After eating lentil soup 4 -7 days a week for dinner, I have found that I’ve been able to easily lose weight without feeling deprived. The easiest and most lost term way to lose weight is by changing your diet, not exercising. Exercising is better for toning and strength and takes a lot of time. In order to effectively lose weight by changing your diet, the following conditions must be met:
- you must enjoy the food you eat so you don’t feel deprived of eating food you like
- you must feel full when you eat low-calorie food
- the food must easy to prepare and cook
- the food must be affordable
Fortunately, lentils will make you feel full, are very easy to prepare, and if prepared right, can taste very good, and are super cheap. Unlike other legumes like red beans, lentils do not need to be presoaked. I try to eat healthy during the week and use the weekends to eat whatever I want. For me, current food consumption for a typical weekday is
- Breakfast (at home)
- blueberry granola cereal with almond milk
- bread with butter and chocolate sprinkles
- Lunch (outside)
- pretty much whatever I feel like eating (burrito, pizza, kababs, sandwiches, chicken tikka masala, etc)
- Dinner (at home)
- the lentil soup described below
Some Health Benefits of Lentils
- Great for stimulating hair growth
- Great for lowering cholesterol including the dangerous kind (LDL)
- High in fiber. This makes you feel full and feel full longer because fibrous foods like oatmeal take longer to digest and provide steady, slow-burning energy.
- Very low in calories (1 cup of cooked lentils is only 230 calories and you feel FULL)
- Reduces the risk of heart disease
- Lowers blood sugar level and insulin
- High in protein
Lentil Soup Recipe
This recipe is for cooking in a slow cooker. A similar recipe for cooking in a pot is also available.
Ingredients
- 4 tomatoes
- 1 onion
- 1 bunch of cilantro
- 1 green chili pepper
- 1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp Daal spice
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1 cup of red / orange split lentils
- 1/4 cup of water (to put in blender)
- 5 cups of water (to put in the slow cooker)
Preparation
- Cut tomatoes and onion into quarters to put into a blender
- Cut one green chili pepper into 1 inch long pieces to put into blender
- Cut stalk part of cilantro bunch and throw away
- Cut non-stalk-part of cilantro bunch into 1 inch long pieces to put into a blender
Instructions
- Blend the tomatoes, onion, cilantro, 1 green chili pepper, ginger and garlic paste, olive oil, Daal spice, salt and a 1/4 cup of water.
- Put the blend into the slow cooker
- Add the lentils and 5 cups of water
- Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7 hours with periodic stirring.
I personally use the Crockpot with iStir feature which stirs the food every 10 minutes automatically.
Pictures
