How healthy are canned beans/ lentils?

[Jannes]

I "let myself go" a little bit and regularely buy brown lentil soup and baked beans. The ingredients list is minimal. The flavour and convenience is so much better though. Put half the lentil Soup in a glass bowl, smash an egg in it, microwave for 5 minutes and you have a solid meal. Ofc cooking it fresh would be better but I know I wouldnt do it as often then.  Is it a big deal? How well regulated are cans nowadays?

[UnbornTao]

I hope they are as healthy as the fresh varieties. I like to buy plain cooked legumes, except maybe lentils, which I get fresh, and then add a couple of stir-fried vegetables, like onion and red bell pepper, along with sauces, water, spices, salt, and some tomato soup to make a hearty meal in about 10 minutes.

So yeah, I don't know

[Sugarcoat]

In the context of other healthy habits and I don’t think it’s big deal if you feel good physically. But it also depends on your standards, even if you don’t personally notice effect from certain additives, there can still be some effect that’s not optimal , so if you’re reallyyyy into the pursuit of optimal health then it could be better to switch depending on the rest of the ingredients (beans and lentils are good tho) 

But if you’re asking this question then I guess you’re not in the Bryan Johnson crowd 🤣

[integral]

If you can perfectly digest lentils, then it should be the core of your diet

Follow Brian Johnson's recipe

I wish I could eat lentils. Life would be so easy.

Edited 14 hours ago by integral

[Jannes]

9 hours ago, Sugarcoat said:

But if you’re asking this question then I guess you’re not in the Bryan Johnson crowd 🤣

Haha, not quite. Maybe I am 80 - 90 % there. Had this super clean phase though and it wasnt good for me. 

[Jannes]

8 hours ago, integral said:

If you can perfectly digest lentils, then it should be the core of your diet

Follow Brian Johnson's recipe

I wish I could eat lentils. Life would be so easy.

After a certain quantity of lentils I feel like my stomach cant handle it well anymore. Maybe 1k calories of red lentils in one sitting or something like that. 

The bigger problem is farting in my experience which is why I go for smaller portions. 

How long have you tried lentils? Your stomach needs time to adabt. Why are they so healthy?

[PsychedelicEagle]

Legumes are super healthy; if you won't eat legumes if not canned, what would you be eating instead? Always compare a food to what you would replace it with.

In terms of toxins, canned/packaged foods are known to contain a variety of toxins and endocrine disruptors, including: Bisphenols & Phthalates, PFAS, and the breakdown products of linings (e.g., microplastics from the caps of bottles) and reaction products formed during heat sterilization. Maybe glass jars are better than cans, but who knows.

If you plan on consuming it daily (which is really good in many nutritional dimensions), then avoiding canned would be important.

Tip: buy an instant pot (or similar electric cooker, preferably pressurized for beans and chickpeas). You can soak the legumes overnight, rinse in the morning, and put them to cook on Monday morning — making a batch for the week. If you have a set of ground spices you enjoy you can prepare a mix in advance and simply add that to the pot before cooking. 

Bonus for making your own food: you can more easily control the amount of Sugar, Oil, and Salt, or even go completely SOS-free 

Edited 2 hours ago by PsychedelicEagle

[Sugarcoat]

41 minutes ago, PsychedelicEagle said:

or even go completely SOS-free 

Have you tried that, and if so have you experienced benefit to it, or will it forever just taste bland ?

[Jannes]

59 minutes ago, PsychedelicEagle said:

Legumes are super healthy; if you won't eat legumes if not canned, what would you be eating instead? Always compare a food to what you would replace it with.

In terms of toxins, canned/packaged foods are known to contain a variety of toxins and endocrine disruptors, including: Bisphenols & Phthalates, PFAS, and the breakdown products of linings (e.g., microplastics from the caps of bottles) and reaction products formed during heat sterilization. Maybe glass jars are better than cans, but who knows.

If you plan on consuming it daily (which is really good in many nutritional dimensions), then avoiding canned would be important.

Tip: buy an instant pot (or similar electric cooker, preferably pressurized for beans and chickpeas). You can soak the legumes overnight, rinse in the morning, and put them to cook on Monday morning — making a batch for the week. If you have a set of ground spices you enjoy you can prepare a mix in advance and simply add that to the pot before cooking. 

Bonus for making your own food: you can more easily control the amount of Sugar, Oil, and Salt, or even go completely SOS-free 

Yeah yeah .. did all that .. have an instant pot but this is still too much hassle for me. Gradually I did it less and less. 

I never got the spices as good as I have them with my store bought lentil soup. And I can choose daily what I want to cook, instead of needing to go through the pre cooked batches. 

In Europe regulation on food is better then in the US, many canns are laminated with non BPA material on the inside. So maybe thats not so bad is my rationale. 

[PsychedelicEagle]

29 minutes ago, Sugarcoat said:

Have you tried that, and if so have you experienced benefit to it, or will it forever just taste bland ?

I have been SOS-free (with the exception of olive oil) for the last 2y.

Sugar I get from whole fruits; never missed any industrialized or more artificial type of dessert.

As for salt, my palate adjusted over the course of a month, but of course adding salt (in the rare occasions when I still have it) makes it more tasty. But I love what I eat on a regular basis, so generally quite adapted. The major benefit besides lower sodium intake is you are better able to control how much you eat. 

Edited 1 hour ago by PsychedelicEagle

[PsychedelicEagle]

5 minutes ago, Jannes said:

In Europe regulation on food is better then in the US, many canns are laminated with non BPA material on the inside. So maybe thats not so bad is my rationale. 

Makes sense, especially glass containers, I think. I live in Europe too (Switzerland), but I am a bit extreme with my health interventions so I like to avoid as much canned/packaged/processed as possible.

[integral]

5 hours ago, Jannes said:

After a certain quantity of lentils I feel like my stomach cant handle it well anymore. Maybe 1k calories of red lentils in one sitting or something like that. 

The bigger problem is farting in my experience which is why I go for smaller portions. 

Try preparing it the way Brian does to get all the enzymes and digestive support (food synergy) see if there a difference
 

Quote

How long have you tried lentils? Your stomach needs time to adabt.

Its possible

Quote

Why are they so healthy?

Less digestive stress, less inflamation (body damange)

Edited 22 minutes ago by integral