Living life with personality brings comfort and happiness. This principle applies equally to an individual lifestyle of eating and drinking. In youth, the freedom to eat and drink as one pleases, indulging without restraint, was once a source of joy. However, as one gets a little older, the meaning of joy in eating and drinking undergoes a significant change.
I remember when I was approaching fifty. With the onset of menopause, many discomforts often struck, leaving me feeling very vexed.
Some doctors suggested supplementing with estrogen, while others said its side effects were too severe and it was unsafe. A friend told me that food is a better supplement than medicine, and that natural soy isoflavones have a similar effect to estrogen. "Drink soy milk!" she said. I found some nutritional information on food and began to create my own nutritious meals, forging my own comfort and happiness.
Soybeans are a treasure trove. Besides the plant estrogen I needed—soy isoflavones—they are also rich in protein, contain large amounts of healthy linoleic acid and lecithin, have several vitamins and trace elements, and include the fiber that everyone needs. Although I often incorporated soy products into my diet, my nutritional knowledge told me that the best way to consume soy isoflavones is by drinking soy milk. Today's small home appliances have greatly increased our potential for happiness. I use a soy milk maker to make soy congee—a delicious, nutritionally complex staple food for the common person. Unlike soy milk, soy congee can be upgraded to your own needs, making it more nutritious and tastier. The specific method is:
Wash and soak your favorite variety of beans, then add them along with a spoonful of rice to the soy milk maker. After blending, you get a thicker soy congee. This is a full-nutrition congee; there's no need to filter out the bean pulp, as all the "bean goodness" is in there. Moreover, the rice softens the pulp.
A more varied diet leads to more comprehensive nutrition. At first, I only used yellow soybeans, black beans, mung beans, rice, and goji berries. Seeing how much my family loved it, I started to experiment with different combinations. White beans, black beans, yellow beans, red beans, and mung beans—each has different levels of nutrients and trace elements. These five-colored beans, like my personal health guards, have become regular guests in my home. During the Laba Festival, I soaked eight types of beans and added goji berries, red dates, almonds, and lily bulbs. The soy congee I made was something you couldn't buy on the street. This traditional Laba congee allowed our family to look back to natural, wholesome foods amidst modern civilization. More importantly, our daily lives are changing because of this congee. My husband and I have seen all our health indicators return to normal, especially with improved gastrointestinal health, and we rarely get sick.
Soy milk and soy congee are foods invented by the common people for the common people. They nourish us without costing much. Importantly, they not only fill the stomach but also deliver nutrients, boost health, and thus bring happiness and harmony to the family.