The Wonders of the Soy Bean - Their Essential Health Benefits

I was hungry the other day and started to munch on crunchy soy nuts - and wondered what gives with their health benefits. So I already knew and have read that they were healthy for woman and men, but especially women and wanted to know further what really gives as to their healthy benefits for us women. What was inside these little crunchy 'nuts' which were really beans, and how does it help one's body?

So after uncovering a few tidbits of information and some useful links I share this with you.

Soy Nuts are really roasted soy beans, they are not nuts at all. A one ounce serving has four (4) grams of fat of which three (3) grams are unsaturated fats. A serving may contain 120 calories, but it has over 10 grams of protein. Soy nuts comes in a variety of flavored options such as salted, unsalted, BBQ and many other flavors. Watch out for salt content, if you are watching your salt and remember because of the calorie amounts should you be counting those as well, they can easily add some weight to your belly if you are not watching the amount you are shoveling into your mouth.

This does not mean you should avoid them at all, quite the contrary! Soy nuts also contain isoflavones which are phytochemicals that help prevent heart disease and a variety of cancers. And due to the amount of fiber and protein, these little puppies pack a nice amount of nutrition to help you stave your appetite until lunch and dinner time.

Roasted soy nuts are great to add to a salad, to yogurt and to your baked goods such as breads and muffins. The amount of isoflavones for one serving is roughly 80 mg of isoflavones and is nearly doubled the amount initially recommended for women to eat on a daily basis in helping their health, especially premenopausal and menopausal women. In perimenopausal women, it also helps to keep that libido going - and for those of you there already, you know exactly what I mean. And did you know this stuff called isoflavones helps with preventing hot flashes? But the current recommended amount is now 80 mg per day of soy isoflavones, which is the amount 'considered helpful for hormonal imbalance'. Women in Asia easily intake this amount in their daily diet, it is no wonder they have low breast cancer rates.

And just as a side note, the soy bean is the only complete plant protein, it contains B vitamins, calcium and even known super healthy omega-3 fatty acids. You really can't get a much healthier plant product - it is also long been known as one of the five sacred plants and the soy bean can be made into a variety of products which some you may already know and have tried: soy milk, soy sauce, tofu, edamame, tempeh - used as a meat or poultry substitute, soy cheese, miso, and even soy flour. The one exception to this is soy bean oil, which frankly should be treated as one would use corn oil, not very often.

If you are a vegetarian, a vegan or even someone who wishes to better themselves with healthy protein alternatives, the wondrous soy bean is your answer. And not only are soy bean products extremely affordable, it is simply silly not to have them handy in your cupboards and refrigerator. Soy protein shakes and even soy bars are a great way to add the ever so important isoflavones into your daily diet.

Be creative the next time you think soy, if you haven't been already converted by this article - you can add soy beans in its many forms in a variety of ways. The important part is to realize you are helping yourself to prevent heart disease, adding a neat plant protein which is easily digested by your body unlike red meat, helping to keep your hormones in balance - and heck as a woman, you know how important that is.

So remember to add soy beans to your varied diet for the best health along with loads of fresh vegetables, fruits and other legumes for optimum health.

Leah Quinn, a multi-media artist and writer whose work specializes on food, health, feng shui, and self-improvement. http://leahquinn.com

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How Minerals are Essential to Building Maximum Health

Minerals are the foundational building blocks of all forms of matter and life. Discover the role that minerals and mineral-rich superfoods play in building high levels of physical health!

Did you know that most of America's agricultural land was documented to be depleted of the majority of essential minerals and nutrients as early as the 1930's? Senate document no. 264 of the 74th congress, second session, 1936, states:

"...Commercially grown food today has almost no nutritional value. The fruits, vegetables, and grains we eat today are starving us to death; no man of today can eat enough fruits and vegetables to supply his body with the minerals he requires to stay healthy."

Partially due to the rapid rise in health complaints in America traceable directly to mineral deficiencies, the role of minerals, trace minerals and M-state elements in maintaining health is now a widely studied science. Why are minerals so important to physical health?

The Building Blocks of DNA and RNA

The Periodic Table of 117 Elements form the basic building blocks of Nature. They are the physical foundations of both basic and complex forms of matter. Our DNA and RNA are built solely of just a few of these elements -- phosphate, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen.

Varying combinations of just four of the five elements -- carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen, are used to construct the amino acid chains that form our DNA and RNA. Phosphate, in combination with a sugar made up of these same four elements, form the structural spiral that holds the various chains of amino acids together. Amino acids form the basis of proteins which in turn build a cell.

An interesting side note is, that a single cell (which is less than a millimeter long) contains two meters of DNA! http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/dna/dna.htm

Proteins, chromosomes, genes, cells, tissues, organs, glands and bone are further developments of the DNA. They are built by forming more complex structures using additional elements of the Periodic Chart.

