Saturday, March 7, 2009

Garbanzos

By itself, minus its halo-halo cousins, chickpeas may be considered the preferred ingredient. There’s a small study which indicates the efficacy of chickpeas or garbanzos in lowering cholesterol levels in the human body.


As reported in Real Age, one useful site in the Internet, people who ate roughly 25 ounces of chickpeas per week for 12 weeks (3 months) showed an improvement in their total cholesterol levels compared with the times when their diet did not contain any for 4 weeks.

Surprisingly, even their insulin levels also improved, while losing a small amount of weight, without dieting or exercise. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen garbanzos in Sta. Lucia, my neighborhood talipapa, although I have spotted canned garbanzos in my favorite grocery. I wonder if this will register the same results.

Researchers speculate that the fiber, protein and polyunsaturated fatty acids in chickpeas should get the credit for the lower cholesterol results. Garbanzos is also a great source of vitamins, minerals and polyestrogens.

Here’s more: sesame seeds also help fight high cholesterol. They are tiny but rich and nutty and they lower cholesterol by keeping our intestines from absorbing the stuff. They contain an antioxidant known as lignan which is found both in the seeds and in sesame oil, which is a regular resident in my cupboard.

Sesame seeds also contain a powerful antioxidant that may play a role in blocking cancer. We can make a chickpea puree and mix it with tahini, a paste made from sesame seeds. The chickpea puree is called hummus. First time I heard about it but it is supposed to be good as spread on pita bread or whole-wheat crackers or even as a dip for fresh vegetables.

You can bet your last centavo that hummus will be on my kitchen on the weekend.

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