The Many Benefits Of Including A Variety Of Pulses In Your Diet, As Per Rujuta Diwekar

Eating pulses with grains to have meals with a complete amino acid profile

Did you know that there are as many as 65,000 varieties of pulses in India? Across the country, people consume pulses as a staple part of their diet. In several states, pulses are consumed on a daily basis. However, where people lag behind is having a variety of pulses. Celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar recently took to Instagram to talk about how important it is to have a variety of pulses and also three other rules to have pulses, in order to reap maximum benefits from them.

Also read: Plant-Based Diet: Here's How You Can Get Adequate Protein From This Eating Pattern

Pulses benefits: Here's why you should include a variety of pulses in your diet

As part of the latest guideline of the 12-week fitness project, Diwekar enlightens about the goodness of pulses, which are an excellent source of vegetarian protein. They also contain healthy carbs, fibre, vitamins and minerals. However, its not quite easy to assimilate amino acids from pulses, says Diwekar.

"They naturally contain what is called as anti-nutrients, molecules that come in the way of nutrient assimilation. That's why so many people have gas, bloating, indigestion etc., on eating them," she adds.

Also read: Legumes (Pulses) For Heart Health: Here Are The Different Kinds Of Legumes You Must Eat For A Healthy Heart

To reduce these symptoms, you can follow the below three rules for cooking pulses:

1. Soak and sprout pulses before cooking. This reduces the anti-nutrients and makes room for optimum enzyme action to breakdown those anti-nutrients.

2. When eating pulses with grains, use them in the right ratio. For instance, if you want to have pulses with millets have them in the ratio 1:2. And if you want to have them with other grains, than have them in ratio 1:3. "The rationale behind this is that pulses and legumes lack an amino acid called methionine and grains lack lysine. Lysine is found abundantly in pulses but without the full profile of other amino acids like methionine, it cannot completely carry out its functions," explains Diwekar. She goes on to add that lysine is an amino acid which helps in anti-ageing, preserving and strengthening bone mass and also helps in building antibodies which give a boost to immunity when under attack.

Eating pulses can be good for your immunity
Photo Credit: iStock

3. Try to include at least 5 types of pulses or legumes every week, in five different forms (like cheela, dal, khichdi, papad, pickle, idli, dosa and parantha) every month. This ensures that there is diversity in your diet, which is an important prerequisite for healthy gut bacteria.

So, if you're looking for ways to up your protein intake and overall immunity, do included a variety of pulses in your diet and have them regularly.

Also read: Make Your Own Plant-Based Protein Powder With Sattu, Peanuts And More- Watch Video

(Rujuta Diwekar is a nutritionist based in Mumbai)

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