Participants: Margot Marshall (Host), Dr. Eddie Ramirez
Series Code: HL
Program Code: HL000015A
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00:15 Welcome to "Healthy Living!"
00:16 I'm your host Margot Marshall. 00:18 How amazing would a food need to be to be honored by 00:23 the "United Nations" for a whole year? 00:27 That is it declared 2016 as "International Year of Pulses." 00:32 That's another name for beans or legumes. 00:35 Stay tuned as Dr. Eddie Ramirez tells us 00:38 what makes them so amazing! 01:16 Pulses, legumes, beans - call them what you will, 01:21 they are staple in many poor countries and maybe 01:24 it's time developed countries took notice of the 01:27 benefits of them besides being so cheap - there would have to 01:32 be some compelling reasons why the United Nations 01:35 has declared 2016 as "International Year of Pulses." 01:40 Let's ask our guest, Dr. Eddie Ramirez what they are. 01:45 Welcome Eddie. Thank you. 01:47 Pulses are a very important food around the world. 01:52 And you know, experts especially in the field of 01:54 nutrition, they try to understand what kind of 01:58 food could we promote that it can meet necessary needs 02:03 in the nutrition factors and at the same time be 02:09 economically low so that most people could acquire them. Okay. 02:14 And, after you analyze the different food groups, 02:19 you'll realize the importance of beans and pulses 02:24 in the diet and that's why they are being promoted 02:27 all over the world as the food of the year because we 02:32 know it can meet many of the needs of those 02:35 people in that way. 02:37 Yes, well it's just interesting that they've been a staple 02:40 in other countries but how great they'd be if we, you know, 02:43 there's lots of other good reasons - not just because 02:46 they're cheap, not just about sustainability. 02:48 What makes them such a great food? 02:51 That's right. What is it? 02:53 Tell us some of the things. 02:54 See, in some areas in the world, I mean, I travel very much. 02:57 My last count is 49 countries that I've been to. 03:00 And 25 last year. 03:02 Just 25 last year, yes. 03:05 So as you travel around, you see 03:08 that economics vary quite a bit, you know, I mean 03:11 when you compare Australia to some countries in Asia 03:15 for example, I mean the economic disparity is quite big, 03:18 and people there have trouble acquiring certain foods. 03:24 And especially today, if you are on a plant-based diet, 03:29 I want you to listen the whole length of this program 03:32 because I'm going to give you some very important information. 03:37 See, legumes are an essential component of a healthy diet, 03:43 and unfortunately, especially in the Western world, 03:48 statistics show that actually their consumption is actually 03:53 decreasing not increasing. 03:56 So that international guideline all the way from the 03:59 United Nations, it not only applies to those countries 04:04 in which there are economic challenges but it also applies 04:09 to developed countries in which they need to meet 04:13 those necessary needs. Yes. 04:15 Yes, and you mentioned if you're on a vegetarian diet 04:19 we need to pay attention. 04:21 I'm going to suggest that if you're not on a vegetarian 04:23 diet, you really need to pay attention too! Absolutely! 04:27 So we'll work out why as you go along 04:29 through your talk - everybody needs to be including beans. 04:33 More so if you eat meat, more so. 04:36 There was an interesting study, just published a couple 04:39 of years ago in which they got average Australians, 04:44 a group of 100+ of them, and what they did, they just 04:49 asked them one thing, "I want you to add one can 04:54 of garbanzos per day to your diet." One can. 04:58 Very simple. You know, nothing complicated, it's not expensive, 05:02 it's simple and, you know, at the end of the research 05:08 period which was about a month. 05:10 They did blood samples, they did whole body evaluations. 05:15 The persons had lost a little bit of weight, you know, 05:18 especially those that were overweight. Yes. 05:20 Their caloric consumption per day just increased 05:23 a couple of calories, not much. 05:26 The persons reported that their bowels moved much better. 05:32 The persons reported that they felt full when they were eating 05:37 without needing to overeat and indicators such as 05:43 cholesterol actually decreased. 05:46 So it is simple to do these types of interventions 05:51 as you are applying this. 05:53 That's fantastic! 05:54 I really like that because it was one thing, just one thing 05:57 to do and they weren't being asked to take away 06:01 something and people don't respond well 06:04 to being told "don't do this, don't eat that," you know 06:07 it's like as soon as you think about what you shouldn't 06:09 eat, you know, it brings it to mind when you think 06:12 you might want to have it but to add something 06:14 is a very positive thing, isn't it? 06:15 And probably in a subtle way, it probably did replace 06:19 some of the things that they might have otherwise eaten. 