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Spilling The Beans
by Lorette
C. Luzajic. Source: http://gremolata.com/soytrouble.htm
It never
crossed my mind that soy - a favourite health food - might be toxic and
dangerous. It wasn't the first time. Bottled water, margarine, and
gluten grains all come to mind. But soy? The wonder bean?
I was
faithful to the plant. I'd been a vegetarian for five years and though
I now enjoy the multitude of benefits and gourmand delight that meat
and seafood offer, I trusted in plants. Soy was something I'd
celebrated, along with everyone else in Vancouver, in my hippie years.
Later, even the men in my life enjoyed my "I Can't Believe it's Not
Meat" stir fries. After moving back into the omnivore's diet that
nature gave me, I still loved miso soup for breakfast and made an
effort to regularly enjoy soy proteins.
Who didn't?
Even Dad's got soymilk in the fridge - it's great for preventing
prostate cancer, right? Even people who never got used to the taste -
or shall I admit tastelessness- of soy added it in hopes of reaping the
benefits of those amazing nutrients. Isoflavones, genisteins, lectins,
saponins, and phytoestrogens - don't these wonderful names signal a
whole host of cancer fighting, heart disease preventing,
cholesterol-lowering miracles?
What if I
said that those fancy words are actually toxins and the soya bean is
naturally loaded with all of them? What if I told you that big business
soy ran campaigns like Soy 2000 to convince us that these antinutrients
were beneficial? What if I told you that soy is not a complete protein,
is not widely used in Asia, and is incredibly dangerous for human
consumption? What if I told you that the Food and Drug Administration
lists soy as a poisonous plant?
The thyroid
is a tiny butterfly-shaped gland in the throat. The rate of thyroid
problems in North America is epidemic, especially among women. It's so
common to have a thyroid disorder that it's easy to forget that's not
the natural state of being. Because the thyroid regulates the entire
endocrine system, the metabolism, and more, it's a very important body
part. The most common disorder is hypothyroidism. This means the
thyroid does not produce very much thyroid hormone, and the resulting
quagmire of ailments is distressing to say the least- exhaustion,
overweight, depression, hair that is dry, falls out, or won't grow,
brittle nails, anxiety, skin disorders, feeling too hot or too cold all
the time, menstrual problems, metabolic disorders, recurring
infections, immune system fall-out, and a whole lot of other fun stuff.
Untreated thyroid problems, or a thyroid that responds poorly to
lifestyle change and medication, are gateways for a whole host of
Hellish things from fibromyalgia to cancer.
When I was
diagnosed with hypothyroidism many years ago, it was something of a
relief, despite the fact I was not thrilled to have a chronic and
serious gland problem. But even less thrilling was the depression that
had always hovered around me- I'm a cheerful, festive sort of person,
and the unshakeable melancholy didn't seem like me. Worse still was the
unexplainable weight gain and the exhaustion and picking up every last
cold and flu and Bell's Palsy, a lovely thing that damages the facial
nerves and has given me the lopsided features some find sexy, and my
'sneer'. Finding a reason for this slew of complaints that forced me
take medical leave from work gave me hope for a vibrant future, or at
least one I could make the best of.
The doctor
suggested a few ways to support my health in addition to simply popping
pills. I was mildly surprised that I was told to avoid soy foods. I
learned the word 'goitrogen,' read a bit about thyroid-suppressing
foods. I stopped eating all soy foods but didn't make a big deal- I
also learned that peanuts, broccoli, and cabbage all have thyroid
suppressing properties. Those were good healthy plants, too, just
something to avoid the way fibromyalgia patients should avoid
nightshade plants or celiacs should avoid wheat. Nothing more.
One day, my
godchildren's mother was over, and she asked if I thought soymilk was
safe for the kids. Safe? Never thought about it. The vegan girl in the
circle said enthusiastically, "yes, of course," without question, which
bothered me straight off the bat. Soymilk is way modern and loaded with
sugar. For those reasons alone, I would have to say I wasn't sure.
Julie borrowed a couple of my nutrition books. I had no idea whether
soy was bad for everyone's thyroid or just mine, so I said I'd look it
up.
