Issue link: http://e-delivery.uberflip.com/i/776658
Pulses for you and the farm! Good for You! Good for the Farm! Pulses contribute to environmental sustainability and provide unique benefits to the land. PROTEIN PACKED HIGH FIBRE NUTRIENT RICH Pulses are a high fibre, low fat source of protein. They are gluten free, have a low glycemic index and provide meaningful amounts of nutrients in just 1/2 cup! • 9 g protein per 1/2 cup cooked serving. • 2-3 times more protein than cereal grains like rice, corn and wheat. • 1/2 cup cooked lentils provide the same amount of protein as 2 cups of rice or corn or 1 cup of quinoa. • Pairing pulses with cereal grains like beans with corn, lentils with rice or hummus with pita bread provides high levels of good quality protein. • 8 g fibre per 1/2 cup cooked serving. • Source of soluble and insoluble fibre and healthy starches. • 1 cup cooked pulses provides more than half of the daily recommended amount of fibre. • 1 cup cooked beans provides the same amount of fibre as 2 cups of bran flakes, 4 cups of oatmeal or 8 slices of whole wheat bread. • High levels of potassium, magnesium, zinc and iron. • Abundant in B vitamins including folate, thiamin and niacin. • Chickpeas have three times the folate of kale. • One serving of lentils has 1.5 times the amount of iron as flank steak. • 1 serving of dry peas contains as much potassium as a banana. PULSES ARE A LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT FOOD Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, in large part, come from nitrogen fertilizers. Pulses require little to no nitrogen fertilizers to grow, because they have a relationship with bacteria in the soil that convert the nitrogen in the air into a fertilizer that they and other crops can use. PULSES ARE A WATER-EFFICIENT SOURCE OF PROTEIN They use 1/2 to 1/10 the amount of water that it takes to produce other sources of protein. Pulses are well adapted to the Canadian Prairies because different types of pulses can be grown in almost any type of farming system whether it's wet or dry, hot or cold. PULSES ARE GOOD FOR THE SOIL Pulses improve soil health due to the different compounds they produce that feed microorganisms in the ground. This process benefits pulses as well as other crops that grow in rotation with pulses. After pulse crops are harvested, they leave behind nitrogen-rich crop residues that provide extra nutrients for the next crop that is grown. 4 | Cooking with Pulses | Nutrition & Environment