Serving Sizes
Shopping and Preparation Tips
Soy products are substitutes for meat. Many of these products (e.g., slices, patties) are available in the refrigerated section of your grocery store.
Cut back on the ground meat in your spaghetti sauce by substituting half the meat with one of the many soy-based meat alternatives such as soy “lean ground” (a replacement for lean ground beef) or soy “meatballs”. This also adds variety to your diet.
Legumes include a wide variety of beans, peas and lentils. They are available dried, frozen and canned. They are also rich sources of carbohydrate and fibre and contain almost no fat.
Use canned legumes as a healthy fast food! Open the can, rinse the beans and add them to soups, salads, stir-fries and casseroles to increase the soluble fibre (and add flavour too!).
Kitchen Switches
✔ Replace hot dogs and other processed meats that are very high in fat (particularly saturated fat) with roast turkey or chicken breast, lean ham (e.g., Black Forest, honey or Virginia ham) and lean roast beef.
✔ Replace regular eggs with omega-3 eggs – they contain less saturated fat and more omega-3 fats.
✔ Replace meat and poultry in soups with canned beans, peas or lentils.
✔ Replace ground beef with “lean ground” soy protein.
Fibre content of legumes
| Soluble fibre (g) | Total fibre (g) | |
| Legumes (125 ml/1/2 cup) |
||
| Black beans Kidney beans Lima beans Navy beans Pinto beans Lentils (yellow, green, orange) Chick peas Black eyed peas |
2 3 3.5 2 2 1 1 1 |
5.5 6 6.5 6 7 8 6 5.5 |
Fat Composition of Nuts and Seeds
Quick Tip Recipes
Spicy Bean Wrap
In a large bowl, combine each of cooked rice, canned black beans and chopped tomatoes with canned green chilies. In a separate bowl, whisk together canola oil, lime juice and ground cumin, and stir into the rice/bean mixture. Divide among 4 whole-wheat tortillas and add salsa and lower fat cheese. Roll up, slice in half and serve.
250 mL (1 cup) each of cooked rice, canned black beans and chopped tomatoes
50 mL (¼ cup) canned green chilies
15 mL (1 Tbsp) canola oil
15 mL (1 Tbsp) lime juice
5 mL (1 tsp) ground cumin
Tortillas, salsa and cheese