BENEFITS OF BEANS PEAS AND LENTILS

Beans, peas, and lentils are tabooed by the followers of Dr. Haig, the gout specialist, on account of the belief that they tend to increase the secretion of uric acid.

But this evil propensity is stoutly denied by other food-reformers. For myself I am inclined to believe that their supposed indigestibility, etc., arises from the fact that they are generally cooked in hard water. They should be cooked in distilled or boiled and filtered rain water. The addition of lemon juice while cooking renders them much more digestible.
According to Sir Henry Thomson haricot beans are more easily digested than meat by most stomachs. “Consuming weight for weight, the eater feels lighter and less oppressed, as a rule, after the leguminous dish; while the comparative cost is greatly in favour of the latter.”
Lentils are the most easily digested of all the pulse foods, and therefore the most suitable for weakly persons. A soup made of distilled water and red lentils may be taken twice a week with advantage. Lentils contain a good percentage of iron, and also phosphates.