Legumes
For each one: how to use it, the best version, how to prepare it, what it does, and where it goes wrong.
Black beansThe same gain as the lentil, in a bean that holds its shape and carries a meal.Read on
How to use it
As the base of the meal. In a stew, through a salad, mashed as a spread.
The best version
Bought dry and cooked yourself they taste better and cost a fraction. Tinned is a fine second choice: check the salt and rinse them.
How to prepare it
Soak overnight and throw the soaking water away. Salt at the end, and keep acid out of the pan until they are done.
What it does
Pulses were compared across 26 randomised trials with 1037 participants between them against the same diet without them, at the same calories. At a median of 130 grams a day, LDL cholesterol fell by 0.17 mmol/L.
Watch out
The trials treated pulses as a group, so beans, chickpeas, lentils and peas together. For the black bean on its own this has not been worked out.
Raw or half-cooked beans are toxic. Soak them, throw the water out, and cook them properly through.
LentilsOne serving a day lowers your LDL, and that comes out of trials rather than a questionnaire.Read on
How to use it
As the main part of a meal, not as a garnish. Through a soup, as dal, cold through a salad with a sharp dressing.
The best version
Dry, from a pack with a date on it, because old lentils stay hard however long you boil them. Brown and green hold their shape, red ones collapse and are for soup.
How to prepare it
Lentils do not need soaking. Cook them without salt and add acid, such as lemon or vinegar, only once they are done: acid keeps the skin tough.
What it does
Twenty-six randomised trials with 1037 participants between them compared a diet with pulses against the same diet without, at the same calories. At a median of 130 grams a day, about one serving, LDL cholesterol fell by 0.17 mmol/L.
Watch out
The authors say themselves that longer trials of higher quality are needed. And the effect was on LDL: nothing was found on apolipoprotein B or non-HDL cholesterol.