fibers in these foods make these quite easy to digest. If you want to make especially tasty meal made up on beans, lentils or legumes, the best way would be to cook it and then use a sauté of onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric and spices like black pepper, cumin seeds, etc. with salt to taste, you can also use chili, if you are fond of highly spicy food. Beans are known to be flatulence, use of spices in cooking will reduce flatulency and you will be able to enjoy tasty, aromatic food.

There are several health advantages linked with beans, legumes and lentils, these help in prevention of prostate cancer because of the soluble fiber in beans, legumes and lentils. These foods are also high protein foods, for people who have vegetarian diet, these foods are the best, and complete daily requirement of protein without too much of fat.

Most of the Asian countries use beans, lentils and legumes, almost in every meal, therefore, benefits from these foods have been taken by people of these countries since a long time. These were relatively unknown to the west and the benefits are now being found by scientists and this food is being promoted.

Peas are just another form of beans, lentils and legumes, these too are packed with lot of nutrition and low calories, all these foods can be stored in dried form for more than a year, it all depends on how good the storage conditions are. Fresh form of these foods can be stored in vacuum packets in freezer these will remain good for almost 2 months.

Dried beans, legumes and lentils are being used in Asian countries, scientific study has suggested that nutrition from these dried foods is not lost even though these have been stored for a long period of time.

Kidney beans are extremely useful as a bulk dietary ingredient all over the world. Kidney beans may be found in recipes spread as far as from Asia to North America. The term kidney beans may be used for different varieties of beans that are of the same family. In general, the term ‘kidney beans’ refers to the beans that are dark red or brown in color. These beans are, obviously, shaped like the kidney organs in the human body.

Kidney beans are interesting in that they have found favor in many different cuisines. One may find dishes based on kidney beans in European cuisine, Indian cuisine and Mexican cuisine. One of the reasons behind this is that kidney beans tend to absorb the flavor of their surrounding ingredients well. In some cases, kidney beans will first be soaked for hours before they are cooked. This opens up the bean and makes it much easier for flavors to penetrate it. Kidney beans also have their own distinctive flavor which adds to the culinary experience. Kidney beans may also be consumed in salads as well. In this case, they will need to be lightly cooked. One may also purchase canned kidney beans rather than fresh kidney beans if the need arises.

From a nutrition point of view, kidney beans are absolutely fabulous. The list of nutrients found in kidney beans is virtually endless. A cup serving of kidney beans supplies the individual’s body with protein, dietary fiber, folate, molybdenum, manganese, iron, phosphorous, copper, magnesium and potassium. All of these nutrients are present in quantities above 20% of the recommended daily intake based on a cup size serving. Kidney beans can therefore form the bulk of an individual’s diet on any particular day. For other days, one can vary the diet to suit the palate as well as to supply the body with plenty of different nutrients.

Kidney beans calories tend to be on the higher side. Even so, this should not detract from the consumption of these beans. A cup sized serving of kidney beans will supply the individual with around 200 to 230 calories. This relatively high level of kidney beans calories means that a cup sized serving may provide the individual with more than 10% of his or her daily calorie requirement. This supply is just from the kidney beans calories itself; it does not include other ingredients that the beans may be prepared with.

Kidney beans are often known as red kidney beans. This is because there are other varieties of kidney beans, some of which may be light brown or nearly white in color. Raw kidney beans need to be soaked before they can be prepared as this loosens the skin of the bean and allows it to cook more effectively. There are countless kidney beans recipes across food genres that an individual can choose from if he or she wishes to prepare a dish that features kidney beans. It should be noted that excessive consumption of kidney beans will cause bloating and gas.

Submitted on January 16, 2014