Soy Foods for the Diabetic Menu
Mar 14th, 2011 by sandalwood
Foreign to my own upbringing and dietary habits, soy foods have never held any appeal for me and except for using soy milk in recent years, soy foods have been absent from my own diabetic meal planning and diabetic menu.
But I do now realize that there are good reasons to change my outlook on soy foods and modify my diabetic diet to accommodate them, having discovered the health benefits they provide.
Soy foods
Soy has almost no saturated fat and has more protein than an equal amount of beef — and beef IS a source of saturated fats. We need the protein but not the saturated fat. Saturated fats are thought to contribute to heart disease, a major health complication in diabetes and the primary cause of death among the diabetic adult population.
Soy is low on the glycemic index and has glycemic load value of only 1 and in addition to protein, soy also provides fiber. For more on the Glycemic Index and the Glycemic Load, check out Glycemic Explanations.
Dietary fiber
Regarding fiber, diabetics especially should include fiber in their diabetic diet because a meal with fiber slows and lessens the absorption of the glucose into the bloodstream during digestion of other food items of the meal. Whatever helps to lower the amount and concentration of glucose in the blood is helpful to the person with diabetes. For more on this topic, check out Fiber and the Diabetic Menu.
As well as those properties of slowing the absorption that help to lower the average blood sugar levels, many other claims have been made for soy products, including that they have a beneficial effect in helping to lower blood pressure and it is thought that the isoflavones found in soy may be effective in lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Whether further research is able to confirm those claims or not, the other positive health benefits that are known, and the quality of nutrition they supply, are sufficient reasons to warrant the inclusion of soy food products into the diabetic menu.
Grown in America
The source of soy products is the soybean, grown in abundance in north America where it is a major crop for American farmers who produce more than 50% of the world’s supply of soybeans.
Soy “nuts”
The actual beans of soybeans grow in a seed pod and as they mature they ripen into hard dry beans that can be removed from the pod and eaten much like nuts — although their flavor may not appeal to everyone.
Soybean oil
Liquid soybean oil is a major source of the Omega 3 fatty acids in the U.S diet and has many other commercial uses. Interesting information on the oils of soybeans is available at: www.soyconnection.com/soybean_oil/
Soy milk
Soy milk, like other soy products, is an excellent source of high quality proteins, minerals, vitamins, and isoflavones. It has no lactose, the sugar found in cow’s milk, and can be a good choice for people who are lactose intolerant or allergic to regular milk.
The soy milk available in the grocery stores is usually fortified with extra calcium and vitamins and is available in several flavors in addition to the natural flavor — probably because the natural flavor is rather bland.
Whether as a beverage or used in a dish of cooked oatmeal or cereal, I find that the vanilla flavor to be the tastiest, but it is also available in strawberry , chocolate, and perhaps some other flavors. And I welcome those health benefits that soy provides. Soy is now a component of my own diabetic menu.
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