How to eat lentils and be social
Train your gut to welcome them and enjoy novel lentil pasta with my chopped pesto recipe
There was a time when I wished the “lentils are good for your gut” proclamation would come with a health warning.
It seemed like almost every time I switched on the TV, Professor Tim Spector was talking up lentils. We should eat more of them! They are good for our guts!
And anything that is good for our guts is good for our digestion/immune system/heart right?
The problem was that many people I was seeing in clinic were saying lentils were not good for their social life.
They were unable to have those lovely Indian and Mediterranean lentil recipes without bloating, wind and charging to the loo.
People with a healthy microbiome (balanced gut bacteria) can usually digest lentils ok. But if your microbiome is out of balance (such as with irritable bowel syndrome) they are difficult to digest, in particular the “prebiotic” fibres in them.
These have names like:
· Fructo-oligosacharrides (FOS)
· Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS)
· Resistant starch (if eaten al-dente)
These special fibres travel all the way to the colon without being digested. There they are fermented by bacteria and produce more friendly bacteria which help us have good digestion and emit substances that keep our gut lining healthy too.
So we need to eat lentils, to become able to digest lentils without symptoms.
Best way to do this is to eat a little bit-by-bit over some weeks and train the gut bacteria to welcome the fibre.
So how can you do the bit-by-bit thing without a lot of work and food wastage? One option would be to freeze *dahl in freezer cubes and melt one at a time down into stews, soups, hot meals over a few weeks.
There you go. No health warning needed!
For those who are ok digesting lentils and want another option to dahl, try my lentil pasta with pesto recipe…
RECIPE TIME - RED LENTIL PASTA WITH CHOPPED PESTO
©2024 Jeannette Hyde
These lentil pastas are becoming-widely available in supermarkets and contain just dried lentils. I’m a fan because they have higher fibre levels than regular wheat pasta. Plus you get the polyphenols in the reddish colour as well as saponins and phytosterols. These plant substances are anti-inflammatory and lower cholesterol (should you wish that). For women, there are some welcome weak plant estrogens (isoflavones) useful during, and after menopause.
In one portion (unlike wheat pasta) you easily get more than 20g of protein, the amount you need to feel full up for a good 4 hours or so and avoid snack attacks. So could be good for your waistline too.
The way you chop, rather than blend the pesto ingredients means you get little explosions of different flavours in the mouth as you eat.
This meal is quick and delicious and you can take leftovers for lunch the next day if you need them.
Here’s the full pesto recipe which yields 4 portions…