Black is the new trend in the kitchen among culinary experts, street vendors, and food artists who can’t get enough black ingredients. With this most recent trend, we’re talking about black beans, black rice, black quinoa, and black lentils.
Although most people are aware of brown lentils, these grains come in several colors, including green, yellow, pink, red, and black.
You may have encountered searches such as “Are black lentils healthy?” or “What are the nutritional facts of black lentils?” These questions and more will be answered in this article. Stick around for answers and more information about these grains.
Lentils belong to the legume family and are similar to a tiny bean (5). They grow in pods and come in different colors, including red, black, brown, and green (5). These pulses are famous for their long list of health benefits.
Consuming black lentils is an inexpensive way to load your body with numerous nutrients. These legumes are known to be filled with a string of nutrients, including B vitamins, fiber, potassium, and magnesium.
A quarter cup of raw black lentils (approximately 42 g), which become approximately 1 cup when cooked, contains the following nutrients (2):
Other nutrients that can be found in black lentils include (2):
They are considered to be very healthy and nutritious. This is because they are packed with nutrients such as protein and fiber and have a low fat content. These aspects make them an excellent plant-based protein source. However, it’s important to keep in mind that if you don’t eat animal products, you’ll need to include various plant proteins in your diet to get all the essential amino acids.
They are also healthy because they have high amounts of folate, potassium, magnesium, and other nutrients, as we’ll see later in this discussion. Quite often, individuals compare black lentils with black beans. You may have seen the numerous questions online asking which is more effective.
One of the most asked questions is “Which has more nutrients?” Several studies have shown that lentils and black beans contain similar nutrients, such as complex carbohydrates.
It is believed that consuming black lentils may help prevent several diseases and offer other health benefits. Some of the scientifically backed benefits of black lentils include (5):
These pulses are rich in fiber, potassium, and folate. For example, a cup of cooked black lentils contains 9 grams of fiber (2).
All these nutrients promote better heart health in different ways. The high fiber content can help recuse harmful LDL cholesterol levels that increase the risk of heart disease. Similarly, potassium helps naturally lower blood pressure, which helps prevent cardiovascular diseases (5).
All lentils are rich in folate, which experts say reduces the risk of neural tube defects in newborns (5).
One of the significant symptoms of iron deficiency is fatigue. Black beluga lentils are rich in iron, with one cup of cooked lentils containing 2 mg or approximately 11% of the daily value (DV) (2).
So far, we’ve understood that lentils are a healthy superfood with an incredibly impressive nutritional profile. They offer loads of dietary fiber and complex carbs but are low in fat and calories. The high protein element makes them an instant hit in fitness circles. People who are more concerned about fulfilling their daily protein intake should definitely include black lentils in their diet plans. One cup of cooked black lentils contains 13 grams of protein (2). You can supplement your diet with additional protein-rich foods to meet the daily limit.
Now comes the question: Does cooking lentils destroy their nutritional profile?
The answer depends on how you cook them. Soaking is the optional first step to take before you cook your lentils. Soaking may help your lentils cook faster, but they will cook faster than most beans even without soaking.
Lentils contain some natural compounds that can make it harder for your body to absorb certain nutrients, but boiling them helps reduce these anti-nutrients. Despite the presence of anti-nutrients, your body will still get most of the good stuff from the lentils, so it’s nothing to be concerned about and certainly not a reason to avoid lentils. According to research, boiling lentils increases the availability of protein, starch, fiber, and some minerals (calcium, copper, manganese) (6). However, it lowers the levels of ash, iron, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, anti-nutrients, and other substances.
Having looked at the nutrition facts of black lentils, you may be interested in adding them to your weight loss diet plan.
But are they the best for weight loss? This is one of the most controversial debates about lentils as the nutritional value of each type of lentil varies slightly. However, the differences are not meaningful enough to declare one type of lentil superior to any other. All lentils are rich in protein, complex carbs, fiber, and several important vitamins and minerals. They are all low in calories and can help you feel full while providing essential nutrition. Their nutrient-dense, low-calorie, high-protein and fiber nature makes all lentils great additions to a healthy balanced diet for weight loss.
Lentils are a healthy food for most people, but some people worry about the anti-nutrients they contain. These make it harder for our bodies to use some of the good stuff from lentils such as iron and zinc. To fix this, simply boil the lentils before eating them as you normally would.
Lentils contain some of the important building blocks for protein but are missing a couple. This means that they are not a complete protein. However, if you get your protein from a variety of sources, you don’t need to worry about one particular food not having all the essential amino acids.
Both chickpeas and lentils are healthy plant-based sources of protein, complex carbohydrates, fiber, and vitamins and minerals. They can both be included in a healthy balanced diet. One is not better than the other.
Both lentils and meat are excellent sources of protein and minerals such as iron. Lentils also contain fiber and very little fat, while meat tends to have more saturated fat. Both lentils and meat can be included in a healthy balanced diet, but most of us may benefit from including more plant-based protein sources such as lentils and less meat.
Black lentils are high in complex carbs and fiber and have a high protein content. They are also excellent sources of several important vitamins and minerals while being low in calories, so they’re effective for weight loss when used in a high-protein diet plan. However, you should talk to your doctor about making any major dietary changes.
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