• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Carb Count for Bijoux Verts Lentils

Moogie1947

Well-Known Member
Messages
104
Location
Surrey, UK
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
As a long term vegetarian and a low carbing one for the last year since I was diagnosed as T2, I have been looking around for a substitute for the pulses I used to eat all the time. I really miss my lentil curry and have to rely more on cheese and eggs for the majority of my protein now.

I found that the tins of Organic Black Soy beans (imported from the US) recommended in some low carb diet receipe books say 8g of carbs but 7g of fibre giving a net carb count of 1g per 100g.
However I don't find the beans very palatable.

Most other tinned beans have higher carb counts 23g per 100g for black eyed beans and 15.5 / 100g for chick peas.
All except for the little green Organic lentils called Bijoux Vert from Waitrose (& other stores). These state a carbs per 100g of 8.54.

Does anyone know why these should be so much lower? Or is there a possibility that there is some mistake.
 
If it is correct (and I don't know about that) it could be because the fibrous skin of a tiny lentil composes a much bigger proportion of the total relative to the starchy centre, compared to larger pulses like beans. Same reason you can throw a mouse of a rooftop and it will have a good chance of landing unharmed, whereas throwing an elephant would make a big puddle - the surface area is greater, and in the case of a green lentil, the surface is the skin which is going to be mostly indigestible cellulose. So I could see it might make sense that lentils would have a lower percentage carbs.

Rose Elliot's vegetarian Low carb diet gives green lentils 39.9g dry weight, and kidney beans as 35.1 dry weight. She doesn't give a count for tinned lentils, but she says tinned kidney beans are 9.2g/100 and tinned chickpeas 18.2 - which surprises me as I thought they were higher protein than most pulses. So that's quite a variation.

Just checking - you're not accidentally comparing the carbs of tinned lentils with the carbs of dry beans are you? The tinned version has a much higher water content, which brings the carb count much lower.
 
This is for Canned Puy lentils

Typical values per 100g
Energy 472kj
Energy 113kcal
Protein 8.4g
Carbohydrate 18.4g
Fat 0.06g


this for the Bijoux lentils
Typical values per 100g
Energy 227kj
Energy 54kcal
Protein 4.25g
Carbohydrate 8.54g
Fat 0.33g

Note not only do they have half the carbs, they also have half of everything else except fat 0.33 compared with 0.06.
As a percentage of energy ie calories provided by carbs its the same.
One includes water, the other doesn't?? You'd have to ask the manufacturers
 
Hi everyone,


I do use Channa dhal too and love them but they take a lot of soaking and cooking time, I also keep some soaked ones in the freezer.

I just wanted something for a quick "store cupboard" meal really for lazy days or if I'm self catering on holiday, where I might be tempted to eat something less than low carb.
Also as a veggie we used to use lots of different pulses and now apart from the Channa dhal and the black soy beans I am looking for more variety.

Thanks to everyone for their information too, some of which confirmed what I had already discovered but it is nice to have second opinions. I was intrigued by the idea that the ratio of surface area of the lentils with their skins on to the volume of the lentil might be high providing more roughage than expected.
Also the tin does not state that the serving is the "drained weight" as it does on some other types of canned beans. But, the tin does state "Rinse, heat and serve" implying a serving is without the liquid.

I will have to check with the manufacturer. Thanks again.
 
I emailed the company and am awaiting a reply - fingers crossed, except when I'm testing my levels of course...
 
Hiya,

I'm another fan of lentils although I'm not a veggie. I haven't had any since I started a low carb diet some 2 - 3 months ago so was interested in this thread. My only acquaintance with channa dal was from my local Indian restaurants which I ate with gusto for years. This channa is always chick peas. I didn't realise that there was another version.

A tasty accompaniament to my Indian meals these days is (don't laugh) cabbage in lieu of lentils. I know that this isn't a recipe page but nonetheless:

1 finely shred and wash the cabbage. I use sweetheart but any British cabbage is fine.

2 heat some oil (I use coconut) and add a pinch of tumeric and asofaetida if you have it. This sizzles immediately. Then put in a good teaspoon of cumin seeds and let these heat until you have a good aroma, usually 15 - 20 seconds.

3 toss in the cabbage with a tablespoon of water and mix it well into the spices. I add a finely chopped green chilli but you can of course use chilli powder to suit your taste. Add salt to taste. Cook and stir for a few minutes and then put a lid on the saucepan and shake it to ensure that the cabbage doesn't stick or burn.

