Lentil salad

Ingredients (serves 1)

• 1 cup boiled lentils (you may use other legumes, such as black-eyed peas, chickpeas)
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• Variety of finely chopped vegetables: Tomato, scallion, parsley, pepper
• 4-5 medium olives, sliced
• 50-60 g feta cheese (alternatively, you may add shellfish or fish to reduce fat intake and increase iron absorption)
• Vinegar
• Some sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper 

Fragrant herbs (e.g. basil, mint).

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and serve cold. Instead of black-eyed peas, you can add any legumes you like.

Comment by the experts

Legumes are an integral part of many healthy diets, including the Mediterranean Diet which is “an intangible cultural heritage of humanity” (UNESCO 2010). The benefits of a healthy diet for overall wellness, based on natural foods (plant-based diet), limited to no animal-derived products and increased legume consumption, have been adequately confirmed. Legumes are highly nutritious. They have carbohydrates of low glycemic index (meaning that they are effective in slowly absorbing glucose uptake in the blood), dietary fibers, proteins, B-complex vitamins, copper, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus, etc. They are low in fat and because they are plant foods, they are cholesterol free.

Top Tip

Legumes are a source of iron in a non-heme form, which has small absorption by the body (5-10%). Absorption of iron is enhanced significantly if you combine legumes with 60 g of lean protein (e.g. shellfish, fish), as well as vegetables, which are natural source of vitamin C (e.g. peppers, tomato).
Nutrition facts per serving

➔ 760 kcal, 57g

➔ Fat 57 g (39 g saturated)

➔ Carbohydrates 35 g

➔ Protein 22 g

➔ Dietary fibers 8 g (high source of dietary fibers)

The Dietary Analysis was calculated by software tools.



Information about all food and beverages in the food database have been taken from the respective distribution companies of the products in Greece (nutrition labels), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA – National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference), the official British Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (COFID) and the book "Composition Tables of Foods and Greek Dishes", 3rd edition (Trichopoulos A. Athens 2004, Scientific Publications Parisianos SA).