Softening the Heart: The Benefits of Eating Lentils
The Ridha Naturals blog will be posting articles on the different benefits that certain foods and herbs have on the body and the soul.
Our primary source for both the scientific evidence as well as the evidence from Prophetic Medicine (Islamic medicine) comes from the book Encyclopedia of Islamic Herbal Medicine by John Andrew Morrow, PhD, which you can find on Amazon.
Let’s start with the scientific research on lentils.
Morrow lists two scientific studies which examined whether or not lentils had an affect on reducing risk for cancer.
The first study, by Howard University College of Medicine, was a case-control study of 186 men and women. The study concluded that legumes such as lentils was “negatively associated with risk of colorectal cancer.”
Morrow elaborates on the study’s findings: “Lentils are a good source of dietary fiber and of phytochemical compounds that may play a role in reducing adenoma formation or growth, hence also decreasing the risk of colorectal cancer. Since African Americans are at greater risk for developing colorectal cancer, researches encouraged nurses working with African Americans to encourage consumptions of legumes in order to decrease this risk.”
Another study on lentils and cancer came from the Harvard School of Public Health. For 8 years they followed 90,630 women between the ages of 26 and 46 in order to determine if dietary flavinols reduce breast cancer. Oddly, beans and lentils, which are high in flavinols, had “a significant inverse association” when it came to breast cancer. However, other major sources of flavinols did not yield such promising results for reducing risk of breast cancer. Therefore, further research and evaluation needs to be done on beans and lentils to see if they reduce risk of breast cancer, and for what reason aside from flavinols.
On the spiritual side, lentils are fantastic for softening the heart, reducing arrogance, instilling greater compassion in a person, and ultimately bringing them closer to God.
A narration from the Prophet Muhammad says that “Eating lentils fills the heart with love, washes the eyes of tears, and takes away pride (arrogance).” He is also reported to have said that lentils “soften the heart.”
Imam Jafar al-Sadiq, a great-great grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, said that “Lentil porridge removes thirst, strengthens the stomach, contains the cure for seventy diseases, extinguishes the yellow [bile], and cools down the inside.”
When it comes to safeguarding our general health as well as being a great tool for us to become more compassionate people, lentils are a great addition to our diet.
