Linda Funk: Hi! I am Linda Funk. I'm the Executive Director of the Soyfoods Council, and today, we're going to talk about five easy ways to start incorporating soy foods into your healthy diet, really fast and easy, so you don't have to worry a lot about time.

First off, soy milk. It is so wonderful because it comes in different flavors; plain, vanilla and chocolate, and what's also great to know is that it's calcium and vitamin D fortified. So you're getting all that you need in the soy milk. And depending upon what you want to do with them, if you want to use it in a savory application, you would use the plain. If you want something a little sweeter, you would certainly use the vanilla flavored, and of course, chocolate is just a great treat and wonderful to have whenever you really have had chocolate craving.

Then edamame; edamame has really become the darling of the soybean industry. Everybody loves it, and most people don't even realize that it's a soybean but it is. It's a green soybean; so easy to use and delicious.

The shelled edamame you would use just as you would any other vegetable. Put it in with other vegetables, use as is, even make a Hummus Dip out of it.

In the pod edamame, you would put in the microwave or on top of the range and steam it and then take it out and serve it as a snack. Open up the pod and pop out the beans and eat. The pod is not edible; it's a little too fibrous.

Then we come over to the canned soybeans. You can either get them in black or tan, and again, you would use them just as you would any other bean. Open them up, put them in a colander, rinse them and drain them and then use. Black works really well in a black soybean dip.

Meat alternatives; again, great options for quick and easy snacking. For kids, this is a perfect after-school snack. Put it in the oven or in the microwave and you have got that really healthy delicious treat.

Then we move on to soy nuts. Soy nuts are everywhere, and what's great about that is you don't have to go to a health food store anymore to find them. There are so many great flavors out there, something for everyone; from plain to barbeque to chocolate covered. And we know, once something is covered with chocolate, it's really become mainstream.

So with that here are five quick and easy ways to really start incorporating soy foods into your healthy diet. And for more information, go to our website, thesoyfoodscouncil.

com, where there are lots more recipes, lots more ideas and the up-to-date health research on soy protein.