Drinking unsweetened high-fiber soy milk before meals can help you lose weight

The heat of midsummer is unbearable, and schoolchildren love to drink cold drinks to cool off. However, most drinks are high in sugar, and one cup can contain hundreds of calories. After the summer vacation, they may gain several kilograms. Hepatobiliary gastroenterologists recommend that parents can let their children drink a cup of sugar-free, high-fiber soy milk containing plant protein 30 minutes before breakfast and dinner. This can not only supplement nutrition, but also increase satiety and reduce food intake. At the same time, if combined with exercise and a light diet, if parents persist in doing so, they will have a chance to lose weight successfully. (Video/Photographer Jiang Minjun)

Unsweetened soy milk is rich in dietary fiber and plant protein, which can provide the nutrients needed for children's growth. (Photo by Jiang Minjun)

Xiao Dunren, vice president of the Obesity Research Society of the Republic of China and a hepatobiliary gastroenterologist, said that one in every three to four children is overweight, and having fat children at home has become a common worry for many parents. 30% of the causes of childhood obesity are due to genetic inheritance. If both parents are overweight, the child’s chance of obesity will be 5 times higher than that of the average family. But it should be noted that environmental factors have as much as 60% influence. If parents love to eat delicious food but don’t like to exercise, it is easy to raise a fat child who doesn’t like to exercise. Therefore, if you want your children to lose weight, it is best for parents to take the lead and do it together.

Unsweetened and high-fiber soy milk is low in calories and can be consumed before meals to reduce food intake

According to the results of a 12-week "Parent-Child Soy Milk Weight Management Program" by the Millennium Love Foundation and the Obesity Research Society of the Republic of China, four groups of parents and children drank a cup of unsweetened soy milk 30 minutes before breakfast and dinner respectively. This not only reduced the intake of regular meals, but also combined with regular daily exercise and a healthy diet with less oil, low calories and light taste, each group lost an average of 7 kilograms after 12 weeks.

Dr. Xiao Dunren pointed out that soy milk contains protein needed by the human body. Drinking an appropriate amount of soy milk after exercise can allow the body to retain more muscle tissue. Further calculation of calories shows that the average calorie content of every 100CC of unsweetened soy milk is about 45 calories. The way to manage weight with soy milk for parents and children is to let the mother drink 450CC (about 200 calories) before meals and the child drink 250CC (about 100 calories), and then eat after 30 minutes. This will not only produce a sense of fullness, but also reduce the amount of food eaten at the main meal. If you continue doing this for a period of time, you will naturally lose weight slowly.

"I used to be out of breath after running half a lap around the playground, but now I feel a little tired after running more than one lap." After 12 weeks of drinking sugar-free high-fiber soy milk before meals, exercising, and eating a light diet, Gao, a fifth-grade boy, lost 3.7 kilograms. Although the weight loss was not much, his body fat percentage dropped by 7%. He looks stronger and no longer needs to buy adult clothes and modify them.

Soy milk contains high-quality protein and dietary fiber, which helps with bowel movements

Parent Mrs. Gao (left) and her child (right) drank sugar-free high-fiber soy milk 30 minutes before meals, reduced their food intake and exercised. After 12 weeks, they lost weight and became more energetic. (Photo by Jiang Minjun)

Nutritionist Li Ziyi pointed out that sugar-free and high-fiber soy milk contains high-quality plant protein, soy isoflavones, dietary fiber and lecithin. Plant protein is an essential amino acid for the human body and can prevent cardiovascular disease and obesity; soy isoflavones can lower blood cholesterol; dietary fiber can increase the volume of food in the gastrointestinal tract, prolong the emptying time of the stomach and produce a sense of fullness, which helps promote gastrointestinal motility and smooth bowel movements; as for lecithin, the inositol and choline formed by human metabolism can aid liver metabolism and the transmission of brain nerve substances.

Although there are many benefits to drinking unsweetened soy milk, it should be noted that drinking unsweetened soy milk alone will not achieve your weight loss goals. Dr. Xiao Dunren said that the slogan of "eat less and exercise more" is not applicable to children. When parents plan weight loss goals for their children, in addition to paying attention to weight changes, they should also pay attention to the proportion of body fat percentage reduction. Because body fat percentage is the ratio of fat to body weight, if you just eat less but don't exercise, you will only lose most of the water and muscle, and most of the fat will still remain in the body. Once you return to a normal diet, it will be easy to gain weight again.

Cooking less frying, deep frying, steaming, boiling and braising is healthier

"If you want your child to lose weight, the most important thing is to change the parents' dietary concepts first," Dr. Xiao Dunren emphasized that for parents and children, it is best to understand the following five key principles before drinking unsweetened soy milk.

[Five principles for weight management with unsweetened high-fiber soy milk]

1. Parents and children can participate in the program together to increase the sense of companionship and support.

2. Most schoolchildren will have nutritious lunch at school. It is not convenient for them to drink a cup of sugar-free high-fiber soy milk 30 minutes before meals. It is best for parents to have breakfast and dinner with their children at home before school. This can reduce the number of times they eat out and avoid eating too much fat.

3. Keep a daily diet record, measure your weight and body fat regularly, and replace sugary drinks with water and low-sugar drinks.

4. Cultivate exercise habits. In addition to taking time to exercise with your children during work and school days from Monday to Friday, it is best to arrange exercise time on holidays as well, instead of staying at home all day surfing the Internet or watching TV.

5. Change the cooking methods of "frying, stir-frying and deep-frying" to "steaming, boiling and braising" to reduce fat and calorie intake.

Dr. Xiao Dunren reminds that although high-fiber soy milk does not contain sugar, it still contains calories. Parents who want to control their children's food intake and calories by drinking soy milk should never adopt the wrong diet of only drinking unsweetened soy milk but not eating regular meals. In addition, an adult should not drink more than 1000CC of unsweetened soy milk per day. After drinking soy milk, the three meals a day should still be balanced with 3 servings of whole grains, 2 servings of fish, meat, eggs and milk, 1 serving of vegetables, and 1 serving of fruit to obtain sufficient nutrition needed by the human body.