Yorksman
Well-Known Member
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- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
Are Puy lentils acceptable on LCHF?
In my opinion yes. The labelling can make it look as if they are relatively high in carbs but they conatin a lot of fiber and also a lot of resistant starch.
Carbs come in different forms, alpha carbs, which humans can mostly digest and beta carbs which humans mostly cannot digest. Beta carbs are the sort of carbs cows digest, which is why they lay on the ground chewing all day and why they have four stomaches. It's been a long time since humans ate leaves and our appendix isn't what it used to be.
Alpha carbs come in different levels of complexity and starches are broken down into the simpler sugars for digestion. Legumes in general are high in a group called oligosaccharides which are resistant to being broken down. We lack the enzymes which can do the job. What happens is that those parts of a lentil meal which have not been broken down by enzymes get broken down by bacteria in the gut. This causes gassing and wind, typical of beans, lentils and peas. What it means for diabetics though is that only a part of every lentil is turned into glucose and the remainder is either fibre or resistant carbohydrate. They are an excellent source of fiber, folate and manganese, a very good source of iron, and a good source of copper and thiamin.
The list of legumes is considerable and you can have great fun trying lots of them out. They work well with various asian cuisines. Have a look at Indian Vegetarian Cooking and have a quick look at this list of legumes.