A new study finds that just one serving of pulses including lentils, chickpeas, peas or beans can help with weight loss, as per a report dated March 31, 2016. This study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
St. Michael’s Hospital carried this meta-analysis and studied over 940 participants from 21 clinical trials. This data showed that if a single serving of pulses is added to the diet, an average of 0.34 kg can be lost over a period of 6 weeks, without any effort being made for reducing other foods.
Pulses could help in contributing to weight loss and prevent weight gain owing to their low glycemic index and high protein content. Also, if pulses are included in the diet, intake of unhealthy food options would be limited since pulses would replace ‘bad’ fats and animal proteins like trans-fat.
Dr. Russell De Souza, the lead author of the study, commented on these results and stated that although the weight loss was small, the findings indicate that simply by including them in the diet, some weight can be lost and, more importantly, it would prevent weight gain in future.
The study supports the previous work of the hospital about the health benefits of the daily serving of pulses, which found that the feeling of fullness can be increased by 31 percent and levels of ‘bad cholesterol’ can be decreased by 5 percent.
This sense of fullness can be essential in this control. Dr. de Souza commented that around 90 percent of these interventions failed, mainly due to food cravings and hunger.
De Souza also stated that despite being aware of these health benefits only 13 % of Canadians eat pulses on any day, while the majority of them don’t eat the full serving.
Hence, it is said that dietary pulses must be incorporated in the diet, and potential benefits of weight management must be realized .
Pulses actually helped me massively to lose over 20 pounds… I used to binge eat all the time and had no idea how some people are able to just eat “normally”. It just seemed impossible to me. Well, 4 years later, and let me tell you – it’s all about SATIETY. And the right amount of calories – not too little, not too much. So educate yourself, pick foods that are high in fiber and protein, like pulses. I am part of a website which shares some weight loss success experiences for people who are struggling, feel free to visit, happy to help any time