Guess what this is?
1. Ninja ate this.
2. Japanese eat this on New Year’s Eve.
3. This prevents high blood pressure, stroke, and diabetes.
Yes, the answer is soba noodles.
Soba is buckwheat in Japanese. It has a long history. The first record of soba in Japan was found in the 7th to 8th centuries.
Soba nutlet is a superfood, containing protein, vitamin B1 and B2, pantothenic acid, which helps us recover from fatigue. It also contains rutin, which prevents high blood pressure, stroke, and diabetes.
Soba’s status was very low for a long time. Ancient Japanese grew soba noodles because the soil was too infertile to grow rice. They wanted to plant rice, but when the place was too cold and too infertile, they couldn’t.
But now soba is highly valued as healthy food.
Scientifically-proven healthy food
Dr. Yusuke Tsugawa, Associate Professor of Medicine at UCLA, said in his book “The Best Diet: Simple and Evidence-based Guide to Healthy Eating,” food items that are proven to have health benefits are those five categories: 1)fish, 2) vegetables and fruits, 3) brown carbohydrates, 4) olive oil and 5) nuts.
Soba falls into the brown carbohydrate group.
Luckily soba noodles are getting more and more available globally. In Singapore supermarkets usually sell soba noodles and they are available online, too.
But wait!!
Make sure what you are buying is really soba noodles
For example, these are what I bought at a supermarket in Singapore.
This contains only 29% of buckwheat.
This one doesn’t say the percentage, but it says wheat flour first, meaning it contains wheat flour the most.
Soba doesn’t have gluten. Soba manufacturers often blend wheat flour as a thickener.
Remember! Wheat flour is a white carbohydrate, which is classified as unhealthy food, according to Dr. Tsugawa.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find soba noodles that have a high content of buckwheat at the supermarket I visited.
Make sure when you choose soba noodles, choose that have a high content of buckwheat. Look for “Juwari Soba” at a supermarket or online. “Juwari” means 100% in Japanese.
By the way, Japanese eat soba noodles on New Year’s Eve to wish long life like soba noodles.
If you are interested in healthy food, we have created a program, that will guide you to build healthy habits step by step while having fun. Click the link below.
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