Health benefits
The vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in peas can provide important health benefits. For example, vitamin C is important to help your body recover from injuries and keep blood vessels and muscles healthy. Over time, getting enough vitamin C can also help boost your immune system.
Peas are also rich in potassium, which is an important mineral for maintaining healthy heartbeat and kidney function, and plays a key role in muscle contraction.
In addition, peas can also provide other health benefits, such as:
Bone health
Pea is an excellent source of vitamin K, which plays an important role in keeping the skeletal system strong. Vitamin K helps process calcium and add it to your bone cells. This helps prevent bone problems such as osteoporosis and fractures. Vitamin K is also important to help your blood clots effectively, which can help your body heal faster.
Immune health
Pea is also a great help to your immune system. They are rich in β-carotene and vitamin A, which are important for the growth of immune cells. Vitamin A helps your body protect itself from bacteria and viruses by supporting the growth and proliferation of immune cells. In addition, the vitamin C in peas can help strengthen your immune system by supporting healthy blood cells, especially white blood cells.
Digestive health
Peas are rich in dietary fiber, especially if you eat pods. Insoluble dietary fiber can help feed the "good" bacteria in the digestive system and act as a prebiotic. This helps keep your digestive system healthier and more efficient. This is also an excellent way to increase stool volume because it does not break down in your stomach, which may help relieve constipation. Finally, dietary fiber may also help reduce your risk of certain cancers.
Nutrition
Peas are rich in folic acid , which is important for your body to maintain healthy cell division and DNA replication. Doctors recommend that anyone who is pregnant or who might become pregnant consume at least 400 micrograms of folic acid a day because it plays a key role in avoiding birth defects.
Peas are also an excellent source of:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin B
- Vitamin K
- fiber
- Β-CAROTENE
- Potassium
- magnesium
- Folic acid
Nutrients per serving
A serving of peas (about 3/4 cup) contains:
- Calories: 40
- Protein : 2 grams
- Fat : less than 1 gram
- Carbohydrates : 9 grams
- Fiber : 2 grams
- Sugar: 3 grams
Things to note
Peas are an excellent source of dietary fiber, but eating too much fiber can also cause stomach upset. In some cases, eating too much fiber can cause gas, bloating, or abdominal pain. Although adding fiber to your diet is beneficial in many ways, it is important to add fiber slowly to allow your intestinal system to adjust. This is especially true for people with diseases such as IBS.
How to eat peas
Peas are the spring season, so you can find them when they are freshest between April and June. However, they can be found in frozen grocery stores or shipped from warm climates throughout the year. Fresh peas should be crispy and click when they are split in half. The whole pod can be eaten, but many people prefer to remove the string that extends from the stem down to the center of the pod.
Here are some ways you can add peas to your diet:
- Add peas to the salad
- Roasted peas as a side
- Stir in the peas and stir fry
- Roasted peas and other vegetables
- Eat fresh peas
- Kimchi peas
