My Epic Soy Post

This topic came up several places recently, so I felt the urge to share my own thoughts here on my blog. Soy. One of the first things people might think of when considering making the switch from a diet that includes animal products to one that is plant-based is soy. We hear a lot of things about soy, and soy has made its way into just about everything processed that we eat. It is often touted as being healthy, with claims that it can protect against certain diseases. This is perhaps the best example I can think of where a very small piece of truth has been expanded, warped, and taken almost completely out of context.

First, let's take a look at where these claims come from. Asian diets, which include fermented soy products like soy sauce and tempeh, have been linked to lower incidences of certain diseases. The soy that is touted as healthy here in the United States is not the fermented variety and does not offer the same health benefits. In fact, unfermented soy can actually be quite detrimental to our health.

Unfermented soy, the kind which is found in soy milk, soy-based ingredients in processed foods, and other soy substitutes, contains phytochemicals and can disrupt the normal functions in your body to the point of ill health by mimicking naturally-occurring estrogens in the body (among other things). Our bodies, for optimal health, need to maintain a balance of the right hormones. A disruption in this balance can lead to estrogen dominance, which can lead to a whole host of symptoms, diseases, and disorders. This can be especially problematic for children and people who already suffer from certain symptoms and diseases.

In addition to the health concerns soy poses all on its own, there is the additional issue that biotech corporation Monsanto controls more than 90% of the soybeans in the United States, and you really don't want to consume anything that Monsanto has their hands in at all. I strongly encourage you to Google Monsanto, or better yet - watch Food, Inc., for there is far too much for me to cover here but much you need to know. You can check out a soy-related clip from the documentary here.

That said, I have personal experience with the deleterious health effects of consuming soy products, which is why I feel so compelled to share my thoughts on soy with others. A few years ago, I decided that I wanted to eat healthier. I planned to move toward a more plant-based diet and eliminate all, or nearly all, animal products from my diet. Soy seemed the common-sense choice. I had not researched it, and at the time I still relied heavily on what appeared to be "common knowledge" about things like soy. So I went to the supermarket, bought myself a bunch of soy milk, soy protein bars, and other soy substitutes. I truly believed, based on advertising about this wonderful, amazing soy that was in everything, that I was doing something really good for myself and my family.

It wasn't long before I started to feel like my body was going crazy. I kept with the dietary changes, including lots of soy, thinking that maybe I was just detoxing from my previous diet or adjusting or something; but I only got worse. So I did what we all do: I Googled my symptoms, of course! One of the first things that came up was dietary soy intake, as it apparently mimics estrogen in the body. Woah.

I immediately stopped consuming soy and started checking labels for it. It took a couple of months for my body to get back to normal, but it did. Meanwhile, I was utterly astounded at how many products contain soy! It's not easy to avoid for those who eat a lot of processed foods. I'm hoping that soy will get the kind of attention that trans fat and HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) have received so that manufacturers will start scaling back on its use in their food products. I also really wish that advertising would be more honest, but I guess that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Be well!