Soy? Good, bad, indifferent? For women, especially...

dawnm92

I've gone back and forth on the soy issue and was hoping to hear about others' experience with it. When I was following a low-cal, vegetarian diet with soy as my main protein source, I gained 15 pounds in less than a year. I don't know exactly why...could be coincidence, but then I read somewhere that soy can affect your thyroid functioning.... Ouch! Of course, they also say soy mimics estrogen so some say it can increase the risk of breast cancer in higher risk groups.

I've read so much about it - it's good for you, it's bad for you. I was just wondering if anyone has personal experience with it? Do any of you eat soy daily and lose weight okay? Has anyone noticed it affecting weight, either positively or negatively?

deadstarsunburn

Not sure interested in hearing what others say. I mean I guess it's not any worse then everything else in the world right? I've read and listened to lectures given by doctors on why milk is so awful for you. lol

DontThinkJustRun

Bad bad bad! For one it's a genitically modified crop and two it's a natural estrogen (think cancer causing and girls prematurally hitting puberty!). Jillian Michaels gives a TON of good info regarding it and I'm sure Google would produce tons and tons of info.

It's hard to avoid though, it's in EVERYTHING, especially processed foods.

veganbaum

Soy contains phytoestrogen, as do some other plants. Most of the negative stuff is simply fear-mongering. However, if you choose to eat soy, you should make sure it is organic. It is also best eaten in its whole form, as tempeh, miso, beans, or tofu. Soymilk is highly processed and should only be used occasionally. Basically it's like a lot of foods - good in its whole form, not so good when it's overly processed. I personally would not use it as my main protein source. I might make one dish a week with tempeh or tofu, though that means several meals, but it's often more like twice a month. A vegetarian or vegan diet, or omni for that matter, should be varied. Beans are of course a good protein source. There are so many varieties, there's no reason to use soy as the center. The more varied your diet, the better.

welloiledmachine

I guess it all depends on which soy products you use. I can't eat it because it messes with my hormones. It makes TOM 10x worse.
I head that it's best to the kind that hasn't been too processed. A very large percentage of soy - over 90% - is genetically modified and it also has one of the highest percentages contamination by pesticides of any of the foods we eat.
Some people like it, but it seems that there is more negative than positive when it comes to soy.

welloiledmachine

Soy contains phytoestrogen, as do some other plants. Most of the negative stuff is simply fear-mongering. However, if you choose to eat soy, you should make sure it is organic. It is also best eaten in its whole form, as tempeh, miso, beans, or tofu. Soymilk is highly processed and should only be used occasionally. Basically it's like a lot of foods - good in its whole form, not so good when it's overly processed. I personally would not use it as my main protein source. I might make one dish a week with tempeh or tofu, though that means several meals, but it's often more like twice a month. A vegetarian or vegan diet, or omni for that matter, should be varied. Beans are of course a good protein source. There are so many varieties, there's no reason to use soy as the center. The more varied your diet, the better.

I agree. I use unsweetened almond milk for my milk source and it has 50% more calcium too.

Syreeta6

O my I had no idea

dayzeerock

Soy contains phytoestrogen, as do some other plants. Most of the negative stuff is simply fear-mongering. However, if you choose to eat soy, you should make sure it is organic. It is also best eaten in its whole form, as tempeh, miso, beans, or tofu. Soymilk is highly processed and should only be used occasionally. Basically it's like a lot of foods - good in its whole form, not so good when it's overly processed. I personally would not use it as my main protein source. I might make one dish a week with tempeh or tofu, though that means several meals, but it's often more like twice a month. A vegetarian or vegan diet, or omni for that matter, should be varied. Beans are of course a good protein source. There are so many varieties, there's no reason to use soy as the center. The more varied your diet, the better.

Yep. Genetically modified soy is pretty scary stuff, but then again, so is GMO-corn, which is also in everything that's processed. Not all of it is a "genetically modified crop" as another poster claims, as there is plenty of organic and non-GMO soy product out there. As someone who has a thyroid disease, I can tell you that the only concern there is with soy regarding the thyroid is you cannot eat soy products within a few hours of taking thyroid medication, as it counteracts it. If you enjoy products like tofu, tempeh, edamame, etc., then by all means, eat it...it's not gonna hurt you. Just make sure what you are buying states that it's non-GMO on the label.

