With the weather warming up, schools letting out, and summer nearly in full swing, many of us will find ourselves going to neighborhood cookouts or picnics in our favorite parks.  For many of us that means salads.  A good salad is a great addition to any cookout or picnic.  In the spirit of summer cookouts, here’s the recipe for one of my favorite salads.
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When we think ‘soy’ we generally think of its two major components, soy protein and soy isoflavones. Research on the possible benefits of soy for the relief of hot flashes, night sweats, and other common menopause discomforts have looked at either soy isoflavones alone or soy protein that contains the isoflavones.  To date, the great majority of these studies have reported that soy protein with its isoflavones intact and purified soy isoflavones alone both help alleviate hot flashes, night sweats and other menopause discomforts. New studies continue to examine the benefits of soy for menopause discomforts in an attempt to look at specific populations and to determine the amount of isoflavones needed to provide the best menopause relief.
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Protein shakes are an easy and delicious way to boost your protein intake.  But sometimes we all prefer to make our protein shakes a bit more flavorful.  That’s where protein shake recipes come in.  Protein shake recipes can turn a simple protein shake into a cool, refreshing treat, particularly in the rapidly approaching hot weather.  In honor of Memorial Day, I have provided three of my favorite protein shake recipes.  Not only will these protein shake recipes add a little color to your day, they will make a cool and refreshing part of your holiday weekend.
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Perimenopause is a natural stage of a woman’ life during which hormone levels, particularly estrogen, begin to decline naturally and gradually due to a slowing in the production of these hormones by the ovaries.  This can typically start in a woman’s late-30s to mid-40s and can last for several years.  While this change during perimenopause usually goes unnoticed in the beginning, declining estrogen levels eventually reach a point where women start to experience irregular menstrual periods as well as signs often thought of as belonging solely to menopause itself.  These perimenopause (and menopause) discomforts include hot flashes, night sweats, difficulty sleeping, mood changes, and more.  Unfortunately, perimenopause can last for several years and officially does not end until a woman misses 12 consecutive menstrual periods, at which point she has reached menopause.
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Soy protein foods come in a variety of forms and flavors to suit just about everyone’s tastes and needs.  Soy protein foods can include items like soy burgers, tofu, soy shakes, soy bars, soy pasta, soy snacks and much more.  While soy protein foods can be eaten by just about everyone to meet their daily nutritional needs, it often seems like many endurance athletes do not realize that soy protein foods are an excellent choice for optimizing their workouts.
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We all love to snack; I know that I certainly do.  Unfortunately, many of us make snacking choices that are not has healthy or nutritious as they could be.  Instead of choosing snacks that might provide us with a number of nutritional benefits, we often choose to snack on chips or dessert-type snacks.

Soy nuts (also called soynuts) make much healthier options than many of the other snacks we typically choose, including typical peanuts.  While most nuts are a healthier option than many other types of snacks, not all nuts are the same.  For example if we were to compare Revival Lightly Salted soy nuts to typical lightly salted dry roasted peanuts based on similar serving sizes, the results might surprise you.  While soynuts and peanuts have similar calorie content, Revival Lightly Salted soy nuts have about half the amount of calories from fat and about half the amount of total fat.  Additionally, Revival Lightly Salted soynuts have slightly less sodium and slightly more protein than your typical lightly salted dry roasted peanuts.  This is because soynuts are made from soybeans, which are higher in protein than most other vegetables.
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In our search for convenience we often turn to vitamins and other pill-based supplements instead of adopting healthier eating habits.  Many vitamins, minerals, and other supplements can be an important part of our efforts to lead a healthier lifestyle, but we shouldn’t rely on them as sole sources of micronutrients.  Instead they should be complementary to a healthy diet to ensure we obtain all the nutrients our bodies need.
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A soy bar can be a delicious and convenient on-the-go meal for those of us that seem to be constantly on the run.  Soy protein bars can be a good source of soy protein, a high quality protein that meets all of our protein nutrition needs.  This makes the right soy bar a perfect for many of us trying to make good dietary choices in our busy lifestyles.  However, not all soy protein bars are created equal.  Let’s take a look…
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Just about all of us love to snack.  It might be a mid-morning snack to help you make it to lunch, a mid-afternoon snack to boost energy, or an evening snack to curb late-night hunger.  No matter when we snack, we often don’t make the wisest of snacking choices.

That afternoon snack might be our favorite candy bar, which might help boost energy due to its sugar content, but it will not keep the hunger away for long and the crash after the initial sugar rush can be more draining than not snacking at all.
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One of the concerns that are often voiced about soy foods is that consuming soy foods negatively affects a person’s iron and zinc levels.  This concern is due to the fact that soybeans, like many other vegetables, have a relatively high content of phytic acid, which binds minerals like iron and zinc and can thereby potentially decrease their availability.  Additionally, a couple of studies examining mineral availability after consuming a single meal suggested that soy foods can negatively affect mineral absorption.  However, the impact of consuming soy foods on a regular basis over time, rather than in a single meal, on mineral status is less clear.
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