The claims are amazing -- that soy does everything from lowering cholesterol and fighting cancer to thwarting brittle bones -- but the scientists are still arguing. Let'em. Because if you're looking for a high-protein food that's low in saturated fat -- this, of course, is where cheeseburgers and steaks flame out -- soy's awesome. And hey, if it turns out that all those other claims are true, jackpot! (Plus, training your taste buds to love foods that make you younger can make your RealAge at least 3 years lower.)
So here's all you need to know.
1. Drink up. Even die-hard carnivores -- not to mention the lactose-intolerant and people who just don't care for dairy -- like soy milk. (The vanilla Silk brand gets them hooked.) Just make sure it's calcium fortified. A cup of fortified has 200-400 mg of calcium, or 20%-40% of your RDA.
2. Keep it simple. Heavy-duty processing isn't any better for soy than it is for whole grains. Choose basic Asian soy foods such as tofu, tempeh, and miso rather than highly processed soy sausages, frozen desserts, and energy bars. Otherwise, you're likely to find the label full of cholesterol, sat fat, sugar, and sodium.
3. Think whole beans. Soybeans -- widely known as edamame (ee-dah-mommy) -- give you the purest punch of the plant's phytochemicals, especially its isoflavones. Many supermarkets now stock frozen soybeans in and out of the pod, and some even have fresh ones. Keeping frozen shelled beans on hand makes it easy to toss them into soups, salads, pasta, tortillas -- or this hummus recipe, made with soybeans instead of chickpeas.
SPICY SOYBEAN HUMMUS
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
Serve with whole-grain pita bread or as a dip for raw veggies.
2 large cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cups cooked soybeans
2 Tbsp. roasted sesame tahini
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 to 4 Tbsp. vegetable broth
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Roast garlic cloves in shallow pan for 7 to 10 minutes, or until they just begin to brown and can be pierced easily with a fork. Cool and peel.
2. In a blender or food processor, combine cooked soybeans, tahini, garlic, cumin, olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, and soy sauce. Blend until smooth. Blend in broth, a teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
Source: http://food.yahoo.com/blog/beautyeats/16851/the-only-3-things-you-need-to-know-about-soy
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