Thread: Is soy bad for you?

I try to stay away from a lot of soy unless it says organic. Something like 89% of the US soy is genetically engineered. That's where I think it starts becoming not so good for you. Seems like a lot more people are complaining about being soy intolerant too. I agree with sourpuss. There are a lot of really good cook books and recipes that have soy. Vegetarian Times has a good cook book.

I think I am gonna look for a quick and easy vegetarian book. I'm veggi my husband if meat guy so I'm always have to cook 2 meals and he will eat pasta and stuff but he doesn't like tofu and I would feel bad not cooking stuff he likes too.

Soy is a tricky one! Like with all foods, I don't think it's quite as simple as we would wish. No matter what you decide, Obelia is right, always choose organic for any food containing soy or soy derivatives.

In general, soy foods are split into two categories: traditional and modern/industrial. The traditional soy foods are miso, tempeh, natto, edamame, traditionally fermented soy sauce, traditionally fermented tofu, and traditionally fermented soy milk. Modern/industrial soy foods are: fake soy meats and yogurts, textured vegetable protein (tvp), soy protein isolate, most soy milks and tofus, soy lecithin, and the list goes on.

The traditional soy foods have been eaten daily in small quantities by many Asian cultures for millenia. However, keep in mind the small quantities bit, and also that Asian constitutions and genetics may be different than yours. Sourpuss is right, even decent traditional soy foods can act like oestrogens in the body, causing havoc.

Modern/industrial foods have been developed in the last century or so. They are highly processed, so automatically chances are they are not great food for us. They were also developed with other goals in mind than our best health.

It's worth doing more research on the subject. You could google these two organizations for lots of good info: Weston A Price Foundation, and the Soy Info Center. The latter is a bit overwhelming, so be warned :-)

Another things to keep in mind is that high quality organic dairy (that means not Horizon or Stoneyfield, I'm afraid), properly prepared beans and lentils, and pastured organic eggs will provide you with all the high quality vegetarian protein and fat that you could ever desire.

Happy eating :-)

ps. ( I totally get that thing where you need to prepare two meals, one for you, one for the boyfriend! Sigh...)

Like Most foods, its good in moderation ...