I put on my
Nancy Drew outfit and began some nutritional detective work. A clue
here and there, some secret passages, a couple of bad guys named
phytates and lectins later, I realized I was in the middle of a big ol'
can of worms and the only way out was through, down the rabbit hole.
It all
starts out rather confusingly- after all, hadn't everyone's favourite
health dude Dr. Earl Mindell dubbed the nutrition phenomenon, "The Soy
Miracle"? Sure enough, Mindell's Soy Miracle assures me (innocently
enough, as the year is 1995, before the mother load of research gets
unearthed) that soy is a good food for me. In fact, he writes about how
beneficial it is to my thyroid. "Soy may somehow stimulate the thyroid
gland to produce more hormone," he writes. This is immediately suspect,
as the thyroid-lowering connection is well known, well established, and
not controversial. A few pages extol the virtues of the perfect protein
and cancer fighting wonder food. The rest shows a bunch of groovy
recipes like the Tempeh Reuben sandwich.
Sounds
tempting….but it sure doesn't take long in my new detective hat
to see some suspicious handshaking. The good doctor thanks the United
Soybean Board and Soy Foods Association of America straight off the bat
for their help. Hmmmm...
Go figure -
looks like many of us forgot the obvious adage Mom told us: if
something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Think about
this: who told you that Asians eat a lot of soy, that they have for
thousands of years, that they eat it instead of animal protein, and
that soy is why they are so healthy? Soy is monk food, and what could
be kinder or healthier than a monk's vegetarian diet?
So who said
all this? Your Asian family or friends? Not mine. And here's something
shocking: none of it is true.
It was one
of the biggest industries in the world, soygriculture, who told you
this. I thought it, too, but then I realized I don't really know a lot
of Asian families intimately enough to know their customs. The ones I
do know cook a great deal of pork, delicious vegetables and rice.
But Dr.
Mindell says, "In many parts of Asia…soy foods are a dietary
staple." But simply looking beyond the Soy Board's claims into history
and anthropology, it doesn't take long at all to find out that in fact,
the Chinese eat massive amounts of eggs and pork, and very little
soy.
Mindell
touts how Japan enjoys the longest life span, lower rates of colon,
lung, breast and prostate cancer. "Judge for yourself," he says. And we
did. We were presented with seemingly obvious information, but
advertising is what it was. Because the truth is much different, and
lower Asian cancer rates just might be from the lack of un-food in
Asian diets and the masses of seafood they consume. The Japanese eat a
few TABLESPOONS of soy a day as a condiment.
Monk food?
Clean protein? The roots of soy are much more humble. Soybeans were
used as crop fertilizer and livestock feed. Knowing soy could be
harmful raw, the resourceful Asians made an art out of fermenting
techniques to make them digestible. Hence, miso and tempeh, the most
edible forms of soy, are important arts in Asian history. What about
the nice monks? Moby's sarcasm may not be far off- does the high
estrogen content in soy messes with testosterone, making monastic life
a little easier on the celibate?
Still,
what's the big deal? So it's not Asia's star dish. It's still the
picture perfect glow of rosy health, right? A complete protein, low in
fat, fighting off cancers and osteoporosis, lowering cholesterol,
non-allergenic, brain-building, green, low carbon footprint, and yummy,
too - right?
Not so
fast. Concerned consumers in both the carnivore gourmands and the
garden of Vegan groups are starting to suspect the reality might be
more like this: gas, bloating, infant starvation, moobs, a whole host
of thyroid problems, coronary disease, anaphylactic shock, Alzheimer's,
serious endocrine disorders, a range of menstrual abnormalities and
'female problems,' cancer, low or nonexistent libido, puberty before
age ten, hair loss and more. Could it really be? Aren't all of these
things among the endless problems soy was going to prevent?
Hundreds of
doctors and scientists and consumer advocates worldwide are now
expressing concern and caution over soy. But one has devoted her
research in recent years to the alarming topic.
"In the mid
1990s I started noticing a lot of articles with headlines like the 'joy
of soy' or 'soy of cooking' and was entranced by the claims that soy
was good for personal health and also the planet," Dr. Kaayla T. Daniel
says. "The reality was another story. I was seeing a lot of sick
vegetarians and other health conscious people who ate a lot of soy and
seemed to be suffering greatly from it. That aroused my curiosity and I
began researching the subject."
