easy Heart-Healthy Hummus

February is Heart Month, and here at the ProActive Centre we like to take this month to focus on keeping our hearts healthy. The heart is a strong muscle that pumps blood through the body every minute of every day. It needs some things to stay healthy and strong throughout our decades: exercise, stress management and foods that help instead of harm. This year we’re looking at the everyday foods that keep the heart working optimally.

We all know the foods that aren’t so good for our hearts and bodies - sugar, trans fats, junk food or fast-food in general. But how do we keep ourselves away from these poor choices? One important tip is to eat more fiber. Fiber automatically makes you feel more full, and less likely to eat those foods. Fiber also helps manage the cholesterol levels in your bloodstream, which promotes healthier blood vessels and lower blood pressure. Of course fiber-rich foods also improve our regularity, which eliminates waste build-up and toxins in the body, therefore causing less damage to our cells.

How do you get more fiber? Fruits & veggies are loaded with fiber, and we should all be focusing on eating more of these each day. One of this writer’s favourite ways to eat veggies is cut up, raw and dipped in hummus. Speaking of which, hummus can be heart-healthy and full of fiber as well. If you’ve never made some yourself, you don’t know what you’re missing! Below is a simple recipe for hummus made with lentils instead of chick peas. Let us know what you used your hummus for…

easy heart-healthy Hummus

Green Lentil Hummus adapted from ohmyveggies.com January 21, 2016

• 1 cup dried green lentils

• 3 cups water or vegetable broth

• 1-2 garlic cloves

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1/4 cup tahini

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• sea salt to taste, cumin or smoked paprika optional

  Boil the lentils & broth/water over high heat in a medium pan. Once liquid reaches boiling point lower the heat and simmer uncovered approx 30 mins, until lentils are tender but not mushy.

  Drain the lentils in a colander and return to the saucepan to cool completely, approx 20 mins.

  Place the lentils, along with the rest of the ingredients into a blender, and blend until smooth. You may need to scrape the sides of the blender once or twice to incorporate.

  Serve hummus drizzled with olive oil, sea salt and/or paprika or cumin to taste. Hummus can also be refrigerated in a sealed container for up to a week. Enjoy!