Legumes—beans, peas, and lentils—are part of two MyPlate food groups. They are part of the vegetable group. They are also in the protein foods group. When you eat legumes, you can count them toward your protein foods intake or toward your vegetable intake, but not both. So how do you decide which group to count them toward?
When you are figuring your food group intake for the day, start with the protein foods group. Look at the foods other than legumes that you consumed from this group. These foods include meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and nuts. Remember that most teens need 5 to 7 ounce-equivalents from the protein foods daily, depending on their calorie needs. If you meet this recommendation from foods other than legumes, you can count the legumes you eat toward your vegetable group intake. Otherwise, count them toward your protein foods group intake.
Count cooked dry beans cup for cup toward the weekly recommendation of legumes from the vegetable group. The recommendation is 3 to 3½ cups weekly, depending on calorie needs.
As an example, imagine you have a daily calorie need of 2,200 calories. Your recommended daily intake would be 6 ounce-equivalents from the protein foods group. Suppose you have a 6-ounce steak and ½ cup of baked beans for dinner. You would have met all your needs from the protein foods group with the steak. Therefore, the baked beans would count toward your weekly need of 3 cups of legumes from the vegetable group.
If your daily calorie need is 2,800 calories, however, you would need 7 ounce-equivalents from the protein foods group. In this case, 6 ounce-equivalents would come from the steak. The other ounce-equivalent would come from ¼ cup of the baked beans. The remaining ¼ cup of baked beans would then be counted toward your weekly needs from the vegetable group.
Keep in mind that your food group needs are met by all the foods you eat throughout the day. You do not need to meet your needs from a single meal, as in these examples.
Use this information about how to count the legumes in your diet as you answer the questions that follow.