karen

Soy is bad news.

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I'm usually loathe to give unsolicited advice, but this is something I think people will want to check out if they're eating unfermented soy foods -- that means all the modern processed soy products: soy protein shakes, soy as an ingredient in processed foods, tofu, soy burgers, etc. -- any soy foods other than tamari, miso or tempeh.

 

Turns out that unfermented soy is BAD news. The so-called health benefits of soy are complete marketing ploy courtesy of the multi-billion dollar soy industry. Soy is responsible for loads of health problems.. a lawsuit is even in the works.

 

Good sites for independent research on this:

 

The Whole Soy Story

Soy Myths

Weston Price Foundation

 

All the pro-soy info can be traced back to soy industry propaganda and others who have unknowingly taken it for fact.

 

The larger issue here is that the beliefs we've had about "health food" have largely been created by the powerful food processing industries, and health food stores are mostly full of junk.. there's much more that could be said about this, but for now I just wanted to mention the soy issue because soy (not to mention that it's GMO now) is everywhere and undermining our health.

 

To your health!,

Karen

Edited by karen

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actually as part of the soy campaign.... growers and manufacturers of soy are required to make a small contribution to the marketing of soy as a health food.

 

it's absolutely incredible.

 

soy is destroying the amazon, not to mention other forests worldwide. it is now the largest cash crop in the world..... and you would be extremely lucky to find any processed food without some form of soy ingredient now, either as oil or emulsifier.

 

even most bread has soy these days!

 

so to recap... only fermented soy is ok.

 

that is tempeh (the fresh kind is best), miso, soy sauce, natto.... and thats about it in terms of stuff we have access too.

 

in thailand i was with some shan (burmese refugees) people and they make a lot of fermented soy products for themselves.

 

in ancient china soy was considered one of the 5 sacred crops.... however it was not used as food until fermenting technologies were uncovered. rather it was used in crop rotation for it's nitrogen fixing properties.

 

tofu is not fermented, rather it is precipitated with some kind of calcium extract, i think.

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Neimad,

 

Thanks for adding great information here. So interesting to find out the real history of soy, that traditionally it was not used as food, let alone burgers or sports drinks :-). Seems that fermented soy was used the way we use condiments, and the fermentation provides live enzymes to help digest cooked food.

 

Lozen, if you want to look into what Edensoy is, I'd suggest you look on the Weston Price Foundation website in the section on soy, there's an article on how soy milk is made. I think you might change your mind about it.

 

Digestibility can be a deceptive thing. Soy milk is so highly processed and broken down that it can seem more digestible because it doesn't upset your gut in any noticeable way. But obviously it's a poor food, and if eaten more than occasionally is bound to produce symptoms that you might not realize are connected with it.

 

Even better quality organic soy is associated with the same multitude of health problems, especially thryoid disorders. The phytates inhibit the absorption of nutritive minerals, and the hormone-like phytochemicals are potent hormone disruptors. Yikes, I'd say.

 

I was a strict vegetarian for 27 years, with a multitude of digestive issues, not being able to digest protein being a major one, until I changed my diet 5 years ago..eliminated the soy and whole grain staples and added meat, fish and eggs very gradually, in ways that turned out to be more digestible than I realized. Long story, but just to let you know that I have a (long :)) lifetime of personal experience with this.

 

Diet needs to be individualized, of course, but there are foods that people have thrived on traditionally for centuries, and those that are artifacts of the modern food industries. I think the first thing is to eliminate the "foods" that don't belong in anyone's diet and then individualize from there.

 

Karen

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I never used to drink soy, even when I was vegan (preferring rice and almond and oat milk) until about two weeks ago, when I read in the TCM book I mentioned that it is good for a condition I have. Anyways, I certainly don't want to argue pro-soy (tofu scares me, esp. b/c it looks nothing like edamame) but I guess though ultimately I make my decisions about food based on how they make me feel--I think I can pick up on how it makes me feel (both physically and intuitively) pretty fast, and it doesn't always go along with the research, etc.

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I think I can pick up on how it makes me feel (both physically and intuitively) pretty fast, and it doesn't always go along with the research, etc.

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Yup. The world of nutritional research is really a massive mess. So yeah, not going along with bogus research, good call :-)

 

Glad to hear you haven't been doing soy for years. Tofu really is strange stuff, isn't it. I'm an old hippie, and it was pretty much obligatory :blink:

 

Karen

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A question for everyone here:

 

What do all of you think about SOY milk, soy rice, and other soy food,

that is purchased in Koratown, Chinatown, or Asiatown?

 

Soy products that are imported from Korea, China, and Asia? Made in Asia?

 

Do Asians make their soy products up to better standards?

 

What do you guys think about rice milk? Rice pudding? And other rice products? The past few months, I have been starting to drink rice milk, and am thinking of using it instead of Soy milk.

 

 

I visit Koreatown, Chinatown, Asiatowns, off and on, and buy soy products there.

Edited by OpenSecret2012

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Nothing is more addictive than Rice pudding!!!! Love the stuff

 

I'm also big on SOY...I guess it beats the alternative: MILK. UGGHHHHHH....

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