She is not
a messenger for the dairy industry - she is a citizen and scientist
concerned with faulty propaganda and real food. She exposed the soy
industry's endless dirty secrets in her book The Whole Soy Story: the
Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food.
While the
vast sea of information online and in journals is confusing,
jargon-riddled and often pits the debate as a vegetarian/meat-eater's
one, Dr. Daniel's book is clear, organized, factual, meticulously
documented, and explains all the hard words. Though Daniel, as a
nutritionist, obviously sees wisdom in our natural hunter/gatherer
diet, it's clear that soy is dangerous for meat eaters and vegetarians
alike, and that we must all find alternative foods.
If only the
problem were one little toxin. But it takes Daniel nearly 400 pages to
cover all the info, plus 44 pages of study references, so that we can
verify the sources for ourselves. "It was read for accuracy prior to
publication by leading MDs, scientists and toxicologists. And my
conclusions have certainly been validated by the recent warnings issued
by the Israelis, French and Germans," Dr. Daniel says. This is solid
science, but thankfully Daniel is also an engaging writer. "The studies
come from a wide variety of sources – universities, clinics,
FDA's Laboratory for Toxicological Research, USDA scientists, etc," she
explains. "Many of the most damning studies were funded by the soy
industry itself."
Here's a
brief overview of Daniel's findings:
soy oil was
the first and primary profit centre for soy, and soy was largely
responsible for the spread of hydrogenated or trans fats
most soy is
genetically modified
soy farming
is wreaking greater devastation on forests, cottage industries, and
family farms than the cattle industry. (If you mistakenly thought soy
was a bunch of hippie farmers, like I did, Dr. Daniel tells it like it
is: "Let's name names. Monsanto, Dupont, Archer Daniels Midland, Solae
. . . Nearly all the old hippie companies have been bought up by the
big boys. For example, White Wave is owned by Dean Foods. Some of
America's largest food companies now manufacture soy foods or use soy
ingredients heavily in their products. Think Kraft, Kellogg, ConAgra,
General Mills, Heinz, Unilever Best Foods and Dean Foods.")
soy is a
major allergen, and because it is used as filler in hundreds of
products including meats and 'vegetable oil,' people with allergies may
be at risk
soy
contains goitrogens, which damage the thyroid
soy
contains lectins, which cause red blood cells to lump together and may
trigger abnormal immunity responses
soy
contains oligosaccarides, sugars that cause bloating and gas
soy
contains oxalates, which prevent calcium absorption, cause painful
kidney stones and vulvodynia, a vaginal disorder
many plant
foods contain phytates and phytic acid, naturally occurring
'pesticides' to keep plants from being eaten while growing. phytates
impair mineral absorption, and in fact, remove many minerals already in
the body, including iron, zinc, and calcium. phytates in many foods are
alleviated by cooking - soy's phytate levels are high and stubborn.
isoflavones,
lauded as natural estrogens, are serious endocrine disruptors, lowering
testosterone, causing menstrual disorders, and cancer cell
proliferation
protease
inhibitors interfere with digestive enzymes, saponins may lower good
cholesterol and damage intestine
that all of
these plant chemicals can have benefits, and do exist in other foods,
to varying levels of edibility: that soaking grains and fermenting
beans are ancient food prep traditions
soymilk is
far from a natural food: it is filled with rancid fats and high in
sugar
soy cheeses
are largely made with hydrogenated oils (safety level of hydrogenated
products? ZERO)
some health
problems that may be associated with soy foods are: bladder, prostate,
colorectal, thyroid and breast cancer; precancerous lesions; heart
disease; type 2 diabetes; malnutrition; stunted growth; flatulence;
pancreatic problems; low libido: early puberty; anemia; zinc
deficiency; osteoporosis; intestinal damage; mal-absorption and leaky
gut syndrome; kidney stones; allergies; infant death; immune system
disruption; thyroid disease - and the list goes on.
