second Good Food standards, does that mean
they’re a healthy choice?
First, legumes, like whole grains, contain
considerable amounts of phytate. Remember,
these phytates bind many of the minerals
present in the seed, rendering them
unavailable to our bodies. This makes
legumes not as micronutrient-dense as you
might think, in the same way that whole
grains are not micronutrient-dense.
As with grains, ancient cultures that
consumed legumes as a major food source had
ways of mitigating some of the issues with
legumes, such as rinsing, sprouting, prolonged
soaking and cooking, and fermentation.
However, remember that specific legumes
were consumed for calories because that’s
what was available. The fact that these
cultures survived on these foods does not
mean that their choices were optimal, or even
good—only that they had no choice. “Properly
preparing” legumes using these traditional