Peas with ham, pea soup, Russian salad, rice with vegetables and peas, pea hummus, pea cream, garden-style veal… These are just some of the basic recipes in our kitchen that take advantage of all the culinary possibilities and properties of peas. A food, as we are going to see, of the most complete.
Peas, vegetable or legume?
Its green color may be misleading, but it is a legume, just like chickpeas, white beans or lentils. This is emphasized by María Rosario Martínez Rovira, dietitian-nutritionist and member of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: “It tends to be classified as a vegetable because of its green color, because it is covered in a pod and because it is usually added to preparations with vegetables, type garnishes, boiled or creams. But it is a legume.”
Nutritional value of peas
Their versatility in the kitchen makes it difficult to nail down the nutritional value of a pea dish. “Like any food, when it is subjected to different cooking and processing processes, the contribution of nutrients changes,” explains Martínez Rovira. He refers, for example, to the fact that depending on the method of preparation, peas gain or do not gain water. Something similar happens with the effects of heat on other nutrients. “Some proteins degrade with heat. And depending on how they are made, they can increase their fat content, especially if we subject them to a frying process.”
These are the reasons why Martínez Rovira offers the contributions of fresh raw peas:
| PEAS (values in grams per 100 grams raw) | |
| Energy (kcal) | 62 |
| proteins | 5.4 |
| carbohydrates | 8.8 |
| Fats | 0.5 |
| Source: Spanish Food Composition Database (BEDCA) | |
How many calories do they have?
One of the many advantages of peas is that they are 79% water, higher than other legumes. This moderates its caloric intake, which, despite being a legume, remains at 62 kilocalories per 100 grams. of product. This makes it easier to incorporate into weight control diets, since it contains fewer calories than other legumes, such as lentils or chickpeas.
Do peas make you fat?
“No food by itself has the ability to make us gain weight or lose weight. It would be very easy then, to choose which food groups do each thing and, depending on the patient’s objective, prescribe one or another.” With these words Martínez Rovira answers the question about whether or not peas make you fat.
It all depends on the preparation or recipe. “Without forgetting that gaining or losing weight depends, on the one hand, on the total caloric intake of a day, not only from the plate of peas, but from the entire day’s food. And on the other hand, the energy spent that same day.”
Health benefits of peas
The beneficial health nutrients that peas provide are many and very varied. Not in vain are they legumes. Martínez Rovira breaks them down like this:
- They are a food with a great contribution of fiberTherefore, it helps regulate intestinal functions and combat constipation.
- It contains a large amount of vitamins, such as vitamin A, some of group B and vitamin K, necessary for the metabolism of blood cells.
- They provide minerals, such as phosphorus, calcium, magnesium or potassium, essential for the proper functioning of the nervous system.
- It contains folic acid, an essential element for pregnant women, as it helps prevent malformations in the fetus.
- Rich in protein: An average serving of peas (150 grams) has as much protein as a whole egg.
Does eating peas have contraindications?
Although its vitamin K content is medium, “those people medicated with anticoagulant medicationsThey must control their consumption due to possible nutrient-drug interactions, since they have opposite effects,” explains Martínez Rovira.
If they are legumes, then do peas make you gassy?
Excessive consumption may be contraindicated for some people due to its high fiber content. “Like other legumes, they can cause stomach upset and flatulence or gases due to its high content of complex sugars.”
Some people may have complicated digestion, so they must eat them carefully and not in large quantities. The advantage over other legumes is that for them to produce these effects, you have to eat more of them. Fewer beans produce the same effect as many peas.
Relationship between peas and uric acid
Peas provide a moderate amount of protein, that is, they do not have as much protein as other dried legumes. although some studies point out that excessive daily consumption of legumes in predisposed people could contribute to an increase in uric acid; their ability to generate purines is not nearly as good as that of meat or organ meats.
How to introduce peas to babies with the BLW method?
Peas “are easy to introduce to babies who practice BLW (Baby Led Weaning) or BLISS,” clarifies Martínez Rovira. For example, “For those babies who drink eggs, they can be introduced into the omelet. They can also be offered in cream or alone, steamed, accompanying other foods such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc.
Next, he adds a recommendation: “The most important thing is that they are soft to avoid choking. They can be boiled well and, so that they lose their shape and are easier to pick up, we can mash them with a fork,” concludes the dietitian-nutritionist.
The ALDI Council
Whether you buy them preserved or if you prefer them frozen, don’t forget to place the packaging in the corresponding container for recycling.
María Rosario Martínez Rovira. Member of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and member CV01002 in the Official College of Nutritionist Dietitians of the Valencian Community. She graduated from the University of Valencia in 2020. She has a master’s degree in clinical nutrition and endocrinology at the ICNS in 2021. She is studying the MAES at the CEU Cardenal Herrera University. Instagram: @nutrididacta