This isn't
the first time we've been concerned. Before the massive health movement
of the late 80s and early 90s, all sorts of articles came out about soy
safety. But hardly anyone liked the stuff anyhow, and vegetarians had
yet to think of it as a food group. Soy decided to get a makeover, and
save itself from the financial fallout that was nigh - when it's dirty
toxic margarine secrets would inevitably leak out.
"By 1985,
there was a considerable body of research from U.S. Government and
university laboratories and British government institutions warning of
the health dangers of soy foods, particularly to high-risk consumers
such as infants and vegetarian women," says Dianne Gregg, writer of The
Hidden Dangers of Soy, and survivor of soy-related illness that nearly
killed her.
"These were
published in scientific journals. In response, in 1985 the soy
processing industry in the U.S. held a number of conferences and
devised a program, 'Soy 2000,' the intent of which was to aggressively
promote soy as a health food when they already knew it contained
biologically active levels of toxins. This involved heavy political
lobbying of Congress and Federal regulators, a vast advertising
program, planting favorable articles in popular and academic media,
obtaining huge Federal farming subsidies, and sponsorship of meetings
by the U.S Department of Agriculture. The aim of Soy 2000 was to
promote to the consumers that soy was a proven health food with no
adverse effects. Their claim was that millions of Asians have been
consuming soy in large quantities for thousands of years and are all
remarkably healthy as a result. American consumers were expected to
believe this, and most of us did!"
Soy's first
incarnation in North American consumption was also a health food
imposter. After millenniums of wisdom where humans used butter or lard
or olive oil, good enough for the Bible and good enough for the world,
suddenly margarine was "heart healthy" and "cholesterol-lowering." But
lately, studies started talking about how heart disease INCREASED from
this new artificial fat, hydrogenated margarine, which our body cannot
recognize. OF course it did. This was not a real food.
Sound
familiar? It is. Those who perceive of soy as innocent and concerned
for your health may be surprised at how big a player soy was in the
hydrogenation revolution. Most hydrogenated oil was soy. Now, even junk
makers like chips and fast food have pulled these artificial fats out
of their products. Hydrogenated oils are liquid plastic and they are
poisonous. Most governments place safe consumption levels at ZERO.
Clearly
soy, which still defends hydrogenation, did not then have our best
health interests in mind, just profit. When the tide turned, they
turned up the noise on how healthy soy is, and it became a health food,
its history in margarine conveniently blotted from public
consciousness.
While the
health dangers are considerably ominous, not everyone is in immediate
danger of death. But Dianne Gregg came within inches of her life.
Gregg had
never been a vegetarian, but slim, health-conscious, and staring
menopause head-on, she decided to take charge of her health and began
eating soy. "I started to include soy protein drinks for breakfast, and
protein bars as a snack. For eight years I was constantly nauseous,
bloated, and gaining weight each year. I knew something was wrong but
the doctors said it was normal and to accept that I was getting older.
In April 2003, I had a soy veggie burger for dinner and that is what
did me in. This was the first time I had one. The next morning I was
rushed to the hospital because I thought I was having a heart attack
– but I went into anaphylactic shock."
"After four
days in the intensive care unit, the doctors diagnosed food poisoning,
but I didn't agree. By now I weighed 150lbs. That was more than I
weighed in my ninth month of pregnancy!"
Dianne went
home, and didn't eat much of anything for a while. When she recovered
from her mystery illness, she started her day again with her soy health
drink. She began having palpitations and other symptoms. Linking the
reaction to the soy, she began her internet research, and found that in
addition to very common and possibly deadly allergies, soy is
implicated in hundreds of deadly or chronic diseases. Other consumers
may not be linking their health problems with their health food. So
Gregg wrote her book, The Hidden Dangers of Soy (www.hiddensoy.com).
"My
intention was not to bash the soy industry but to make the public aware
of what the Western version of soy contains, and that if they are not
feeling like themselves, or are developing health issues, to try and
eliminate soy and see if they don't feel better. In my book, I have
testimonials from others with real horror stories that never attributed
it to soy products."
