Mexican Cheese Salad - Healthy Food Tip and Recipe

Today's Recipe
If you don't know what to serve for dinner tonight ...
In this easy addition to your Healthiest Way of Eating enjoy the health-promoting anthocyanins found in black beans, which not only give them their beautiful dark coloration but provide you with protection against free radical activity.
Mexican Cheese Salad
Prep and Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:

• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1 15-oz can black or pinto beans (BPA-free), rinsed and drained
• 1 medium avocado, cubed
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 2 oz low-fat cheddar cheese, grated
• salsa, to taste
• juice from lime wedges, to taste

Directions:

1. Chop lettuce and place on salad plate. Sprinkle beans, avocado, and tomato over lettuce.
2. Top with cheddar cheese, your favorite salsa, and the juice of lime wedges.

Serves 2 Printer Friendly Version of Mexican Cheese Salad
In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Mexican Cheese Salad
Healthy Food Tip
I have heard that most of the soy products now on the market are far removed from the whole soybean from which they are made. How does this affect their nutritional value?

I have some concern involving the increasing number of soybean "piece parts" found in the marketplace. An ever-increasing number of processed foods contain soy components that have been extracted from whole soybeans and altered for manufacturing purposes. Anyone regularly eating a variety of processed foods is very like to be consuming these soybean "piece parts" that bear little resemblance to naturally occurring, whole soybeans. Included in this list of "piece parts" are isolated soy protein, soy protein concentrate, textured soy protein (sometimes called textured vegetable protein or TVP), soy flakes, soy milk powders, and other extracts from the soybean that have little to do with its whole food benefits.
In addition to these unnaturally fabricated soy components, there's been an increasing tendency in the marketplace to devalue soy for any of its unique health benefits, and to treat it instead like nothing more than a meat substitute. This approach leads to the manufacturing of soy products that are less and less comparable to traditionally fermented, whole soy foods in terms of nutrition and health benefits. Parts of the soybean are now found in literally thousands of packaged foods, along with marketing statements about the value of soy. But these isolated parts of the bean do not count as the food itself.
Particularly for individuals who have or suspect adverse reactions to soy foods, it is important to look over the ingredient list on any processed food product to determine if it contains soy components, especially soy proteins.