This Vegan Slow Cooker Lentil & Veggie Soup is the perfect addition to your weekly meal plan. It is loaded up with all the nutrients: plenty of protein and fiber from the lentils and lots of vitamins coming from the nutrient dense veggies, to boot! Today, it's finally time for me to talk about pulses. First of all, what are they and why am I giving them any attention? Well...

Just letting you know that this Vegan Slow Cooker Lentil & Veggie Soup recipe is sponsored by the awesome folks at USA Pulses & Pulse Canada!

Pulses are the delicious, protein-packed, sustainable foods known as dry peas, chickpeas, lentils and beans

Why have I never given them the attention they deserved before? For years upon years, I have considered The Movement Menu to be a paleo-centered blog. The reason for that is because I have found a sustainable way of eating that has left me feeling very healthy and feeling extremely happy... long-term!

I have never claimed to eat 100% paleo, but I have made it clear that I used eating a paleo diet as a template in order to find a way of eating what was right for my mind and my body.

Although I started the paleo diet about six years ago, I have tested and tried incorporating many different types of food into my diet {outside of the paleolithic guidelines}. There are a few things I know for sure...

I don't do well with dairy... period. I can consume goat milk products without any issue and have my fair share of grassfed butter, but aside from those two exceptions, it's a no-go!
Refined sugar is not the business. Sure, sugar IS sugar, but I cannot accept letting processed white sugar into my body. I choose to eat sugar from natural sources, i.e. fruit, raw honey, pure maple syrup, etc.
I will not touch soy with a ten foot pole. I've been battling hormonal issues since going off birth control several years ago. I do not need ANY soy in my body, ever.
Gluten and grains don't serve me well. Sure, I'll eat my body weight in white rice if we go out for sushi. However, eating a sandwich on whole grain bread does not serve my body well. I usually get bloated and it messes with my digestion.

with that being said...

]I have absolutely zero issue with organic lentils. I found the lentils I used for this Vegan Slow Cooker Lentil & Veggie Soup at my local market, and I have absolutely zero regrets. In fact, I need to remind myself to incorporate pulses into my diet a lot more often.

What other kinds of pulses are there?

Split green peas (dry)
Whole green peas (dry varieties - NOT fresh green peas like snap or snow peas)
Split yellow peas (dry)
Whole yellow peas (dry)
IQF chickpeas
Dry chickpeas
Raw Chickpea flour
Dry red beans
Dry pinto beans
Dry black beans
Dry white beans
IQF* green lentils
IQF* pardina lentils
Red Lentil pasta
Dry red lentils
Dry green lentils

*IQF means individually quick frozen, sold at many grocery stores in the freezer section, for examples, click here. The appeal of IQF is you don't get the added sodium of canned products but don't have to rehydrate them yourself! -Ali of Inspiralized.com. What's wonderful about incorporating pulses into your diet {if you can, of course} is

"In general, pulses are a category of superfoods that includes chickpeas, lentils, dry peas, and bean varieties. This type of food is extremely sustainable, so the more pulses you eat, the more you can pat yourself on the back for helping the environment!" -Ali of Inspiralized.com

That's something that I feel like the majority of the paleo community has in common with theUSA Pulses and Pulse Canada mission. I've always been an avid supporter of eating nourishing foods that not only are good for me but have not been made in any type of factory or processed in any way. I try to do my part by supporting organic, local and sustainable farming here in Southern California. When I can't, I do purchase meat from online purveyors who I know personally {and in turn, who I know treat their animals very well}.

This year, USA Pulses and Pulse Canada is encouraging us to begin incorporating more and more pulses into our diets, in the form of ½ cup portion sizes (which is one serving!) This soup has one cup of lentils incorporated and plenty of other delicious and nutrient dense food, like zucchini, carrots, onion and red potatoes... yum!