Legumes: The Super Foods That Should Be Regulars on Your Plate

When Swarna Moldanado, Ph.D., grew up in India, legumes were not considered the superfoods they are now; they were just part of her regular Indian diet, and they could be found at any meal, breakfast included. But all that changed when she moved to America and began eating whatever they served in the school cafeteria, mostly meats and meat products. It was only when she started cooking for herself that she realized what had been missing in her American diet legumes. Soon she was again adding dry beans, peas, lentils, and other legumes to her daily diet and feeling better for doing so.

As an educator, Moldanado was curious to learn why legumes were so overlooked in the United States. Her subsequent research turned up a number of misconceptions and inaccuracies as reasons for the prevailing lack of interest in them. This, in turn, led her to research legume-based diets in other parts of the world to ascertain what, if any, impact they had on health and disease in those locales. The information she accumulated was very enlightening across the board it showed there were major advantages to be gained by adding legumes to the diet. From here it was a short step to sharing her discoveries, and doing this to help improve people's health became the initial reason for her decision to write Legumes: Why This Superfood Needs to Be on Your Plate.

The first five informative chapters discuss all the aspects of super-food legumes their history, their food value, their health implications, and which legumes are most commonly eaten around the world. The next two chapters contain the final payoff for readers as they are recruited to participate in preparing and eating the legumes they've been learning about. Any reader interested in optimizing or simply maintaining their health would do themselves a favor by adding this important book to their must-read list.