Part of the
'hidden danger' is what's hidden. Gregg says that soy is hiding in
everything from meat to chocolate to oil, so people hoping to avoid it
don't usually do a good job. "The number of processed and manufactured
foods that contain soy ingredients today is astounding. It can be hard
to find foods that don't contain soy flour, soy oil, lecithin
(extracted from soy oil and used as an emulsifier in high-fat
products), soy protein isolates and concentrates, textured vegetable
protein (TVP), hydrolyzed vegetable protein (usually made from soy) or
unidentified vegetable oils. Most of what is labeled 'vegetable oil' in
the U.S. is actually soy oil, as are most margarines. Soy oil is the
most widely used oil in the U.S., accounting for more than 75 percent
of our total vegetable fats and oil intake. It's found in margarine,
shortenings, frozen dinners, canned tuna, mayonnaise, breads, cookies,
crackers, canned soup, breakfast cereals, and fast foods to name a
few."
Gregg says
many women keep eating soy in hope of the benefits, and end up with
hypothyroidism. While contributors to the thyroid epidemic may include
hormonal birth control products, fluoride content in water, stress, and
sugar, soy's strength as an endocrine disruptor should not be
underestimated. Especially with soy hidden throughout many foods - you
can't eat uncooked broccoli, another goitrogenic food, in high
quantities by mistake, for example – even those who choose not to
eat soy may be eating a lot of soy!
Another
person who is very concerned about thyroid health is Mary J. Shomon, a
patient advocate and best-selling author, whose many books on thyroid
and autoimmune diseases I have read and enjoyed, notably Living Well
With Hypothyroidism. Shomon is not an anti-soy crusader by any stretch.
Her research and advocacy is concerned only with the thyroid. She has
no vested interest in vegetarian/omnivore battles, soy business
practices, or anything else that remotely relates to my story, except
as it may or may not affect the thyroid.
It has been
a well-documented fact for decades that soy foods lower thyroid hormone
(Drs Doerge and Chang, FDA, Division of Biochemical Toxicology, for
starters, and more from 50 years of diverse sources). But the Soyfoods
Association of North America is not very concerned about my health.
They cheerfully tell me, "Like other plant foods that contain
goitrogens, soy can be part of a healthy diet." (Cooking broccoli or
peanuts destroys their lower levels of goitrogens, but cooking soy does
little to remove them.) They tell me that soy does not cause thyroid
problems in healthy people (though even small amounts of the food in a
daily diet have been shown to slow a normal thyroid.) They tell me to
get enough iodine, which is fair enough, and to take my medicine in
between meals so that the soy won't affect the absorption.
Shomon
says, "I think that you need to consider the messenger. The soy
industry has a vested interest in promoting soy, and downplaying any
potential negatives. Again, some soy can have a place in a healthy
diet, but stick with the fermented forms you find in Asian foods, like
tempeh, tofu, miso, and use it, like the Asians do, more as a
condiment." She says, " if over-consumed, especially in its processed,
isoflavone-heavy forms, it can have detrimental effects on thyroid
health. Soy is a goitrogen, a food that has the ability to slow down
the thyroid gland. In some people, over-consumption of soy can trigger
a thyroid condition -- or aggravate an existing one."
For the
record, I contacted the Soyfoods Association of North America by
telephone and email to ask about these claims and to ensure fair
storytelling as a journalist whose only vested interest is the truth,
not profit or ideology. No representative from any of the soy boards
returned my contact.
By far one
of the most thorough, informative and wide-ranging info portals on soy
danger is Soy Online Services, in New Zealand. Associated with Dick and
Valerie James, the content-heavy site shows no agenda but to help
people dismantle the confusing array of information. No membership, no
fees, no hidden agenda- just the facts, ma'am. Dick James has been
correcting misinformation for years, writing letters to governments and
health providers on his own time and own dime. His formidable efforts
to spread his truth are honourable- Dick has never taken a dime for
this time, or for Soy Online Services.
For the
Jameses, it all began when his prized parrots began getting sick and
dying after switching to miracle-soy-based-bird-food, he decided to get
to the bottom of the issue and found astounding horrors surrounding soy
foods. A dear young friend also died somewhat mysteriously, and that's
how they started researching soy. They launched a legal investigation
to get to the bottom of the bird-food issue, as well as the human
health implications, and so began Soy Online Services.
