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The best (and worst) types of soy to eat:

  All of soy’s potential benefits come with an important caveat: To reap them, you need to pick minimally processed forms of soy — think tempeh, tofu, miso and edamame. These foods serve up soy’s entire nutritional package without added sugar, unhealthy fats, sodium or preservatives that you usually find in highly processed foods. Fischer recommends using tempeh or tofu to replace the meat in tacos or chili, and to keep a bag of frozen edamame around to snack on when you crave a crunchy bite.

  Soy frankenfoods like meat analogs, soy bars, soy yogurts, or protein powders usually only contain soy protein isolates, rather than nutrition from the whole soybean. "Just as other processed foods are lower in nutrient density, removing the protein from the other enzymes and bacteria needed for digestion affects the nutritional quality," says Taz Bhatia, MD, integrative health expert and author of What Doctors Eat.

  As for how often you should eat soy? As with all foods, moderation is the way to go. Generally, three to five servings of minimally processed soy foods per week are perfectly fine, Bhatia says. If you’re unsure, or you have an underlying health condition (like hypothyroidism), bring it up with your doctor the next time you discuss your diet. If you want to mix it up with other plant-based proteins, consider incorporating more legumes, such as lentils and chickpeas into your diet, as well as hemp seeds ad quinoa, Fischer suggest.

Original URL :
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/a20707020/is-soy-good-or-bad-for-you/