About
Legumes are a powerhouse of nutrition and fiber. They are cheap, easy to find, and easy to cook. Also delicious. They’re also great if, like me, you’re trying to eat less meat. Whatever your reason, eating less meat than the average american (almost 4 pounds a week, yikes and also expensive!) is a worthy goal and it doesn’t have to be a difficult goal to achieve. Try some beans!
In a lot of my recipes I substitute half the meat for legumes. I also use soy products/pea products/wheat gluten products when trying to get extra protein, and design some recipes around those. Many of these recipes have variations for no meat versions or less meat versions available.
I also try to keep my recipes at under 600 CALORIES and the macros as close to a 25% Fat/ 25% Protein/50% Carb ratio as possible, though there is variation. Most of the recipes do have variations to decrease calories by omitting items like cheese (because I love cheese and abuse it, but that doesn’t mean you have to!).
Some Important Notes:
If you don’t eat a lot of beans in your day to day, I highly suggest you START SLOW.
Beans can cause gastrointestinal distress (bloating, gas, constipation) if you aren’t used to eating them. These side effects will lessen greatly with time. I would recommend starting with two to three servings of beans a week and increasing from there. I eat beans every day, at almost every meal and it doesn’t affect me anymore. It just takes some getting used to. In the meantime, there’s Gas-X. Your body will eventually get used to the beans and the gas will go away, it just takes time and commitment. Your poops will also benefit significantly, just sayin.
Constipation happens more if you combine beans with very high fiber foods. That’s mostly why I avoid brown rice with my beans. For me personally, the combo of brown rice with beans is too much for my tummy to handle, but white rice is no problem. You can substitute brown rice for the white in most of my recipes (with alterations to cooking times). Would I recommend it? NO. However your tummy is not my tummy, so substitute at your own peril.