4 cook for a further 3 - 5 minutes, toss in a handful of chopped coriander and a sprinkle of garam masalla if you have it. Add a tiny drop of lemon juice.

The cabbage should be slightly 'crisp' and should remain green.

It's delicious - I'm having some tonight with a lamb curry.

Steve
 
Hello,
srm100841 said:
I'm another fan of lentils although I'm not a veggie. .........

A tasty accompaniament to my Indian meals these days is (don't laugh) cabbage in lieu of lentils.

Steve
Click to expand...

Sounds a lovely side dish - but I used the lentils instead of the meat as my protein so veggies need to find something as a replacement for that in an indian meal. I have tried the (tinned) black soy beans but they remain quite hard and don't quite go that lovely mashy texture that lentils do.
Morrisons do Channa Dhal in big bags as do some other supermarkets. They are a special variety of chick pea - small and split in two.

Although many people say it keeps their sugar levels steady I've not tested enough to say if this is true.

I do a nice mixed veg curry including cauliflower with a quick low carb indian chapati made from Carbalose flour and water - easy and just fried like an English pancake. It replaces the rice and as the cauliflower is in the curry so I don't want cauliflower "rice" with it as well. Use 2.5 measures of the Carbalose to 1 of water by volume with a tiny bit of salt and kneed well until all mixed in.
Leave in fridge for 30 mins if there is time (I rarely do that). Take off small balls of mixture and roll out to a size to fit a small (omlette size) frying pan, Fry quickly in a little oil for a few seconds on one side, turn and fry on the other then turn back and press down with a spatula - it should puff up a bit.
Turn again and press on the second side - this all takes a few seconds until it puffs up and is flecked with brown. Keep warm in a cloth in a low oven until all the rest are done too.
 
Moogie1947.

As a Curryholic myself I'm interested in the carb content of the Carbalose Chappati's. Do you know the actual nutriton values of this product ?
 
I'll look out for both the 'flour' and the channa.

Best Welsh lamb with spiced cabbage tonight though. Preceded by a couple of beers. Roll on 6.30 pm!

Steve
 
Cugila,
From the following web site:

netrition.com/tova_carbalose_page.html

The important cab count says
19 grams of "Net Carbs" per 100 grams (approximately 1 cup)

My recipe says use 2.5 cups for 10-12 chapatis. I find 2-3 small ones per person is plenty.
They roll out very thinly.

In the UK I can only get Carbalose online from

lowcarbmegastore.com

&

avidlite.co.uk
 
Better late than never! Goodness it must be hard being vego & low carb, that sounds pretty tough! Why not go low GI instead?? Then lentils are the star attraction! I've been eating lentils for the last 13 years I've had type 2, and my HbA1c is still only 5.4. Better for you in the long term than low carb, kinder on the kidneys, and all together more fun!! Try glycemicindex.com to start. Cheers to all, J xx
 
Sometimes its not just about total carbohydrates as is the case with Channa Dal which has 59.7g of carbs per 100g but when eaten hardly moves bg levels.

per 100g
energy...............298Kcals
protein................24g
carbs...................59.7g
of which sugars........2.2g
fat.......................3.1g
of which saturates....0.3g
fibre...................16.1g
sodium (salt).........<0.05g

Notice the high level of carbs but the very low amount of sugar, channa dal is extremely low on the GI

So carbs are not the be all and end all of bg control. Better to learn what you can eat rather than assume that you can only eat x number of carbs a day/meal, not all carbs are equal.


~~~Top tip for channa dal is use a pressure cooker to cook them and save on soaking time~~~ :thumbup:

Personally I cant be bothered messing about with them but they are very diabetic friendly....
 

Sorry it took so long to reply I don't use this board as much there days. It is only tough eating out now - I've adjusted all my receipes to low carb and invented a few more. I loath tofu and other soy products except Soy sauce so just use ground almonds for most things. My HbA1c is only 5.5 now with no medication. No problems with the kidneys, why would there be?
It was probably all those beans and lentils I used to eat pre diabetes that caused my high blood sugar in the first place. Mind you, we usually ate them with rice or potatoes as well, but not in huge amounts. Now I just use mashed celeriac as a topping instead of potatoes if I make any veggie version of shepherd's pie, with or without beans.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…