The excellent taste of nutritious pea porridge in an amazing way combines with a minimum of calories and expressive benefits for the whole body.
It is useful at any age, as well as during pregnancy. But, it is important to know about in which cases there is harm from pea porridge.
What is pea and how does its composition affect the benefits of pea porridge
Pea is one of the most common and ancient legumes known to man.
Peas of milk ripeness, the one in the pods, eat fresh, added to salads and stews, frozen in reserve, and also canned.
But most of the crops are intended to be turned into cereals (for which peas are peeled and dried to a moisture content of 13-15%).
It can have a yellow, reddish or green color - all varietal varieties are almost equally healthy and very tasty. True, it is impossible not to note the unique feature of green grits - it contains pyridoxine (a special form of vitamin B6), necessary for the body to break down and synthesize amino acids.
Pea groats are divided into three varieties:
• whole grains;
• chopped peas (halves);
• peas crushed by particles (can be larger and very small, almost like semolina).
Often, the preparation of cereals is preceded by its preliminary many-hour soaking in water. And you can take peas flattened into flakes - a semi-finished product, which is enough to pour boiling water on and let them brew.
Pea porridge is cooked in water or broth, but not in milk - in this environment, peas are poorly prepared. If you really want with milk - the cereal is brought to readiness in water, and then milk is poured and boiled with it for a couple of minutes.
In order not to impair the taste of the dish, pea porridge is salted at the end of cooking.
In some recipes, pea porridge is called peas.
Pea porridge can be left as is, or chopped in mashed potatoes.
Porridge can be a side dish, stuffing in a pie and cabbage rolls, or, especially if vegetables and meat are added to it - the main nutritious dish.
In a store, it is better to choose cereals produced no earlier than 12 months ago, because although peas are theoretically stored much longer, in practice it becomes more stringent over time, worse digested and absorbed.
Peas are the record holder for protein content among other cereals. If we consider its proteins, coupled with amino acids, it will be possible to compare pea dishes with meat food, and their digestibility will be no worse.
The benefits of pea porridge will be noticed even by those who value protein for the opportunity to build muscle.
A plate of pea porridge provides up to 10% of the daily requirement for magnesium, fluoride and calcium. This bean culture contains a lot of sodium, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium and zinc.
It is also worth noting the benefit:
• aluminum, important for the regeneration of bone, muscle and connective tissue;
• silicon, necessary for lung health and the functioning of endocrine glands;
• selenium - being an antioxidant, it neutralizes the destructive effect of heavy metals and radiation (natural from the sun and artificial from human activities).
The abundance of B vitamins has a positive effect on the health of oily skin and mucous membranes, and this is reflected not only in, say, the prevention of dermatitis, but also in the fact that the effects of diseases of the body as a whole are not reflected on the skin. For example, acne can occur with hormonal failure or digestive disorders, and vitamins increase the local protective properties of the skin, preventing their appearance.
Also, each vitamin B is useful for the nervous system, blood formation and the normal flow of glucose into body tissues.
The amino acids present in peas endow it with the ability to eliminate the physical and psycho-emotional manifestations of chronic fatigue and prevent the development of such a dangerous disease as herpes.
The most significant of these is the amino acid lysine, also involved in the production of collagen and the regeneration of severely damaged tissues (from wounds to surgical sutures).
Pea porridge is well absorbed, but it’s better not to load it with the stomach at night, but to eat it in the morning or in the afternoon, especially with significant physical exertion - very well, it will saturate for a long time and create a large supply of physical strength, because peas are slow (complex) carbohydrates.
The average energy value of 100 g of pea cereal porridge is about 75 kcal and, of course, this indicator can vary significantly depending on the recipe.
We can say that pea porridge for a figure is as good as high-quality pasta. In addition, peas have the ability to establish a fat metabolism.
It is not forbidden even to spend fasting days on pea porridge, they are usually consumed 3-4 times, and also supplemented with fresh vegetables and fruits.
How else is the benefits of pea porridge
Provided that pea porridge is present on the table regularly, it is quite realistic to expect from it that it will help to cope with migraines.
It also normalizes the pancreas, and in relation to the thyroid gland - it supports insulin synthesis at a normal level.
For the prevention and treatment of diabetes, it is also important that peas contain substances that can lower blood glucose levels.
Also, lovers of pea porridge can appreciate its benefits in the following:
• improved vision (due to beta-carotene and vitamin A);
• prevention of gallstone disease;
• establishment of cardiac activity;
• improvement of the digestive tract, including an increase in appetite, as well as easy and harmless perception of food spicy and oily;
• elimination of toxins and toxins from the body;
• improvement of tooth enamel, including such subtleties as increasing its strength and resistance to caries, reducing sensitivity to hot and cold.
Will pea porridge benefit during pregnancy and lactation?
The menu of the pregnant and lactating mother is the subject of her special care, because all food and drink affect not only her health, but also the baby’s well-being.
But small portions of pea porridge will only benefit:
• water metabolism will be improved, including the removal of excess fluid from the body and the removal of edema;
• the work of the liver, which is known to be responsible for cleansing the blood, will improve;
• the absorption of nutrients from other foods will increase, especially iron from meat and calcium from dairy products.
In addition, peas positively affects the formation of the fetus and is even able to prevent pathologies of its development.
And during feeding, pea porridge will contribute to an increase in the quantity and quality of breast milk.
What harm can be caused by pea porridge
The widespread belief that belly feeds from pea dishes is fundamentally wrong.
Indeed, such unpleasant phenomena as discomfort in the stomach, bloating and flatulence after pea porridge can occur, but only under certain conditions:
• binge eating;
• a combination of peas with an excess of foods that impede digestion - fresh bread, fatty meat, smoked sausages, canned fish, mayonnaise;
• violations in the digestive tract, in which peas can be an irritating, provoking factor.
Usually, if there are no serious digestive problems (and other contraindications), if you cook healthy food and know the sense of proportion in saturating it, treating pea porridge is not accompanied by side effects.
In addition, to facilitate its digestibility, you can add dill, caraway seeds or fennel to it.
The continuous harm of pea porridge, and not the benefit, can be with severe diseases of the kidneys and gout, since purines are abundant in the composition of this bean culture, which contribute to the accumulation of uric acid in the body, which can lead, for example, to the formation of kidney stones and deposition of acid salts in the joints.
In these cases, doctors usually prohibit the use of pea porridge.
Also, damage from pea porridge is possible with:
• diseases characterized by circulatory disorders;
• acute form of pancreatitis;
• serious heart disease.
