Vegan diet ?

reesegrace1 · February 2020

I want to go on a vegan diet, but maybe not completely, i just want to cut out alot of meat i eat for health reasons.
I like the Boca vegetable meatless substitues walmart has, but it contains SOY and i read online artices claiming that consuming soy can increase risks for getting breast cancer, as it messes with your estrogen levels.
Any opinions on this?

janejellyroll · February 2020

What you're talking about is a plant-based diet, which is a way that people describe a diet that is completely or mostly plants.

There is no evidence that what people refer to "estrogen" in soy (which is actually isoflavones) is linked to breast cancer. There is evidence that high levels of estrogen in the body are linked to cancer, but what has happened is that some unethical or uninformed people are using that to spread fear about soy. Your body doesn't treat isoflavones like estrogen. What studies have shown is that diets rich in soy are actually linked to *lower* breast cancer rates. If a online source is telling you that consuming soy will give you breast cancer, I would be very cautious about trusting that or other information they were giving me.

So enjoy your Boca crumbles and have fun with the process of finding fun new plant foods to add to your diet.

You may find this link interesting:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/soy-breast-cancer-risk/faq-20120377

lemurcat2 · February 2020

jm_1234 wrote: »

Regarding eating more plants, I recommend starting with a green breakfast smoothie. There are lots of recipes online and with the addition of seeds, nuts, or soy milk you can end up with a solid mix of protein, carbs, fat, and fiber.

I love smoothies and go through phases where I have them for breakfast most days (am in one now), but I would not recommend this as a first step because (1) many people already have healthy breakfasts that don't involve animal products or could be easily modified to do so; (2) it's easy to overdo cals in a smoothie and IMO many of the recipes tend to be too much based on fruit (fruit is great, but that can make them unbalanced); and most important (3) many find that smoothies (or other cals they drink rather than eating) are not filling. Again, that last is not me, but it is a lot of people.

For increasing plants, I'd just add in more vegetables to all meals and increase portion sizes and perhaps add in fruit as a side or after dinner treat (or some fruit and nuts as a snack if one snacks). It's all going to depend on the existing diet, though.

(I also agree with what jane said about soy. If anything the research seems to be that it's protective against breast cancer.)

reesegrace1 · February 2020

Thanks for all the helpful info

bathsheba_c · February 2020

In addition to what the others have said, I would add that, as you transition to a plant-based diet, it’s worth rethinking your concept of a “meal” so that you aren’t as dependent on meat substitutes. For instance, many Asian cultures conceive of a meal as a number of small dishes served around rice. You can apply that template to any cuisine. Also, feel free to take advantage of shortcuts like using canned or frozen legumes and vegetables, or cutting up a bunch of vegetables at once to reduce your prep work later.

Vegan diet ?

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