Love those legumes!

“Legumes” sounds like such a fancy word.  Let’s clarify that we’re talking about beans, folks. Beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas, it’s all good… and good for you.  Legumes are amazingly nutritious, high in protein and fiber, low in fat, and low in glycemic load. Legumes for heart health Scientific studies have definitively linked a diet high in legumes with a lower risk of developing obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, or strokes. As a matter of fact, eating legumes every day can effectively treat these diseases in people who already have them. In one randomized controlled clinical study of over 100 people with type 2 diabetes, consuming at least one cup of legumes (beans, chickpeas, or lentils) every day for three months was associated with significant decreases in body weight (2.7 kilograms, about 6 pounds); waist circumference (a 1.4 centimeter decrease); blood sugar (a 0.5% decrease in HbA1c); cholesterol (an 8-point decrease in LDL, measured in mg/dl); and blood pressure (a 4.5-point decrease in systolic and a 3.1-point decrease in diastolic blood pressures, measured in mm Hg). All of these improvements are impressive! We’re talking about beans, not medicines with all those side effects, right? Right: you can check out the entire study here. Similar findings have been reported from other studies. An analysis of eight randomized controlled clinical trials including data from over 550 participants with a wide variety of me...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Food as medicine Healthy Eating Source Type: blogs