Kristhin

I eat soy every single day. Its usually processed soy too. Sometimes I eat soy multiple times a day. I'm losing weight fine, its had no effect.

For the record, soy is a GMO crop, but if you buy organic soy products, then its non GMO.

veganbaum

Corn is also mostly genetically modified. If soy, in its more pure forms, was so bad, Asian cultures that use it in their diets would be dropping dead right and left, the women would have breast cancer, the girls would be hitting puberty super early, and the boys would apparently have man boobs. Do your own research, find reputable sources. People love to say it causes breast cancer, yet there's research that shows it can actually reduce the risk of breast cancer. People can have bad reactions to all sorts of foods. If I'm allergic or highly sensitive to corn, peanuts, or gluten - does that mean they're bad and everyone should stop eating it? Like an above poster said, there's lots of research about how milk is bad for your health. Don't listen to the fear-mongering. You're going to mostly get personal opinions on here. Do your OWN research, and like I said, look to the source of the scientific information you find.

deadstarsunburn

thank goodness I buy organic tofu...lol I eat it with almost every meal.

veganbaum

Soy contains phytoestrogen, as do some other plants. Most of the negative stuff is simply fear-mongering. However, if you choose to eat soy, you should make sure it is organic. It is also best eaten in its whole form, as tempeh, miso, beans, or tofu. Soymilk is highly processed and should only be used occasionally. Basically it's like a lot of foods - good in its whole form, not so good when it's overly processed. I personally would not use it as my main protein source. I might make one dish a week with tempeh or tofu, though that means several meals, but it's often more like twice a month. A vegetarian or vegan diet, or omni for that matter, should be varied. Beans are of course a good protein source. There are so many varieties, there's no reason to use soy as the center. The more varied your diet, the better.

Yep. Genetically modified soy is pretty scary stuff, but then again, so is GMO-corn, which is also in everything that's processed. Not all of it is a "genetically modified crop" as another poster claims, as there is plenty of organic and non-GMO soy product out there. As someone who has a thyroid disease, I can tell you that the only concern there is with soy regarding the thyroid is you cannot eat soy products within a few hours of taking thyroid medication, as it counteracts it. If you enjoy products like tofu, tempeh, edamame, etc., then by all means, eat it...it's not gonna hurt you. Just make sure what you are buying states that it's non-GMO on the label.

That's interesting that you can still eat it, just not close in time to taking your medication, as a lot of people say that if you have a thyroid condition you can't eat it at all.

Kristhin

I agree with veganbaum. Any reported negative effects, which are not conclusive, have been far worse than the effects I've read about for many other foods.
Premature periods are usually caused by girls drinking milk. Cows milk has NATURALLY occuring hormones--not counting any hormones put in the milk in addition to it--which cause their babies to grow very rapidly. Just like human milk has, but cows grow much faster and become much larger. So when humans drink a lot of it it causes us to mature too young.

taem

Soy protein (over a certain gram) has insulin growth factor 1. I stopped eating raw soy when I learned that. So vegetarians who eat the faux burgers and hot dogs are consuming igf-1. You can go to youtube and look up vegsource, then look up a presentation by John McDougall about it.

Fermented soy, however, is great for you. I do consume that. (Miso soup)

I know everyone says moderation, but hey I am striving for optimum health, not moderate optimum health. Good luck to you.

here is the url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHYFOJBU434&playnext=1&list=PL68C27B9A6F57C935

mericksmom

It all depends on you and how your body handles it. I am hormone sensitive so I can not have it along with non organic milk and same with meat ( I have to watch out on where it come from and what anti biotics(etc) the animal may have been introduced to.) It messes with my cycle and I tend to go a lil more "crazy" if there is more estrogen in my system and other problem tend to pop up from acne, weight gain, and breast soreness. I know a ton of people who love it who enjoy it. Do research on the brands you want to use and go from there. Know your body and how it reacts to different things.

mamadragon

I have been thinking of using more soy type products. I've heard tofu is great to use as an egg replacement. I have been wondering about just eating soy beans, i've heard that there is a certain type to get but can't think of their name. my daughter wants to start eating some soy since she tends to be getting more hair on her face (lack of estrogen? she also drinks way too much soda).