I have always considered myself a healthy eater. Lots of greens, lean protein, nuts and seeds, lentils and beans, whole grains. When I really started getting in to whole body health I realized that what I- and so many of us- believed was a healthy diet was actually… not. I decided to eliminate many things I had previously been enjoying in order to live without them for a month, see how I felt, and then add them back slowly, to see if I could tolerate. I wanted to be able to experience it first-hand so I could relate personal experience to my family and friends instead of just relaying information I was discovering.
First, I completely cut out grains. No bread, no oats, no farro (wah!), no pizza. My skin cleared up within two weeks. No gas. None… not like I ever really had it before. Then I cut out sugar and started adding more healthy fats. Hunger, abated. Cravings, gone. I was eating eggs, fats, and vegetables like they were going out of style. And I felt great. Feel great.
Best part, I think, was that my energy level skyrocketed. I think my mom summed this up best: she said she no longer feels the need to ask the kids to run and get something from downstairs/upstairs for her; she feels like she can and wants to run go get it for herself. That’s huge, in my book- that the day-to-day tasks feel like things we can tackle with gusto.
One of the things that I cut out of my diet because traditional paleo doctrine frowns upon them are legumes. I wasn’t a big bean eater- yes, I enjoyed them, but they weren’t a major part of my diet. However, lentils were in regular rotation and I really, really love them. Black beluga lentils are some of my favorites. They hold up well in salads and are killer in soups because they don’t turn to mush like red or brown lentils.
I recently listened to a podcast on Revolution Health Radio and Chris Kresser (whom I think is amazeballs) was discussing his recent appearance on the Dr. Oz show, after which he was lambasted by the Paleo community for the open-minded stance he took on on legumes on the show. Paleo die-hards were bellyaching because legumes aren’t Paleo! However, Chris wasn’t trying to preach following a strict Paleo diet, but was instead presenting Paleo as a framework of which the details are different for every person. He agrees with Paleo in that ancestral eating is optimal: no grains, no processed foods, no vegetable oils; get lots of fatty fish, grass fed meats, pastured eggs, fruits and vegetables. He also says- and this is where he differs from traditional paleo doctrine- that some people are able to tolerate and even thrive on additional nutritious whole foods. Hard cheeses, fermented dairy, properly prepared legumes, and even buckwheat (which is not wheat, despite the name) can be nutritious additions to the diet and can be enjoyed by people for whom these foods are well tolerated.
From the RHR podcast:
The main reason not to eat legumes is because they’re not very nutrient dense, and if you eat a lot of legumes and they replace more nutrient-dense foods, you’re not going to be maximizing nutrient density, which is one of the fundamental principles of the Personal Paleo Code. The more nutrient-dense foods we eat, the more nutrients we get in our body, the better our body functions, period. The original paleo argument is that legumes are harmful because of compounds called lectins that they contain, which cause leaky gut and inflammation and then all kinds of other problems, and these claims are based on animal studies where they feed animals tremendous amounts of raw legumes or other foods that contain lectins that are raw, and they watch what happens. And sure enough, these animals get extremely sick with leaky gut, inflammation, and a whole bunch of other problems, including cancer. But here’s the deal: Research suggests that the vast majority of lectins are destroyed by heat and cooking. So, when you cook the beans, the lectins are almost completely gone by the time you cook them. And lectins are also disabled and prevented from entering our bloodstream because they bind to sugar. All beans have carbohydrate and sugar in them, so if there’s any residual lectin left over, it’s probably going to bind to the sugars in the beans and it’s not going to be absorbed in the bloodstream. So, that kind of throws that whole argument out the window because most people are not eating raw beans. It’s pretty hard to do that, and I wouldn’t recommend it.
Lentils, for example, in my experience, seem to be the best tolerated of all the different beans, and some people who can’t eat any other beans at all can eat lentils. And they actually happen to be one of the most nutritious legumes, too, because they’re high in folate and some other compounds that are difficult to get from most other plant foods. Are they mandatory? Do you need to eat legumes to be healthy? Of course not. You can get the nutrients that are in legumes in many other foods. So, why bother eating them at all? Well, some people like them and they like to have that flexibility and they like to have that variety in their diet. And so, my point is if you are one of those people and you follow the guidelines that I’ve outlined here, there’s no evidence that including them in moderation, especially when they’re properly prepared to maximize nutrient bioavailability, and they’re eaten occasionally in the context of an overall diet that’s very nutrient dense, there’s no evidence to support the idea that they’re harmful.
So, I recently decided to try adding lentils back into my diet. And here I am, happily reporting that the lentils on my salad, under my fried eggs, in my soup, and on a spoon straight from the bowl over the past week have been a delicious and thus far unproblematic (re)addition. Yay!
Here’s another reason why I am really happy about this: before starting my adventure in whole body health, I would check in on 9 or 10 food blogs every day or so. I had my list of favorites, and I cooked recipes from them almost daily.
However, over the past few months I have spent more time researching health and wellness and less time perusing my favorite blogs. I wrote a post last week on perspective and I have made a conscious effort to revisit my favorite food sites and get back in the kitchen with them. I am not nearly as inspired by recipes found on “paleo” sites as I am by recipes on really great food blogs, so it’s been fun for me to revisit my old friends this past week. A pleasant surprise for me has been to find so many recipes that fall into my framework for healthy eating without being labeled as such.
This salad made it’s way into my regular rotation last February, when it appeared on one of my favorite sites. It was one of the salads I missed most when I cut out questionable foods… and the one I am most happy about having back in my fridge! Best part for me is that it holds up well for at least a day or two before losing a little crunch.
xo Andra
- salad:
- 1 cup cooked black lentils*
- 3 cups ribbed and chopped kale
- a handful of chopped parsley
- 1 green apple, diced
- one english cucumber, seedy centers scraped out, diced
- ½ cup toasted pepitas
- 1 cup shaved parmesan
- dressing:
- one clove garlic
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon dijon
- juice of one lemon
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
- In a large salad bowl, combine the kale, parsley, lentils, apples, cucumber, pepitas and parmesan.
- For the dressing, blitz everything in a blender, until garlic is smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour the dressing on the salad and toss well to coat.
- This salad will last for a few days in the fridge. It starts to lose a little crunch after the first day, but it's still delicious.
- *To properly prepare lentils, give them a good rinse then place in a bowl with a lid. Pour filtered water over the lentils to cover them by about 2". Add 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar for every cup of lentils. Cover and leave on the counter for 8-16 hours. When you are ready to cook them, drain, place in a saucepan, and add enough water to cover by about 2". Simmer for 10-20 minutes or until they are just tender. Remember: soaked lentils will cook much faster than unsoaked... keep an eye on them to avoid mush. I like to add salt after the water comes to a boil. If you just can't wait to make this salad (I've been there!) don't fret- cook your lentils with just a good rinse and without soaking before cooking. You'll survive. Trust me.
recipe adapted from Sprouted Kitchen
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