This article is about 1300 words and takes about 2.5 minutes to read
The Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents recommend a daily intake of 25-35g of soybeans and nuts, and 50-150g of whole grains and miscellaneous beans, while a 2015 CDC survey showed that the per capita daily intake of soybeans and soy products in mainland China is only 11g, less than half of the recommended intake.
How can I eat more?
In addition to eating more soy products, another method is recommended to everyone today, that is, to take miscellaneous beans as part of the staple food. Especially for those who do not like to eat white rice, adding some beans when cooking rice will improve the taste and nutrition.
1
What is good about replacing some staple foods with mixed beans?
There are indeed many benefits to using mixed beans as a staple food, for example, if we look at the nutritional composition of mung beans and rice, can we see where the difference is?
| good protein from plant sources
Pulses contain lysine, which is lacking in cereal protein, so pairing legumes (especially soybeans) with grains as a staple food can improve the nutritional value of protein and be very helpful for improving immune function, bone health, and even skin and hair health.
| a good helper for lowering sugar and lipids
Legumes have a much lower blood sugar response than grains, due to the fact that in addition to starch, it also has a large amount of oligosaccharides and dietary fiber.
Oligosaccharides cannot be digested and utilized in the small intestine, increasing satiety while not bringing sugar intake. But it can work with microbes in the large intestine to improve the intestinal flora.
Dietary fiber also has a similar effect of filling the stomach without gaining weight, can improve constipation, and is also very helpful for reducing blood lipids and protecting blood vessels. Plant sterols in legumes can also competitively inhibit the absorption of cholesterol.
In addition, beans naturally contain some enzyme inhibitors, which can reduce the activity of digestive enzymes and also help control postprandial blood sugar.
| reasonable combination and clever quantity
Enzyme inhibitors can control blood glucose and lipids on the one hand, and may also cause indigestion on the other hand. What we feel about "eating beans with bloating" and even "drinking mung bean soup diarrhea" is sometimes related to anti-nutritional factors such as enzyme inhibitors.
Therefore, although the beans are good, people with sensitive gastrointestinal tracts should not eat too much at one time, and the more recommended practice is to match other grains as a staple food to play its complementary role in the superior white noodles of polished rice.
Because the enzyme inhibitors and tannins in the beans are soluble in water, we can soak the beans overnight in advance, pour out the water to soak the beans, and then cook the beans together with other grains into porridge, so that the nutrients in the beans are better digested.
If there is no time to brew in advance, using a pressure cooker is also a way to make the beans better digested.
For example, red bean bread, mung bean pie, which is made into a puree into the noodles is also a way of processing, but the sugar and oil content in this pastry are very high, if you want to reduce sugar and fat, if you can not clearly control the dosage, or do not use dim sum to deceive yourself.
If there is no digestive problem itself, there is no need to process the beans very finely.
2
3 frequently asked questions
Can | eat soy products supplement calcium?
Yes, but mainly by processing, the total intake will not be too high.
Soy products such as soy milk, tofu, and soy skin can retain the protein in the beans during processing, especially tofu will increase calcium and magnesium after the point brine process.
There are also soybean isoflavones in soy products, which can not only be antioxidant, but also play a biphasic regulatory role on estrogen.
| gout can't eat legumes and soy products?
It can be eaten, but it is not recommended to eat too much.
Because of the high purine content of dried beans, many gout patients are very taboo about beans and soy products. But in fact, the real finished soy products for gout patients are beneficial, compared to seafood and meat, soybean products are a good source of protein alternative, of course, for the sake of insurance or eat eggs milk is more appropriate.
| soy isoflavones cause cancer?
Soy isoflavones are naturally active substances that are similar in structure and function to estrogen, so they are also called "natural estrogens". Because of the name, soy products and soy isoflavones have been linked to sensational consequences such as precocious puberty and breast cancer.
In fact, no studies have yet shown that consuming foods containing soy isoflavones increases the risk of breast cancer. [3]
On the contrary, a large number of studies have shown that soybean isoflavones can reduce the risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and other cancers, have a protective effect on preventing bone health and metabolic function in postmenopausal women, and can prevent cardiovascular diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. [4]
Getting soy isoflavones from your daily diet is safe and beneficial.
Do you usually like to eat all kinds of beans? How do you eat them?
Guess why edamame will stink when you eat it...
Resources:
Du Wenwen, Jia Xiaofang, Jiang Hongru, Wang Yun, Li Li, Zhang Bing.Investigation and analysis of soybean and product intake status of 18-59-year-old residents in 15 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China in 2015[J].Journal of Nutrition,2018,40(01):17-22.
Cosmopolitan Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center. Can't gout patients eat beans? Pulse food purine is not high[N]. China Food Safety News, 2018-06-26(A02).
[3] Zhao, Ting-Ting, et al. "Dietary isoflavones or isoflavone-rich food intake and breast cancer risk: A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies." Clinical nutrition (2017).
[4] Li, Ni, et al. "Soy and Isoflavone Consumption and Multiple Health Outcomes: Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses of Observational Studies and Randomised Trials in Humans." Molecular nutrition & food research (2019).