06:22 I love that simplicity and you know, less cholesterol, 06:27 were there any other indicators? 06:28 Yes, so there were the weight indicators; 06:32 there was the cholesterol indicator; 06:34 there was also society - the person felt that 06:38 they didn't need to overeat and so forth. 06:43 So their bowels worked much better and so forth. 06:47 So there are many benefits of adding a more amount of 06:54 legumes to your daily diet. 06:56 And you know, from the old times, people have survived 07:01 with the blessing of these types of foods. 07:06 We found a very interesting Bible verse that we can 07:09 see on the screen, in Ezekiel 4:9, it says there: 07:15 "Take also unto thee wheat and barley (these are grains), 07:20 and beans and lentils (which are legumes), and millet 07:26 and spelt and put them in one vessel." 07:29 So as you can see, from the old days - you know, 07:34 if you believe in the inspiration of the Bible, 07:36 this was actually a message that God gave to Ezekiel. 07:39 And it's interesting, there was a businessman that 07:45 put that same recipe and made a bread out of it. 07:49 Just with the same exact ingredients. 07:51 In fact, that's the name of the bread - you find it in the 07:54 stores even here in Australia, it's called "Ezekiel 4:9 bread." 07:59 And I can tell you, it is one of the most healthy 08:02 breads you can ever eat. 08:04 The reason why is because certain diabetics when they 08:09 eat wheat bread and even if it's whole wheat bread, 08:15 there are certain people that are diabetic that 08:19 their sugars may go a little bit too high for what 08:21 we would like, but when they eat this Ezekiel 4:9 bread, 08:26 it is perfect for them. 08:28 Their sugar doesn't go up and so forth and even if 08:31 you are not diabetic, you benefit from the 08:35 consumption of this. Yes. 08:36 So how interesting this is that something that 08:40 was written even before the birth of Christ, 08:43 still applies to today's world. 08:46 Aren't we slow learners? Aren't we slow learners? 08:49 I mean to think that that's been there for thousands 08:52 of years from a very good authority (That's right) 08:55 and now we sort of think, "Oh," He sort of knows 08:59 what He's talking about, I mean, it's actually not even 09:02 funny - it's tragic because if you think of people who 09:05 suffered and died (That's right) because we don't follow 09:08 the original diet that you've talked about and on other 09:11 programs, you know, the plant-based diet. 09:14 But I still love the simplicity and I can just imagine 09:18 if you're tuning into the program, to do what Eddie 09:22 has just suggested happened in this study - just add a 09:27 can of - well you talked about garbanzo beans, it could be any. 09:30 It could be a four-bean mix; it could be any of them. 09:34 How many different legumes are there? 09:37 Beans, pulse, whatever we're calling it? How many? 09:39 There are more than 100 of them and it's interesting how 09:44 they vary depending on the area of the world that you go to. 09:50 For example, if you go to Latin America, you will find beans 09:56 such as the pinto bean, such as the lima bean. 10:02 Lima bean - yes, got those. 10:03 Then as you go to areas like Japan, for example, you also 10:10 find their own variety. 10:12 You go to China, you find things like the pigeon peas. 10:17 I've never heard of pigeon peas until now. 10:20 That's right! I've never seen those. 10:21 As you've said, "There's hundreds," and we've probably 10:24 got few dozen in this country. 10:26 And then you go to areas like Northern Africa, Mediterranean 10:31 when they eat a lot of fava beans. 10:35 You go to areas like India, man, that's the paradise 10:40 for legumes - I love visiting India. 10:44 Last year I was there twice and they have this nice variety of 10:48 legumes - they're not only in 10:50 one area, but they are everywhere. 10:52 You have the garbanzos, you have the lentils, 10:54 you have the red lentils, the black lentils, 10:56 the yellow lentils and all kinds of combinations. 11:00 And you know, variety is really important - that's actually 11:03 one of the Australian dietary guidelines, 11:06 it's probably true in other countries too to have a wide 11:09 variety of nutritious foods because they've all got their 11:12 individual things that are just maybe a little bit different, 11:15 like the yellow lentil might be different from the brown lentil, 11:18 and so on, and so it's good over time, not all in one day. 11:21 That's like I said! All in one pot. 11:23 But it's just over time to make a point and varying 11:26 whether it's legumes or nuts or fruit or veggies. 