Dick James
is a man who has generously given his time and energy to educating
people about their health. He says it's a "fallacy is to think that
vegetarianism equates to soy consumption. It does not." Vegetarians
used to eat a wider spectrum of food. Because of marketing and
industrial politics, soy is everywhere, even in bird food.
The
internet is abuzz with theories hoping to defame the cozy circle of soy
opponents, many whom, like the James', are affiliated with the Weston
Price Foundation (www.westonaprice.org.) Dr. Kaayla Daniel serves on
the board of directors. The foundation follows the nutrition research
of Dr. Weston Price, a dentist who wandered the globe studying the
diets of diverse people. The foundation heavily encourages traditional
diets based on animal foods and vegetables. Their agenda doesn't scare
me away: I have a deep respect for the Weston Price research, and these
people work hard to advocate safe, humane farming practices,
chemical-free food, and old fashioned methods of fermentation and
soaking. The diet may sound funny to those used to boxes and cans, but
any student of world cuisine or of history and anthropology can tell
these are hardly off the wall. Dr. Daniel says, "The Weston Price
Foundation is supported by membership dues and private donations and
receives no funding from the beef or dairy industries. We recommend an
omnivorous diet that includes free-range eggs, grass-fed meat and raw
dairy products from happy, pastured cows, but such products do not come
from factory farming operations or corporate agribusiness. We support
small farmers, humane treatment of animals, sustainable and organic
agriculture and the consumer's right to obtain fresh healthy foods
directly from local farmers."
The good
sense of sustainable and humane farming and traditional food
preparation get lost in the extravagant propaganda. "It's all about
money. Soybeans were first heavily grown here for the soy oil…
the one used most often in margarines and shortenings. But once
processors took the oil out of the soybean, they had a lot of soy
protein left over. The question was whether they should take it to the
landfill and pay to dump it or turn it into another profit centre. Soy
protein would make an excellent fertilizer, but unfortunately the
chemical fertilizer companies had that market cornered. It is used as a
primary ingredient in animal foods, but there are limits on how much
they can safely feed to animals... It was initially hard to sell people
on the idea of eating soy because it was perceived as either a poverty
food or a hippie food. Then marketing experts changed the image of soy
to an upscale 'health food.'
And that
dear readers, is why all of us think this toxic waste, not healthy
enough for animal feed, is a wonder food.
Not
everyone is as concerned about phytic acid or lectins as Daniel, James,
Gregg and myself. Dino Sarma is a passionate vegan chef with a degree
in biology. Though vegetarianism was not historically synonymous with
soy-eating, it is now, and Sarma's cookbook, The Alternative
Vegan, was the only one I could source that was vegetarian and
soy-free.
"Most
vegans in the USA and Europe don't really bother with actual
vegetables," Sarma laments. "Alternative Vegan is so named because it
provides an alternative to your typical vegan cookbook, where it seems
like soy and other meat/dairy analogues are so pervasive that
non-vegans often feel that you can't eat a vegan diet without them."
Sarma's
lively cookbook is teeming with inspiration from India- stuff he
learned from mom. He has a flair for international cuisine, and likes
to be able to recognize how his food started out. He recalls fondly the
markets in Chennai, where people, vegetarian or not, ate a variety of
produce. "I can remember the boisterous shouting of the
vendors…the sheer amount of colours and smells that surrounded
me. I also remember the stunning variety. Spinach did not mean a
selection of one or two types of leaves…more like ten or
fifteen, each season. ... Squashes and gourds abounded. Jackfruit,
lychee, mango, papaya, guava, grapes…the long bananas, the short
skinny ones… ." Sounds like paradise to me, too.
