Legumes are a healthy and very versatile food that are in the vegetable group. They have been a part of healthy diets all over the world for more than 10,000 years. You’ve heard of legumes if you know about soybeans. Other common legumes include black-eyed peas, chickpeas, lentils, black & red & navy beans, and also kidney beans.

Legumes provide many essential nutrients that the human body needs for growth and cell building. Legumes contain nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates, iron, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, potassium and B vitamins. Legumes are also high in dietary fibers, are low in saturated fat, and are cholesterol free.

Legumes are seeds that can be eaten fresh or they can be sprouted, dried, or ground into flour.

Legumes contain many nutrients that are important to preventing heart disease, cancer, obesity and other chronic diseases. Legumes are nutrient-dense and nutritionists recommend that we eat several servings each week of legumes.

Tips for adding legumes to your healthy diet:

When purchasing legumes look for those with deep colors.

Soak large, or dried legumes such as beans and chickpeas in room-temperature water overnight in order to rehydrate them before cooking them. They will become soft as they soak.

Use legumes in soups and casseroles. Use pureed beans in dips or spreads. You can also use chickpeas and black beans in salads.

Legumes are a great source of protein for vegetarians.

To add flavor to beans season them with garlic, onion, spices, salsa, even cheeses to bring out the flavor in any bean dish. There are many varieties that you may not have tried yet such as garbanzo beans, adzuki beans, broadbeans, butter beans, mung beans, mungo beans, snow peas, winged beans, yam beans, yellow or white beans.

You can teach your body to overcome the unpleasant side effect (gas or bloating) of beans in your diet by slowly increasing the amount you eat over a period of weeks. You can also slow cook them to reduce the gas-forming compounds. If you add a little baking soda while cooking them this will also help. When eating legumes it is important to drink a lot of water to avoid constipation.

You can add legumes to salad, soup or casseroles. Beans are great in chili too.

Legumes add taste and texture to your healthy meals while they reduce your risk of heart disease. Soybeans are the basis for tofu and are definitely part of a healthy diet.

Enjoy fresh or roasted soybeans as a snack or meal after you have boiled them in lightly salted water for 15 to 20 minutes.

You can add soy flour (grounded roasted soybeans) to baked goods but caution should be used to NOT replace all flour in a recipe with soy flour because soy flour lacks gluten, which is needed to help dough to rise.