11:29 You know, just not to always have exactly the same 11:31 things day after day and meal after meal. 11:33 That's right and you know studies show that even in 11:36 those countries that we were just mentioning such as 11:40 India, such as Mexico, such as Asia, for example, 11:45 there was a study that was comparing how much 11:49 the change on intake has decreased. 11:55 And you know, sadly in Mexico, the bean consumption 11:59 just in a matter of 40 years, the consumption decreased 12:03 by 25% and in India, the consumption decreased 12:07 by 40% which is sad. 12:10 See, as people started to improve a little bit their 12:14 economies and availability of foods started becoming 12:18 more common, many times those people start substituting 12:23 between legumes to animal products and that has been 12:28 reflected - also you can see the correlationship 12:31 very clearly in rates of diabetes, obesity, 12:36 heart disease. 12:38 As the people changed those good legumes 12:42 to animal products, negative consequences 12:46 have come as a result of that. 12:49 And what you showed in that study just in the space 12:52 of a month, those very things we're reversing, you know, 12:56 the cholesterol, the heart disease and the diabetes 12:59 just in a short time and that's what I think is so exciting 13:02 to think that we can turn things around in a short time. 13:05 That's right! Isn't that wonderful. 13:07 It's not like you have to think, "Oh, this is going to take 13:10 years, I don't know if I can do it." 13:11 But if you've got a goal to reach and it's just 13:15 fairly close, you think, "Oh, I can do it, 13:16 I can do a month, I can do this for a month," 13:19 and just add a can of beans and it's so cheap! 13:22 So cheap compared to meat, I mean and you know, 13:26 even in Australia, 1 in 10 people rely on food relief 13:31 every year - that's a lot. Yes. 13:33 And we don't always realize that - we just think 13:36 and we know there are countries where people are really, 13:38 you know, not getting enough to eat - it happens here. 13:42 And even if you don't have economic problems, 13:45 I want you to get a paper and a pen and I want you to write 13:50 the following information: 13:52 See, if you are switching towards a vegan diet, 13:57 (a vegan diet is a diet that is excluding the animal products 14:05 in general), you need to make sure that you are eating 14:11 enough proteins - specifically, we are concerned about lysine. 14:17 So let me tell you this way, if you're a female and you're 14:24 not eating legumes, for example, you could use rice and to meet 14:30 your caloric needs with rice, just if you were to eat rice 14:34 in one day and you're a female, you need 10 cups of rice. 14:38 That's what you would need to meet your caloric need. 14:42 That's rather a lot! More than anyone would eat. 14:45 You still won't meet your lysine requirement. Okay. 14:49 You would have to eat 18 cups of brown rice in order 14:56 to meet your lysine requirement. 14:58 So if you are on a vegan diet, you need to incorporate 15:05 legumes and pulses in your daily diet. 15:10 So how much are we talking about? 15:13 Well if you analyze the nutritional content 15:18 it's about 2 servings per day that will meet your 15:24 lysine requirement. 15:26 Now if you want to be sure that you're 15:28 really, really meeting them, I would encourage you 15:30 to actually make that 3 servings per day. 15:35 So what are those servings? 15:36 Let me give you some examples so that you can 15:39 have some facts and you can use them as a guideline 15:46 as you are planning your meals and so forth. 15:49 So 1 serving, for example, would be 1/2 cup of beans, 15:53 okay, that's 1 serving. 15:55 One-half a cup of tofu or tempeh, 50 to 80 grams 16:01 of vegemeat, you know, the one that is made out of soy; 16:07 1 cup of soymilk - that's a blessing of today having that 16:13 with so much availability and if you prefer to use something 16:22 more like peanuts and so forth, well you would have to eat about 16:26 1/4 cup of peanuts - that is 1 serving. 16:31 Because they're actually a legume, aren't they? 16:33 That's right, they are legumes nutritionally speaking. Yes. 16:38 Or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter that would meet that. 16:43 So if you don't like beans and you say, "Well, you know, 16:46 now I see that I need to incorporate this, 16:48 let me give you some other servings equivalent. 16:52 What would be 1 serving? So it would be like 1/4 cup 16:55 of pistachio nuts, 1/2 cup of cashews and you can 17:02 easily meet these needs. 17:04 For example, in your breakfast you eat bread 17:08 with peanut butter - that's your 1 serving. 