If you are tired of eating the same oats every day, you can try Miso instead. Miso is a fermented food and a traditional Japanese staple that has now become popular all over the world.

What is Miso – Is it Gluten Free?

Miso paste is a fermented paste made with beans and grain. The beans include adzuki beans soybeans and chickpeas which are gluten free and the grains used include amaranth, rice, millet and quinoa, which all are gluten free and barley, wheat and rye, which are not gluten free. This mixture is fermented for about three months or moiré. This produces a food that is rich in enzyme. You can prepare and use miso in many ways. In most of the cases miso paste is used with other foods. You can also prepare miso soup. The texture of miso paste resembles nut butter and the taste is salty. The colour of the paste differs according to the fermentation. It can be white or brownish.

You can use miso with foods in a number of ways. You can use it with salad dressing or mix it with stew and soups. You may even spread it on the bread and eat. Another way is to use it with onions when you stir fry the onion. You get live enzyme-rich versions as well as the pasteurized variants of miso paste in the market. If you want to get the maximum nutrition and health benefits, you should consume the enzyme-rich variant of meso paste.

Miso Nutrition Facts and Calories Information:

Miso is an extremely healthy food and is full of various nutrients essential for the body. The fermentation process helps in breaking down the complex ingredients in the food, making it easy for your digestive system to function efficiently. The live enzymes in miso offer you a lot of health benefits. Some of the important nutrients found in miso are:

• Vitamin B2
• Vitamin K
• Potassium
• Vitamin E
• Calcium
• Iron

Miso is also rich in dietary fibre and contains some amounts of protein as well. Polyunsaturated fats are also found in miso.

Health Benefits of Miso:

Anti ageing:

We all like to look younger and attractive. Many of use apply large amounts of antiageing creams and serums on the skin to reduce the ageing f the skin. But this is not enough to look and feel younger. You need to eat healthy foods also. This will work from within and make your skin healthy and radiant. Miso is a rich source of antioxidants. These antioxidants fight against the free radicals that are responsible for damaging your skin and making your skin look old and dull. So, including miso in your diet can improve your skin texture and health in the long run.

Anti-carcinogenic properties:

Miso can prevent various types of cancers because of the presence of antioxidants in it. It has a high concentration of genistein, which is known for its anti-cancer properties. According to studies made, the amount of genistein found in miso is almost 25 times more than that found in other conventional foods made with soy. a number of studies made have revealed that miso can protect your body from liver cancer and colon cancer. However, animal trials are not yet been made.

Enhanced digestion:

If you suffer from poor digestion issues, consume miso or miso soup. This will solve all your digestive problems. Miso has the ability to increase the amount of beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract. The probiotic organisms have the power to ease digestion and alleviate all conditions related to poor digestion. So, add miso into your regular diet. It will also help you lower the risks of developing intestinal tract related disorders.

Enhanced bone health:

After a certain age, there is bone density loss in men as well as women. However women experience it more than the men. As a result, you start suffering from bone related issues like osteoporosis. To combat this problem, it is important that you consume foods rich in calcium. Miso is loaded with calcium, Vitamin K and isoflavones. Eating this regularly can improve the health of your bones.

Improves blood health:

Some foods have the ability to improve the quality of your blood. This means that these foods help in purifying your blood and increasing the count of haemoglobin in the blood. Miso is one such food. It is known for its ability to improve the quality of blood as well as the lymph fluids in your body.

Lowers LDL cholesterol:

Our body contains good cholesterol as well as bad cholesterol. We can keep the hood cholesterol in the body maintained. But it not an easy task to lower the levels of bad cholesterol in the body. Miso is rich in antioxidants that can help in lowering the levels of bad cholesterol by eliminating the free radicals in the body.

Protects the body from radiation effects:

When miso is broken down during digestion, the body releases a chemical called dipicolinic acid. This alkaloid helps in the removal of heavy metals from the body. As a result your body is protected from the ill-effects of radiation.

Proper mineral absorption:

When you take soy in other forms, the presence of high amounts of phytates in them can interfere with the mineral absorption. However, the fermentation used in miso makes it great for mineral absorption. It deactivates the phytates, so that miso facilitates mineral absorption.

Strengthens the immune system:

Miso is rich in minerals and vitamins. This makes it great for improving your immunity power to a great extent.

Weight loss benefits:

If you are overweight and want to lose weight, you can consume miso soup. It is healthy and low in fat. This makes it an ideal food for people on weight loss diet. This soup contains low amounts of fat. By consuming a cup of miso soup, you take in only 66 calories. So, you can add it to your calorie restricted diet. Consuming it keeps you full and helps in preventing the craving for junk foods.