{"id":8781,"date":"2020-10-28T05:16:20","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T09:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eatrightpa.org\/?p=8781"},"modified":"2021-10-30T03:37:20","modified_gmt":"2021-10-30T03:37:20","slug":"lentils-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/28\/lentils-101\/","title":{"rendered":"Lentils 101"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By: Melissa Altman-Traub MS, RDN, LDN<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8782\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.eatrightpa.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/title-lentils-300x200.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Lentils have been used in many cultures of the Middle East and India for thousands of years<sup>1<\/sup>. They are what is called a pulse, which is a dried legume seed. Lentils are nutrtious and are a terrific addition to a healthy eating pattern. They are one of the few legumes which don\u2019t need to be soaked before cooking, which makes them very convenient for cooking on busy nights.<\/p>\n<h2>Cooking Tips<\/h2>\n<p>You can buy lentils dried in bags or canned, and I recommend the dried form. If you have canned ones, rinse first to remove some of the sodium. Dried beans are very easy to cook.<\/p>\n<p>Check over dried lentils carefully for any debris or soil. Then rinse them well.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For green or brown lentils, simmer in a pot of water for about 20 minutes and rinse. Yellow and red lentils needs only about 10 \u2013 15 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Brown or green lentils hold their shape when cooked. Yellow and red lentils don\u2019t and become quite mushy: which is a plus in dal, soups and curries. They are used to hold together the stuffing in this stuffed zucchini recipe: <a href=\"https:\/\/melissatraub.com\/lentil-and-walnut-stuffed-zucchini-cups\/\">Stuffed zucchini cups with lentils and walnuts<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Nutrition in Lentils<\/h2>\n<p>A half cup of cooked lentils contain 11 grams of protein! They have 5 grams of fiber, which is 18% of the Daily Value, and 3 mg. or 15% of the Daily Value for iron. They are also high in folate and potassium. Lentils are a heart healthy choice as they contain no fat, cholesterol or sodium<sup>2<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8783\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.eatrightpa.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/lentils-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Suggested Uses for Lentils<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Brown and green lentils are a delicious replacement for meat in recipes.<\/li>\n<li>Cook with onions, garlic, and diced tomatoes and serve with whole grain pasta<\/li>\n<li>Combine with peppers, scallions, cumin, and chili powder as a filling for tacos or tortillas<\/li>\n<li>Use in chili with or instead of beans<\/li>\n<li>Try a lentil, vegetable, and avocado burrito for a filling meal<\/li>\n<li>Make a soup with vegetable broth, lentils, corn, zucchini, onions, and cilantro.<\/li>\n<li>Try lentil cakes or fritters<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Lentils are an easy, nutritious, and economical food. They are part of a plant-based diet, which has been found in research to decrease the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity<sup>3.\u00a0<\/sup>You can find recipe for lentils and other pulses like chickpeas and beans from <a href=\"https:\/\/pulses.org\/us\/pulse-recipes\/\">pulses.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>References<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Lentils, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hsph.harvard.edu\/nutritionsource\/food-features\/lentils\/\">https:\/\/www.hsph.harvard.edu\/nutritionsource\/food-features\/lentils\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Health and Nutrition. Lentils.org. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lentils.org\/health-nutrition\/\">https:\/\/www.lentils.org\/health-nutrition\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 How does Plant-Forward (Plant-Based) Eating Benefit your Health? American Heart Association <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart.org\/en\/healthy-living\/healthy-eating\/eat-smart\/nutrition-basics\/how-does-plant-forward-eating-benefit-your-health\">https:\/\/www.heart.org\/en\/healthy-living\/healthy-eating\/eat-smart\/nutrition-basics\/how-does-plant-forward-eating-benefit-your-health<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8825\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.eatrightpa.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/melissa-eat-right-271x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Melissa Altman-Traub MS, RDN, LDN is a nutrition professor, freelance writer, and recipe developer and blogs at:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/melissatraubrd.com\/\">https:\/melissatraubrd.com\u00a0<\/a>You can follow her on Instagram at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/melissatraubrd\/\">melissatraubrd.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Melissa Altman-Traub MS, RDN, LDN Lentils have been used in many cultures of the Middle East and India for thousands of years1. They are what is called a pulse, which is a dried legume seed. Lentils are nutrtious and are a terrific addition to a healthy eating pattern. They are one of the few [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8781"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10158,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8781\/revisions\/10158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}