Soy concerns
Many think soy is healthy, sadly they might be wrong...
Open any magazine and there is usually an advert for soy milk, promoting it with a women jumping in the air smiling and looking ecstatic. It makes me very sad to see this, as I used to drink soy for about a year and a half, I was allergic to dairy, had been ever since I was a little girl. What I did not know what that I was not allergic to milk at all, just pasteurised milk.
I was advised in a health
food store back in 2004, to try this 'wonderful new' (alarm bells
might have rung but I ignored them) 'soy drink'. I did and it
was nice to have 'milk' that I had not drunk in years.
It was only when my Dad was given a leaflet by Jody Scheckter about the dangers of soy that I really began to look. I am hugely grateful for that little trifold brochure published by Weston A Price. Amazing how a simple thing can make such a difference. I no longer touch the soy and I feel fantastic!
Some could say it is merely a correlation, maybe, but I personally know that I feel far better not drinking any soy milk or eating any foods with soy in- that can be a challenge as most processed food has soy lurking somewhere.
Sadly soy is thought to be linked to many unpleasant conditions, and I am not alone in finding renewed health since avoiding soy products. The Ploy of Soy is worth reading.
I began to piece together the excruciating menstrual pains, the gut issues, the chronic headaches, the lethargy with drinking of soy products, not much- maybe a litre a week. Funny now though, that consuming NO soy at all, I have none of those symptoms! I drink real milk- from our cows- and do not touch soy, not even the popular 'organic' chocolate I used to like, it has soy lecithin in.
It appears that I am not alone in this dislike of soy. This video shows Bobbie, who had far worse symptoms and experience than me, yet she has become part of a short video highlighting her story. I can well believe it and yet sadly soy is creeping into all manner of foods.
I went round our local grocery store, looking at labels and boxes. Breakfast cereal... had soy. Chocolate... soy lecithin. Sausages... had soy. Breads... have soy. It is in most regular processed foods. Since I became an avid label reader, and avoid soy, I have had no pains or aches and am fortunate to have incredible mental clarity.
Mine and many others' ten cents worth, which is backed up with good research, not merely 'doubt is their product' research, to suggest that soy is not the health food it is purported to be.
I was fortunate enough to meet Dr Kayla Daniel author of "The Whole Soy Story" at a conference, two years ago. Kayla is a very wise and humble lady who has a vitally important message. Notably in her book "The Whole Soy Story" she lays out the evidence and research that has begun the, gentle whisper, that is, soy is not as good as many believe. If you wish to hear more please listen to her radio interview.
Weston A Price are doing a sterling job on highlighting the real story about soy. They have a web page that is called the Myths and Truths about Soy. There is also a 'Soy Alert' brochure pdf which is available to purchase for .25c has a number of points, some of which I have highlighted below:
- High levels of phytic acid in soy reduce assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc.
- Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.
- Vitamin B12 analogs in soy are not absorbed and actually increase the body's requirement for B12.
- Soy foods increase the body's requirement for vitamin D.
- Processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.
- Soy foods contain high levels of aluminum which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys.[1]
It may be upsetting to learn that soy is not the health food that many suggest it is. I can only say that in my own experience I feel so much better not eating or drinking soy based products.
The answer might be to just avoid soy for a week or two and see how you feel. That can be a a good way to see how you get on without soy in your life.
[1] Weston A Price foundation www.westonaprice.org
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