A common theme across a diverse range of traditional indigenous diets, from China to Nigeria, from
India to the Mediterranean, is the simple combination of a grain and a legume.
There are many examples of scientifically-proven food synergy in traditional diets and practices,
such as the combination of turmeric and black pepper in curries, fermentation of foods,
addition of fat to salads and even the likes of Ayahuasca, but this paradigm is perhaps
best demonstrated by the combination of a grain and a legume - such as the prototypical
rice and beans.
Grains and legumes have complementary amino acid profiles, and a meal containing both
will provide a complete protein source.
It is not neccessary to get a full complement of amino acids with every meal like this as
has been proven decades ago, since our body pools amino acids and essentially stores them
in our muscles from meal to meal and can recycle them from our intestine ensuring all amino
acids are constantly available even if not taken in with every meal.
That being said, it is practical and helpful to know that this staple meal has all the
protein you need - especially for people particularly worried about deficiency or those overly concerned
with losing their gains.
Indeed, the ready-assembled, complete nature and rapid absorbability and utilisation of
animal protein in addition to it's specific amino acid profile including relative abundance
of leucine is thought to be partly to blame for it's ability to raise IGF-1 and is one
of the many reasons why it increases cancer risk compared with plant protein.
Grains and legumes also offer an overlapping spectrum of fast- and slow-releasing carbohydrates.
With this in mind, is there any need to worry about blood sugar fluctuations?
No - legumes lower the glycaemic response of grains when they are co-consumed and even
in subsequent meals, and part of this effect comes from their high fibre content.
This provides another good example of the synergy between these two food groups - they
each offer a good source of the two types of fibre.
Legumes tend to be rich in soluble fibre, whilst whole grains provide insoluble fibre.
The two different forms offer overlapping but also independent health benefits, so we
need both in our diet, and grain/legume dishes provide an abundance of each form.
One of the most interesting and newly-discovered ways fibre positively affects our health is
by providing food for our good intestinal bacteria.
The two forms of fibre provide fuel for different types of good bacteria, which in turn provide
us with compounds that among many beneficial effects help control our appetite, burn fat,
prevent cancer and modulate our blood sugar response, even in subsequent meals.
But this staple meal even offers a third method of feeding our good bacteria - legumes, and
some cooked, cooled grains provide a form of starch that resists digestion and makes
it down into our large intestine, feeding yet more beneficial bacteria that provide
us with even more health benefits.
So how does one get this magical combination of foods into one's own diet?
Well first of all, you may be doing it unconsciously already just like people have done in traditional
diets for many years - beans on toast, lentil soup with a brown crusty roll, porridge or
muesli with soya milk and hummus sandwiches all feature this combination.
But I want to offer a super-simple method of really ramping up your grain and legume
intake today.
And I am aware that anyone that knows even the very basics about cooking will probably
laugh at this, but the reality is that there are vast numbers of people out there today
that DO NOT know the very basics about cooking.
So this is for you guys!
Getting this amazing combination can be as simple as cooking your grain, heating canned
beans with a pre-made sauce and then combining it all together.
It really is that simple!
Experiment with different combinations and find ones that you like.
Over time you will want to add ingredients and experiment more and more - and this is
how you begin to learn how to cook!
A complaint that is often made about adopting a plant-based diet is that the prep is too
time-consuming and requires knowledge of how to cook.
This isn't even cooking, it's just heating stuff up, yet provides two hugely health-promoting
plant-based food groups.
If you were to attempt this with meat you actually would need to cook it, since there
would be concerns with food poisoning and all that stuff if you messed up, and the end
product would not be healthy anyway.
Canned beans are pre-cooked, so you don't even need to worry about that!
If you're one of the people out there interested in moving towards a plant-based diet, but
like me don't have the first clue about cooking when you're starting out or are short on time,
this is a simple way you can get started today!
And another commonality I haven't mentioned between grains and legumes is that they're
both very inexpensive - so even your wallet will benefit!
One caveat to this method: These pre-made sauces can often be high in sugar, salt, oil
and artificial flavours.
This is definitely an acceptable compromise for me if it means you'll be getting more
whole grains and legumes and less meat in, but at the same time try to look for healthier
varieties of these sauces to make your meal as healthy as possible.
Eventually, you may want to make your own sauces from scratch without adding any salt,
sugar, oil or articifial flavours at all.
So there you have it!
A super-simple, tasty way of getting these staple foods that people from all over the
World have eaten for generations, with absolutely no cooking knowledge required.
If you know someone that's hesitant about moving towards a plant-based diet because
of cooking skill or time constraints, show them this video!
Thanks for watching, if you have any questions or comments, leave them in the comment section
below and I'll get back to you.
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Sláinte!