Eating This Very Filling Food Daily Could Lower Blood Sugar, Cholesterol, and Inflammation. Here’s How To Make It Delicious
by The Candidly Team
Isn’t it a thrill to find out that a food we actually like is exceptionally good for us?
Well, we have one for you today that we deeply enjoy, and if you don’t enjoy it, we firmly believe it’s because you haven’t tried it in any of the ways that make it absolutely, foolproof-ly delicious.
Ok, here’s what it is:
Lentils.
Underwhelmed? Let’s try that again … it’s LENTILS!!!!!!!
Lentils can be meaty and satiating and slimming and made into 1,002 comfort foods that don’t taste like they have anything to do with health. And yet, eating lentils has been linked with many disease-fighting capabilities, including diabetes, heart disease, and cancers.
So starting from a health, perspective, here’s why we’re all in for this legume:
1) Keeping up heart health
Lentils have been shown to cut cholesterol levels and help bring down blood pressure.
2) Managing blood sugar
Lentils have a low glycemic index, which means they could actually help regulate your blood sugar. There was even a study showing that replacing rice or potatoes or rice with pulses like lentils can bring down blood glucose levels by more than 20 percent.
3) Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant powers
Lentils are full of polyphenols, which may be anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
4) Improving healthy digestion
All that fiber, my friends. All that fiber.
What exactly is in lentils that make them so magical?
For starters, there is so much fiber and protein in lentils that you are actually able to feel full and satisified after eating them. This is huge, because the main struggle we have (especially as 40+ women with haywire hormone signals) is keeping up our health goals without feeling genuine hunger all the time.
Lentils are also a low GI food, meaning they create a slower, more gradual rise in your blood sugar, so that fulness you feel actually lasts. Lentils also boost your energy and and help stave off sugar cravings.
A single cup has about 230 calories, 17 grams of protein, 15 grams of fiber, and 37% of your daily iron value. But here’s a handy little highlight reel of its nutritional value:
Protein: Helps with appetite and weight loss, increases muscle mass, supports bone and heart healt. Lentils are 25% percent protein, which takes a long time to digest, which keeps you full for longer, making them an excellent meat substitute.
Fiber: Helps your body absorb nutrients, clean out your digestive system, boost metabolism, and balance blood sugar
Iron: Boosts energy, supports immunity and brain health, keeps hair healthy
Magnesium: Forms and repairs DNA, maintains bone health, regulates muscle and nerve function, blood sugar levels, blood pressure
Potassium: Promotes heart and bone health. A cup of lentils has about 1.5x more potassium than a banana.
Ok, so now for the big questions. How do I eat more of them?
There are several main types of lentils. We find this breakdown from a chef helpful in choosing which to use for what:
Preparing lentils from scratch is incredibly easy, and according to the Cleveland Clinic, they keep for about a week in the fridge in a sealed container or longer in the freezer. You just have to rinse them and remove any that look bad - no need to soak overnight which makes people dread making many beans and legumes from scratch.
You can also buy them canned or precooked at most grocery stores. Trader Joe’s has delicious pre-cooked lentils in the world.
But here’s a visual of how truly easy it is to make them from scratch. Keep in mind you can use water or broth as your liquid.
Once you have cooked lentils lying around, you can very easily dump them by the spoonful into soups, salads, and sauces for extra texture and that density we require to not reach for the Wheat Thins at 4pm.
But here are the 3 ways we love them most that have become literal meat substitutes in our homes:
The Meatball: All you do is throw a couple cups of lentils in a food processor with a handful of walnuts, an egg, a half cup of your fav tomato sauce (we like THIS one), and some grated parm. Fresh basil is a major bonus. If you don’t have a food processor, you can honestly just mash everything together with a wooden spoon. Just trust the process.
Once it’s pulsed together to where the texture is still a little chunky, mix in any kind of breadcrumbs and dried oregano with a spoon.
Roll them into balls and bake at 400 for about half an hour, and you will have an incredibly rich, flavorful “meatball” that complements whatever version of pasta you like. We use THIS one when we want something fiber-rich and low-cal and THIS one when we want something that feels like we were just dropped off in Sicily.
The Bolognese: You could serve this over pasta or potatoes or just dig in by the spoonful, it’s that addictive. From scratch, you do the usual small chopping of the carrots and the onions which you grill til nice and soft then add a couple cups of finely chopped (or Cuisinarted) mushrooms - handful of crushed walnuts optional. Cook everything with a couple splashes of white (not red) wine, oregano, and a dash of cumin for meatiness. Add a couple glugs of THIS tomato purée and a couple cups of green or brown lentils and poof, you have just made a bolognese you will not be able to stop eating.
Sidenote: If you have no time to cook, you can most definitely just add lentils to your fav canned pasta sauce. It will still be good. Just not as good.
The Taco Filling: The way to give it the ground meat texture is once again to add mushrooms (and those always optional crushed walnuts). All you do is grill any size of chopped mushrooms in a pan with cumin, paprika, oregano, chili powder and garlic powder. Once they’re nice and caramelized add a splash of veggie broth (there is no debate that THIS one is the tastiest) and add your lentils. In all of 6 minutes you’ll have a meatless taco filling to add to whatever your personal taco bar consists of.
And there you have it. We swear these are not just flavorless food swaps with weird textures, and they’re all almost impossible to mess up. Hence us barely even bothering to give quantities.
If you try one and we’ve steered you wrong, you can even yell at us HERE. But you’ll still have done something glorious for your health. And for that, your body will thank you.
This article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be used in place of professional advice, medical treatment, or professional care in any way. This article is not intended to be and should not be a substitute for professional care, advice or treatment. Please consult with your physician or healthcare provider before changing any health regimen. This article is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent disease of any kind. Read our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