Most of his
recipes are meals simply put together from the produce aisle. He likes
to keep things cheap, and he likes to avoid weird ingredients you can't
pronounce. There were already more than enough soy cookbooks flooding
the market. And while Sarma is not impressed by pricey, flavourless soy
'meats,' he didn't avoid soy because he finds it unhealthy. "Most of my
readers aren't really all that concerned about soy, and just like
simple, tasty, healthy food," he says. He doesn't worry about getting
enough soy for protein. "All food contains proteins in varying
amounts," he says. "Get enough calories, and your protein will take
care of itself… Eat a varied diet, including lots of whole
grains (brown rice, whole wheat berries, millet, quinoa, amaranth,)
dark green leafy vegetables (mustard greens, kale, collard greens,
radish greens, wild spinach), fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, and some
beans, nuts, and legumes to round out your meals." I highly recommend
Sarma's book to anybody: vegetables are not just for vegetarians!
As a
science major, he's heard the words phytates and saponins before. "If I
were to get scared of everything with saponins, I'd also be avoiding
yucca, tomato, grapes," he says. Phytates, lectins, these are "commonly
found in animal feeds." As for saponins: "Again, the high levels of
saponins is found in the feed for dogs, but hasn't been really linked
to human food."
Sarma
believes in living compassionately and says going vegan is one of the
best things he ever did for himself and the world, but that he doesn't
ever see a reason "to be a jerk about it." He likes to educate people
through colourful produce and joyful eating. And while he does not cook
with soy in The Alternative Vegan, he says he has yet to see study
against soy that convinces him. When I ask him what he believes, he
says, "I don't like to use the word 'believe' when it comes to
scientific data. Upon examination of the sources of the soy scare, I
sincerely question the motives, the research methods, the data
collection methods, the statistical analyses…and the funding
organizations."
Amen.
Exactly. And after I did, you can be sure I will enjoy wonderful
vegetables of every kind, but I will never touch anything- not
chocolate, not tuna fish, not salad dressing- that contains unfermented
soy, ever again- and as for fermented, I love my tamari on sushi, but
that's about all I'll risk.
After the
margarine debacle, soygriculture just got lucky. Other food issues like
mercury in fish or pesticide-riddled oranges were their own issues, not
a spiritual war between two opposing camps. Soy just happened to be
there, pumping its health-makeover propaganda just as the
vegetarian-meat debate revved up. That debate won't ever be resolved,
because people all over the world eat all kinds of different weird
things, from insects to blubber to nothing but olives. The vegan versus
omnivore question has nothing to do with soy, which is bad for both
groups.
But the soy
market saw a perfect opportunity to pit big business against two groups
that consisted of citizens with a similar concern - what to safely put
in our mouths. Soy conveniently became an emotional, spiritual issue:
saying soy is bad is the same as saying 'you shouldn't be a
vegetarian.' But it isn't. It's just saying soy is bad for you, same as
soda or sugar are bad for you. Except that soy might be worse!
If you only
read one thing on the topic, make sure it's Dr. Kaayla Daniel's expose.
"It's sad that so many people feel that all information must be
financially motivated. The truth is that neither I nor New Trends
Publishing has ever accepted any funds from the beef or dairy
industries or from any government agency."
Meanwhile,
Big Soy is happily pocketing everyone's money while they defend one of
the most deceptive businesses of all time. Dr. Daniel says many - meat
eaters and vegans - have read her work. " I think they owe it to
themselves and certainly to their children to educate themselves. Many
who have taken that step have come back to me with thanks.
Lorette C.
Luzajic is very interested in all matters of nutrition and welcomes the
exchange of knowledge. Contact her through her site,
thegirlcanwrite.net.
But Lorette
C. Luzajic is not thinking about food ALL the time. Right now she's
listening to female blues divas, working on a collection of short
fiction stories, incubating ideas, collecting images for her next smash
collage series, and taking in random Toronto events to broaden her
horizons. The author of popular lit blog The Literary Addict just
launched fascinatingpeople.wordpress.com. Here, we spend fifteen-minute
intervals with random interesting people that she contemplates.
Lorette C.
Luzajic has all the right papers - the journalism degree from Ryerson U
- a hip website, and a fun list of publishing credentials including
Adbusters, Book Slut, Dog Fancy, and The Fiddlehead. Her book, The
Astronaut's Wife: Poems of Eros and Thanatos, was one enjoyed by
bestselling spiritual writer, Thomas Moore. He called them sassy and
profound, and Lorette thinks you'll like them, too. Watch for her next
book, a collection of essays, due out later this year.
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