What does this mean? Our body is a highly developed combination of the Period Table of Elements. If our body were to be in short supply of one or more of these elements, particularly the 5 basic building blocks of the DNA, isn't it likely that a few basic body functions could begin to deteriorate?

Minerals

There are 117 known elements related to the Periodic Table, of which 94 are comonly found on the earth. Minerals are typically either pure forms, or combinations of, the 94 common elements. There are over 4,000 minerals known to exist, with more being discovered all the time.

Minerals are recognized as essential to the construction and performance of thousands of chemical, hormonal and enzymatic processes in the body. Silica, the most essential macro mineral, for example, is required for all connective tissue development. Silica is also required to make other minerals more bioavailable.

Without a sufficient supply of minerals, the body is limited in its ability to manufacture these essential body builders and regulators. To not supply the body with an adequate stock of bioavailable minerals is like asking a mason to build a brick wall without providing the bricks. Bring the bricks on site and the building of the wall can begin. Stock the body with an adequate supply of minerals, then thousands of biological processes can move forward with ease and efficiency. The body will simply clean house and heal itself.

My Personal Success with Minerals and Overcoming Hypoglycemia

In the mid '90's I was still dealing with a severe case of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) which I had had my entire life. My mother was diabetic and on insulin, my father was hypoglycemic with a history of fainting spells under stress, and I had been a major sugar consumer from early on. I suffered from a number of low blood sugar and candida related health complaints.

During my search for an answer to this condition I heard that chromium and vanadium would assist in the reversal of both high & low blood sugar conditions. I thought to myself, "Well if this is true, why take only two minerals? Why not take them all?" So I went down to the local health food store and picked up a bottle of the fullest spectrum of minerals I could find, in this case it was a source of ancient fossilized plant minerals taken straight from the earth and ground up. I took 20-30 of these very large pills every day for 7 days. By the seventh day all of my low blood sugar symptoms had completely disappeared. Prior to this, if I did not eat meat by 10 AM, I would begin to get spacey and weak. After a week on the minerals, I could go until 3:00 in the afternoon without eating anything and still have focus, vitality and grounded presence.

A week of minerals alone however, did not immediately repair the decades of abuse to my pancreas and adrenals from refined sugar consumption, coffee and stress, but it did help to bring about some stability and the reduction of sugar cravings. Over the next several years I made steady improvements in my diet, studied the amazing powers of herbs, and developed several herbal formulas that eventually led to a complete restoration of my pancreas and adrenal functions (these are the primary organs responsible for blood sugar regulation).

Today, at the age of 54, I am in remarkably better health than I was at 20, and in the last couple of years, have begun to feel as though I am actually getting younger by the year! I consume a large spectrum of minerals every day in the form of Himalayan Salt, seaweeds, my own superfood blend (Pure Greens), Sacred Clay (a pyrophyllite clay), and a natural form of M-state elements derived from Black Manna and Mineral Manna. I generally have energy from early morning until late at night, sleep great, wake early, engage in a demanding schedule throughout the day running a growing business, and attend to the occasional needs of several thousand clients.

Due to the health that I enjoy today, I am a strong proponent of full spectrum mineral complexes designed by no one but Nature herself. I do not advocate the use of individual minerals (i.e. isolated calcium, zinc, magnesium, copper, etc.) taken out of context from their original full spectrum source (clay, coral, seaweed, ocean salt).

Science is discovering more and more everyday about the role of minerals in health, yet even if the best of today's science thinks it knows better than Nature, there is a greater chance that it doesn't. Current medical science on the subject of biological health is a mere century or two old (to be generous). Nature has been manufacturing her healing resources for more than 5 billion years! I trust the discernment of Nature more than the best of medical science today, even more than the best of today's natural sciences. There is so much we have yet to learn to catch up with the wisdom of Nature. Why take apart something that has worked so well for billions of years, thinking that we can do better? We are better off just discovering the healing resources Nature has to offer in their most whole forms, containing all the nutritional, biological and energetic components that Mother Nature in her great wisdom put into them, and simply enjoy the benefits. In my opinion, Mother knows best!

Just a Few of the Functions of Minerals In the Body

Minerals are the building blocks of the physical being. Vitamins are merely combinations of minerals. Lacking vitamins, the human body can make some use of individual minerals, but lacking minerals, vitamins can be neither manufactured nor utilized. As stated before, minerals are involved in the construction and functioning of not only vitamins, but also of DNA, RNA, genes, amino acids, proteins, hormones, enzymes, and all organs of the body as well. Every metabolic function of the body uses minerals in some manner.

Here are a few examples of the more commonly known functions of minerals in the body:

The mineral phosphorus is the gatekeeper that allows nutrients through the cell walls and into every cell of the body. Phosphorus is also the gatekeeper that allows toxins to leave the cells during detoxification. Phosphorus is essential to regulating the rhythm of the heart and is involved in virtually all physiological chemical reactions.


Calcium and magnesium are utilized in the contraction and relaxation of muscles. Calcium is also essential to the delivery of electrical signals throughout the entire nervous system.


