Hummus Nutrition Value Surprise

kaetra

I always beleived hummus was high in protien and fiber. Checking labels, that just doesn't seem to be the case. 2 TBSP serving has only 2 grams of protien and 1 gram of fiber? That was pretty surprising. Aren't chick peas like one of the go-to vegan protiens?

I'll look around at other brands to do some comparing. Also a 2 TBSP serving is really tiny I think, and it also has lots of sodium so I wouldn't want to eat too much of it.

I tried making my own once and it was a disaster. The skins on the drained, rinsed, canned chick peas didn't do well in my food processor - are you supposed to "skin" each chick pea first? Also, I hate gritty, sand-texture hummus. I love the creamy, well emulsified kinds.

kennie2

high in fat as well

jamiesadler

Hummus is good fro you as long as you are not eating a tub of it daily. Here is an article I found


http://askville.amazon.com/Hummus-healthy/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=8453553

All things in moderation
It's really kind of a misnomer to say that an individual food is "healthy". "Healthy" is a property of your diet as a whole.

You can certainly have something that is UNhealthy, that presents no redeeming value for your overall diet. Twinkies, for example, or arsenic. (The twinkies are healthier than the arsenic, though.)

As for hummus, it can be part of a good diet. It has a lot of fiber: an ounce of hummus has 7% of your daily fiber. If you're eating it as a main-dish (like a vegetarian might), a cup of the stuff has 60% of your daily fiber, about 1/3 of your iron, and 20 grams of protein, as well as various important minerals.

However, it's also very high in fat: 24 grams. There's nothing inherently wrong with fat, especially since some of it comes from olive oil, which has some other very useful properties. It just means that a cup of hummus is 415 calories, about 1/4 to 1/5 of your daily allotment if calories (depending on how active you are, your gender, your size, etc.)

In comparing it to the other foods, you really need to distinguish between two modes of eating: as a condiment, and as a main dish. Adding a tablespoon of most of those items to something you're eating isn't going to do much harm to you diet. A packet of ketchup is 6 calories, and it doesn't really matter that it's pure sugar. The same goes for pickles and mustard, as well as hot sauces.

Mayo is usually used in somewhat larger quantities, and it's essentially pure fat. A packet of mayo (about a tablespoon) contains a whopping 100 calories, and nothing else of nutritional value. 100 calories doesn't have to be a diet-breaker, but it puts a crimp in your ability to obtain all of the other nutrients you need without eating too many calories.

Salsa, guacamole, and hummus are usually used as toppings; you're going to eat more of them. Salsa has the fewest calories, but salsa preparations vary widely. A good salsa made with tomatoes, and without too much added sugar, can be treated as a vegetable: it has no fat, lots of fiber, and many other nutrients.

Guacamole and hummus are kind of in the same category: a tablespoon added as a flavoring to something adds only a few calories, but an entire dish of it is full of fat.

My advice is that you can go ahead and eat hummus, if you like, as part of an otherwise balanced diet. You'll want some lean meats and vegetables to get all of the other nutrients you need (proteins, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc), and keep an eye on the calorie bottom line. But it's not any sort of dietary silver bullet; nothing is.

Healthyby30

I just made this the other day... you can make any variation you want but I really like it instead of hummus! I use my magic bullet, it works really great. I've used chick peas too. Also, you don't HAVE to add the olive oil. You can add lemon juice, veggie broth, extra veggies..the variations are endless!

http://www.lightdelish.com/2011/10/spinach-artichoke-white-bean-dip.html

sblair77

Not high in fat if you skip the tahini when preparing.

I use the "bullet" for making my hummus and it is very yummy. I use low sodium broth and add no salt.

I don't make mine for protein. I make mine to share with friends when they come over.

nickscutie

Try saving some of the bean water from the can and adding it to the hummus when you process it. That may help smooth it out without adding too much extra oil or tahini and will not water it down as much as using water. Also don;t be afraid to let it run through the processor for a solid few minutes, that should take care of the bean skins. You definitely don't need to skin each chickpea! Haha, that would take forever.

I have also cooked my own chickpeas from dry beans and made hummus and it came out great, so if you have the time to try that, I would. You can cook a huge pot of beans, break them down into smaller packs and freeze them in their cooking liquid.

Jen788134

Is that how you spell houmous in the states? It's a shame it has so much fat/cals as I love it too!

cbirdso

I have a vita-mix so I make my own, too. The vita-mix makes it ultra smooth. Mine is not high in fat or sodium, but I use it as a condiment, not a meal. It is a nice alternative on crackers or gardenburgers.

dukebytes

I use canned Chick Peas (Bush brand, they are gluten free) and make my own Hummus all the time. If you do not like it "gritty" a lot of folks use some plain yogurt when they make it to make it more creamy. I have milk allergies so I'm not sure if that will work or not - try at your own risk. You can use more olive oil in it to make it more smooth, but that will also add more fat to it too...

Anyways, my recipe for hummus:

2 cans of drained chick peas, 1 large tomato, 5 TBSP or cloves of chopped garlic, 8-10 green olives, 1 small green/yellow/red pepper, 2 TBSP of sweet Basile and olive oil to desired taste or texture.

Split the tomato and pepper and remove the seeds (i hate seeds in stuff), and just add everything to the food processor. And if you want to take the time, roast the pepper 1st. Sometimes I make it with a little dried onion and use some different spices too.

You can basically add anything you want, as long as you don't make soup out of it Give it another try!!

kaetra

Thanks everyone! I am definitely gonna try to make my own soon to see if I can make a healthier version!