17:11 For lunch you can eat a wrap made out of hummus, 17:16 you know, that would meet that requirement. 17:19 And then for supper, you could eat some quinoa 17:22 and in that way, you have your three servings a day. Go ahead. 17:25 Oh um, I can't remember what I was going to say now. Laughter. 17:30 It was just on some point you made there. 17:32 But you know, I just would say this - You're talking about a 17:36 vegan diet; you're talking about a plant-based diet and I'm 17:39 just wondering how people might be reacting to that because 17:42 it's like, "Huh," not everybody but some people might react 17:46 but it's very interesting that although that's the diet 17:49 that the good Lord gave at the beginning 17:51 all totally plant-based. 17:53 The "World Health Organization" (I was just going to say that!) 17:56 encourages that diet - you can go to the "World Health 18:01 Organization" website and they define a complete 18:05 diet as that composed of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, 18:12 legumes and nuts and they call that "a complete diet." 18:16 Yes and that's fact sheet 394. 18:19 You can check it out. Fact sheet 394. 18:22 On the "World Health Organization," I was actually 18:25 quite surprised because we don't get that in Australia, 18:27 we get, you know, "Australian Guide to Healthy Eating," 18:30 includes some animal products, not as many as that used to, 18:33 and probably other countries, but when I saw that I was, 18:36 "wow, that's amazing!" 18:37 And if you still have further doubts, go ahead and find 18:42 the position statement of "The American Dietetic Association." 18:48 Just put "American Dietetic Association," vegetarian diets." 18:51 And the official position of the organization says 18:56 that a vegetarian or a vegan diet provides all the 19:02 nutrients that are needed to have good health and it 19:07 says there very clearly, go and read it on your computer, 19:11 that this is adequate for pregnant women, children, 19:16 people developing, elderly people and people doing sports. 19:21 Yes,..., so that's right and it's very 19:24 well documented there. 19:27 So again coming to the point of vegan diets and the need for 19:31 legumes, if you are not eating enough lysine in your diet, 19:38 this will be reflected in your muscle mass; 19:42 it will be reflected in your bones. 19:46 So especially ladies need to make an effort to eat 19:51 enough lysine in their diet by eating enough legumes. 19:57 So this needs to be something that is important, you know, 20:01 because we're talking about your long-term health. 20:05 And you know, also in the past, we thought that you have 20:10 to eat a complete protein in one meal - today our 20:16 modern understanding of nutrition tells us that 20:18 there is a buffer effect, so you can eat part of your 20:23 essential amino acids in the morning, then later in the day 20:27 you eat the other parts and you will get good, plenty 20:31 nutrition out of them. 20:32 Also another concern is if the protein of the vegetable 20:37 is sufficient - the reality is that it is. 20:42 You know, it's interesting, when you go and see the 20:44 most strong animals in the planet, I mean you see a 20:49 horse - all the muscle mass and so forth - how many 20:53 steaks did the horse eat, you know? 20:55 How many steaks did the bull eat to have that 21:00 tremendous muscle mass. 21:01 It's just grass that they were eating that helped them 21:06 get that muscle mass. 21:08 So yes, there is plenty of protein. 21:11 Now, if you are going to go on a vegan diet, 21:14 we do need you to eat little bit more than the usual amount 21:20 of protein but it is just a little bit more. 21:24 So by adding those legumes, you meet that requirement. 21:29 Now I suppose - I'm just imagining that people, 21:33 you know, tuning into this program they're thinking 21:37 about the down side of beans because, you know, 21:41 you hear that and some people are very wary about 21:44 using them because of the antisocial factor 21:47 that comes into it. That's right. 21:48 But I thought about that, well go on, tell us about it. 21:51 Yes, so when you are introducing these beans, the problem 21:59 of today's society is that we eat too little fiber. 22:05 This is a huge public health problem in Australia, 22:08 and that's why colon cancer rates are very high; 22:12 that's why damage to the colon happens long-term from 22:16 having constipation problems and you get this diverticulitis, 22:20 this damage permanent to your colon which is dangerous 22:25 yet very, very common in Australia. 22:29 So your digestive system many times is not used to 22:33 dealing with this problem. 22:36 So what I want you to do is I want you to add those 22:40 legumes little by little and then your intestinal flora, 22:45 your bacteria that you have inside actually starts changing. 