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Edamame Fix!

Francesca Silva

I have a new food passion – Edamame! For someone who loves Japanese food, I didn’t even know they existed until recently, when I tried some at my cousin’s house.

It was love at first taste.

Of course, that was after I learned how they should be eaten. I started off by popping the entire bean into my mouth and chewing – not good. Then my cousin explained that I was supposed to eat only the bean and leave the pod…yum.

According to my cousin, Edamame is good for lowering bad cholesterol. Well, that sold me. I went out the next day and bought myself a packet – and I’ve been snacking on them ever since. It’s even replaced my passion for chips, so how bad can that be?

Since I’ve been snacking on this “fancy-marketing-name-for-the-plain-old-soy-bean” (as Hubby puts it), I thought I should check out whether it really is as nutritional as so many people have been telling me.

Turns out it is. Half a cup of shelled Edamame is high in fiber, soy protein, and carbohydrates. It also contains about 10% of the daily required value of Vitamins A and C. And studies have shown that soy protein may help reduce insulin resistance, kidney damage, and fatty liver in people with diabetes. Of course, there is a slight drawback to these studies in that so far they’ve only been performed on rats!

But what about lowering cholesterol? After more research, I found what I was looking for – another recent study indicates that soy protein can significantly reduce LDL “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and raise “good” cholesterol (HDL), especially in men. But there’s good news for women too – apparently, a regular consumption of soy foods has a excellent impact on maintaining a woman’s healthy cholesterol levels.

So I’m sold. But I do realize that everything we ingest should be done so in moderation so I’m trying not to go overboard with all this snacking. Mumsie’s tried it a few times and quite likes it but Hubby absolutely refuses to touch it. Well, that’s not surprising because it’s a vegetable and he has a “hate-hate” relationship with vegetables in general.

No matter, I’m enjoying munching on them, and – to Hubby’s dismay – I no longer buy huge bags of chips from the grocery store!

[tags]edamame, cholesterol, LDL, HDL, Japanese food, lowering cholesterol, healthy life[/tags]

2 Responses to “Edamame Fix!”

  1. Andrea says:

    I have a simliar infatuation with Edamame and soy beans. Just today, I ate way too many! I guess I could be eating something that is worse for you, but here’s a great recipe for the beans and a yummy snack:
    1lb Edamame
    3 cloves garlic – crushed in press
    1 shot glass of toasted sesame oil (must be toasted)
    Cook soy beans according to package direction, frozen bags work great, mix in 1 shot of oil w/ garlic, add red pepper seasoning and sea salt as desired to taste.
    It’s great hot or cold!

  2. Francesca says:

    Thanks for the recipe, Andrea. I was getting so bored with steamed edamame so I tried your recipe immediately and it’s great!

    Francesca

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