Silica is utilized in the elimination of heavy metals (especially aluminum) from the system. Silica is also required to build bone, cartilage, connective tissues and to develop healthier hair, skin, nails and arterial walls. Silica is central to inhibiting the aging process and improving skin elasticity.


Copper is involved in energy production, as well as hair and skin coloration.


Sodium is essential to maintaining normal fluid balance, as well as normal muscle & speech coordination. Sodium is also essential to maintaining normal alkalinity in the body.


Manganese is utilized in the proper digestion and assimilation of food, balancing blood sugar levels, increasing protein and fat metabolism, regulating thyroid hormone production, and is involved in numerous enzyme systems.


Chromium and vanadium are primary minerals in the the balancing of blood sugar levels and the metabolism of fat. Chromium is also involved in the reduction of clogged arteries.


Iron is essential to carrying oxygen into every cell of the body.


Boron is vital in the utilization of energy derived from fats and sugars.


Potassium & calcium are central to the regulation of heart rate and blood pressure.


Magnesium is foundational to converting blood sugars into calm, sustained energy, burning fat, maintaining normal heart rhythm, blood pressure, strong tooth enamel, and a positive mental attitude.


M-state elements are the smallest version of pure source minerals, smaller than both colloidal and ionic. M-state elements include monatomic (single atom) and/or diatomic (double atom) forms of an element. Elements commonly found in the m-state are gold, silver, rhodium, iridium, indium, platinum, iron, and copper. I suspect the entire Periodic Chart of Elements can be found naturally in the M-state, but only a few have actually been discovered. M-state elements, particularly rhodium & iridium, are believed to make up a significant portion of the brain (possibly as much as 5% or more) and are likely to be involved in a vast array of brain functions including cognitive ability, intelligence, emotional development, memory, melatonin production and the regulation of sleep, immune enhancement, Human Growth Hormone (HGH) production, tissue regeneration, DNA patterning, and the extension of youthfulness. Even though references to M-state elements can be found dating back thousands of years, modern science has only been taking a serious look at them for the last 20 years or so. http://www.subtleenergies.com/ormus/tw/overview.htm

Minerals are vital to overall mental and emotional health, physical vitality, a balanced sense of well being, and the maintenance of health at every level from the very construction of the DNA, to the development of hormones, enzymes, amino acids, proteins, organs, bone, and skin, to the regulation of every metabolic function of the body.

Minerals are THE most important foundation of physical health. For this reason, minerals are THE most important component of a solid nutritional program focused on creating maximum health.

Proper Mineral Ratios

It is very important to get the fullest spectrum of 94 basic mineral elements in the body -- and not just the full spectrum, but a spectrum that is balanced and proportioned by Nature. Proper mineral ratios are the key to effective utilization of minerals. Too much calcium, for example, leads to magnesium deficiencies, even if adequate magnesium levels exists in the bloodstream. Calcium and magnesium are antagonists to each other (cancel each other out), and must coexist in a specific ratio to be most effective. The same is true of almost all other minerals. They depend on each other according to very exact ratios, ratios which will vary from person to person, from plant to plant, from soil to soil.

When minerals have been formed, balanced and proportioned by Nature, the body, (also a natural organism), can utilize the nutrients efficiently and draw from them what it needs most in the moment. Isolated nutrients, or laboratory concocted designer combinations of minerals, vitamins, enzymes, amino acids, etc. are more likely to throw off the body's very delicate balance, causing greater problems in the long run. More often than not, due to their inherent incompleteness, these imbalanced combinations will fail to solve the underlying cause of a problem, which is often, at the physiological level, just a nutrient deficiency or improper ratio. Give the body a buffet banquet of all the wholesome natural resources it could ever desire, designed and proportioned by the great wisdom of Nature, and let the body, in its own natural wisdom, select what, and how much, it really needs.

Nature knows best when it comes to designing the proper ratios. Whole mineral sources, unheated and unaltered, are the most trustworthy sources of complete mineral nutrition. Clays, seaweeds, full spectrum mineral salts (Himalayan, Celtic, Real Salt(TM), etc.), humic and fulvic acids, mineral rich herbs (nettles, alfalfa, horsetail, etc.), coral, superfoods (blue-green algae, chlorella, spirulina, alfalfa, barley and kumut grass juices, etc.) are some of Nature's best mineral and nutritional resources. In their whole forms they give us the very best that Mother Nature has to offer.

Take your minerals and enjoy the best of health!

G. Michael King is a Life Enrichment Counselor and the author of The Gentle Art of Self-Healing Seminars and DVD's. Michael is also the originator of the Heart Balance Herbal Rejuvenation line of 40+ herbal formulas, and is the international source for Sacred Clay, Black Manna, Liquid Gold Plant and Soil Revitalizer, Solutions for Environmental Cleanup & Increased Global Food Production, and the truly exceptional Mineral Manna -- a Revitalizer for People and Pets. http://www.PyroClay.com

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