22:50 See, beans have what is called "a prebiotic effect," 22:57 in other words, when you are eating these legumes 23:01 and pulses, you are encouraging in your system the growth 23:06 of beneficial type of bacteria that will have long-term 23:14 effects and will have an effect in your health and also 23:18 in your longevity. 23:19 So, for example, when you have these legumes as you are 23:26 eating them, there is something that is called the 23:29 "beefy dough bacteria" that starts 23:31 to increase in your system. 23:34 Studies show that as you introduce these legumes 23:37 you will have between two to ten-fold more of this 23:42 bacteria while the negative bacteria that we don't like, 23:45 that is called "clostridium," actually decreases. 23:50 So even at the level of joint health, mental health and 23:56 many other aspects, we now know that the bacteria 24:00 that you have in your intestines play a very important role. 24:05 So there is something in the beans that cause this effect. 24:09 Let us see in the screen, a graphic 24:13 about that "oligosaccharides" which are the ones that 24:18 we are talking about. 24:20 The way you process this will determine how this will happen. 24:26 If you eat them raw, if you notice, it has very high 24:29 oligosaccharide. 24:31 If you boil it but you don't soak them before, 24:35 you still have high levels. 24:37 But if you soak them, boil them and then you throw away 24:41 that water and put new water, the levels go very low. 24:45 And, if you add a little bit of alkaline such as bicarbonate, 24:51 and you boil your legumes, you will see that the 24:54 level is very low. 24:56 And finally, germinated has a little bit higher levels. Okay. 25:01 So as you can see, the way you prepare those beans 25:05 will have a huge impact on how they actually will behave. 25:11 In terms of gas - that's what we're talking about. 25:13 In the topic of gas, as they say - "You know there's a 25:18 war going on there." 25:20 You know, you can hear the canons exploding and so forth, 25:25 but as you continue to apply these legumes on a regular 25:31 basis, your intestinal flora will change and will be able 25:36 to handle that. 25:37 You know what, I think the fact that it might decrease 25:40 over time might be very disappointing to young boys. 25:44 I've got some grandchildren and, you know what, 25:46 and I sort of think why don't we turn that around 25:50 and make it work for us and think feed them up so they 25:52 can enjoy all this stuff they seem to enjoy and then 25:55 they'll get used to eating beans and it will help them 25:57 with their health problems later on. 25:59 And not only provides the protein side of things, 26:03 but it will also provide important nutrients such as 26:07 potassium which is a deficient nutrient here in Australia 26:14 such as iron, such as magnesium, such as zinc, such as copper, 26:19 so you are getting a variety of benefits when you are 26:25 incorporating these foods on a regular basis. 26:27 So let me summarize things! 26:29 So what are we getting the benefit 26:32 from eating these legumes? 26:34 Well we need #1 to make sure we are eating enough calories 26:40 and that we are incorporating those legumes. 26:43 We need to eat a variety of whole food plant-based foods, 26:50 and we need to remember to have 2 to 3 servings of legumes. 26:57 And if we are over 60 years of age, I would actually 27:05 advise you to add another serving because you 27:10 need more protein - that's the latest research that 27:14 has come about, in order to maintain enough muscle mass. 27:19 This is a big problem in people over 60, they lose their 27:21 muscle mass and to maintain bone health. Okay. 27:26 Well it's no wonder that the "United Nations" has declared 27:31 2016 as the year of pulses which are beans and legumes 27:34 like we said for all those good reasons that you've given us 27:37 and, of course, they just don't have any cholesterol. 27:41 And I know there's more - if we had more time, we could 27:44 probably talk about more of the benefits but they're just 27:47 absolutely amazing food. 27:49 As they say, "I stopped eating legumes and the only thing 27:52 I got was 3 centimeters off my smile." Laughter! 27:58 Alright, so yeah, they are just an absolutely beautiful food. 28:04 I wish that we just had more time to actually think about 28:07 some of the things, you know, there's no cruelty 28:09 and all of that - so I just want to close with saying, 28:13 beans are good for the health of your body; 28:15 good for the health of the planet, 28:17 and they're good for the health of your wallet. 28:19 So enjoy them every day! 28:21 And if you'd like to watch our programs on demand, 28:24 just go to our website: 3abnaustralia.org.au 28:28 and click on the watch button. 28:30 We'll see you next time. |
Revised 2019-10-01