Celebrate Soyfoods Month With These Tasty Soyfoods Swaps

April is soyfoods month, and we have some delicious “swapportunities” to share with you to add more plant-based protein to your diet.

Soy is the only plant protein considered “complete.” In other words, like animal protein, soy protein contains all nine essential amino acids in the ratios needed for health and well-being. Soy protein may reduce the risk of heart disease as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol. Using cost-effective soy in your favorite recipes may help reduce calories, cholesterol and saturated fat while adding iron, fiber, calcium, magnesium and zinc in your diet. Soybeans are also more environmentally sustainable than other sources of protein. Soy-based foods deliver the higher protein per amounts of fossil energy, water use and land resource inputs than animal-derived proteins. Soybeans offer 941 pounds of protein per acre of land, compared to eggs, another efficient land user, which produce only 212 pounds of protein per acre.

Throughout the month of April, soyfoods will be promoted in supermarkets nationwide with cooking demonstrations, coupon discounts, recipe sharing, and online giveaways – making this month a great time for you to try soyfoods for the first time or stock up on their favorite soy products.

Some simple soy swaps you will want to explore include:

• Make a smoothie with soymilk, the only plant-based dairy alternative with an average of 7g of protein per serving.
• Soy nut butter can replace the P in PB&J sandwiches to boost protein and eliminate peanut allergy concerns. Select chocolate soy butter in place of a chocolate hazelnut spread to double the protein and drop two-thirds of the sugar.
• Sprinkle edamame on a salad instead of nuts or croutons for a healthy crunch.
• Try plain cultured soymilk “yogurt” in dips, toppings and garnishes or as an ingredient in baked goods.
• Swap a 1oz snack bag potato chips or 1oz peanuts with 1oz of roasted soy nuts and save about 25- 40 calories and 2-3 g saturated fat.
• Save about 4g of saturated fat by swapping one serving of ice cream with a serving of a frozen soy dessert.

We also have an amazing collection of recipes on our site that are definitely worth checking out.

Let us know if you try any new soyfoods recipes. We’d love to hear how they turn out!

For more information on soyfoods, you can visit www.soyfoods.org.