By Kristin Finney
Greene Publishing, Inc.
During the month of April, America will be celebrating and honoring soyfoods month. This means that soyfood advocates will be trying to educate the public about the benefits of soyfoods. Soyfoods offer not only a healthy alternative to our everyday eats, sometimes it even tastes better than its common-foods counterparts. Almost anything can be made using soy; everything from milk to frozen yogurt, hot dogs and burgers, even sausage.
The first thing to be aware of when looking into adding soy to your diet, are the benefits. Soy is lower in fat that their meat counterparts. For example, a soy veggie dog has 70 calories less that a beef hotdog, more than five grams less of saturated fat and 25 mg less of cholesterol! There are soy veggie dogs, soy burgers, soy sausage and much more.
Soy also offers lactose-intolerant people a chance to enjoy foods such as cereal and yogurt. Products such as Silk (soy milk), soy yogurts and soy cheese offer the calcium they need, without the dairy dangers. Being able to consume these products, despite being lactose-intolerant will help to keep their body healthy and make their bones strong.
Some studies even site soy as reducing the risk of breast cancer. Though these claims are not 100%, the more research that is done the stronger the support for this claim becomes. Soy has also been proven to play an important role in the prevention of heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis. A good soy regimen should begin at childhood and continue throughout life. It is simple to add soy to a child’s diet and allow them to begin to love soy foods. Putting some soy yogurt or cheese in their lunch box will allow them to consume soy products, without even knowing that they are. Soy encourages children to maintain a healthy weight and will make their bodies healthier and stronger. Eating soy regularly is also a great way to maintain a healthy weight during childhood.
The benefits of soy are so vast that it is nearly impossible to explain them all. Combining a soy diet with plenty of exercise is both healthy and fun. Soy is often described as the fountain of youth of the food pyramid. Adding soy to your families diet is easy to do and extremely beneficial.
