26/08/2026
I had a wonderful Persian meal at on Newcastle’s Quayside but I never leave home without my sprouts! 🌱
I love eating out, and eating healthily certainly doesn’t mean missing out on beautiful food. One of the simplest things I do is take a little container of fresh sprouts with me and add them to whatever I’m eating.
This time I brought mung bean sprouts and pea sprouts, two very different sprouts that added a lovely fresh crunch to an already delicious meal.
🌱 Why mung bean sprouts?
Mung bean sprouts are hearty, crunchy and incredibly versatile. They provide vitamin C, folate and other micronutrients, alongside fibre and plant based protein.
Sprouting is particularly interesting because as a seed begins to germinate, its nutritional composition changes. It can improve the digestibility and availability of certain nutrients, which is one of the reasons I love incorporating a variety of sprouts into my diet.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, mung beans are considered a “cooling” food. In everyday terms, this is a traditional way of describing foods used to help balance the body when there are signs associated with excess “heat”.
🌿 And why pea sprouts?
Peas are naturally a good source of plant-based protein, fibre, folate and several B vitamins, while pea sprouts and shoots also provide vitamin C and carotenoids. They have a wonderfully fresh, slightly sweet pea flavour, so they work beautifully alongside the crunchier mung beans.
For anyone who exercises regularly or follows a predominantly plant-based diet, adding a variety of whole plant foods can also help increase protein, fibre and micronutrient diversity without automatically reaching for highly processed alternatives.
This is what I love about sprouts. I’m not relying on one variety to provide everything. I rotate mung beans, peas, broccoli, sunflower and others, giving me a diverse range of nutrients and beneficial plant compounds throughout the week.
And while supplements can certainly have their place, there is something very different about getting nutrients from whole foods. Instead of taking an isolated vitamin C tablet, for example, sprouts provide vitamin C alongside fibre, minerals and naturally occurring plant compounds, all within the original food matrix.
For people who are eating less, including some people taking weight loss medications, nutrient density becomes particularly important. When the overall amount of food decreases, making the food you do eat count becomes even more valuable.
Healthy eating doesn’t have to mean avoiding restaurants or taking the enjoyment out of food.
Sometimes it’s simply about asking:
What can I add to this meal to make it even more nutritious?
For me, it’s a handful of sprouts. 🌱
