Hello Everyone,

I have been talking about Soy to everyone: my family, my friends, my clients. But there is always so much scepticism: it is difficult to realize that what we once held for the big truth is actually…. a misleading commercial ad.

So it is time for me to write a short article about what we know today about Soy.

For those of you who do prefer watching a short 3min video resuming the topic, I invite you to go watch this HERE.

For the other ones, here we go:

Many studies link soy consumption to:

-          Malnutrition

-          Digestive distress

-          Immune system disruption

-          Thyroid problems

-          Cognitive decline, brain damage

-          Hormonal disorders, reproductive problems, infertility

-          Severe food allergies

-          Breast/ovarian/testicular cancer

-          Even greater dangers while pregnancy and nursing

 

Therefore I want to make clear of what exactly you ingest when you eat soy, whether it is soy milk, soy isolates, edamame, soy lecithin, soy oil (vegetable oil), etc etc….

At the end of the article I will explain that ONLY FERMENTED SOY IS GOOD for you. Unfortunately, most of the soy consumed today is non-fermented.

 

Soy became very popular in the 90’s, when sales dramatically increased due to a particular heavy marketing campaign. Now everyone think they are healthy because they are adding Soy to their daily consumption! Let’s see how bad this idea is:

1.       More than 90% of worldwide produced soy is GE (genetilcally engineered), or GMO (genetically modified)

When you eat GMO Soy, you actually ingest toxic pesticides into your body. This changes your gut’s own bacteria, and the dramatic effects last very long even after you stop eating them. This creates a disastrous downward spiral: allergies, digestive problems, main natural body functions get altered and this can have a cascade effect on many other functions of our body. Gm Soy alters fertility even in future generations. So stay away from GMOs in general.

2.       Soy is full of Anti-nutrients = toxins

a.       First, phytic acid

Soy beans are very rich in phytates, phytic acids. Those phytates are considered “anti-nutrients” as they inhibit the absorption of essential minerals like calcium, Magnesium, Iron and Zinc, creating many digestive and metabolic issues. Phytates also inhibit digestive enzymes, making it harder for Soy eaters to digest proteins especially. Ironically, eating meat does help reducing the mineral blocking effects of those phytates, but most of big soy eaters are vegetarians….. And unfortunately, long slow cooking hours won’t disintegrate those phytates enough.

b.      Goitrogens

Soy is rich in Goitrogens. Those goitrogens disrupt thyroid function, blocking the production of certain thyroid hormones. It’s been shown that this can lead to important thyroid problems, like hypothyroidism or goiter. The thyroid is one of the most important gland in our body, that is at the top of many essential metabolic functions. Staying away from thyroid blockers is definitely the best thing to do!

c.       Poisonous Aluminium and Manganese

Because most of the soy is processed in large aluminium tanks, a big part is absorbed into the soy beans and that’s what you ingest when you than eat them….. Same for animals: many that are not grass-fed are forced to eat soy beans that are GMOs and contaminated with Aluminium and Manganese. We know today how poisonous those metals are, affecting mainly the brain and the nervous system. For example in Infant Soy formulas, there is 1000 times more Aluminium than in normal conventional milk formulas. This is horrific! Therefore, avoid non-fermented soy and all processed foods and conventionally farmed animals that are mostly linked to it.

d.      Estrogens

Soy has a high concentration of phytoestrogens. It’s been proven that a woman who drinks 2 glasses of soy milk for a month will see her own menstrual cycle altered. Those phytoestrogens mimic the human estrogens, disrupting the whole hormonal system. The results for young girls? Early onset of puberty, or other hormonal system imbalances. For young boys? Altered puberty, can lead to infertility problems later on. Same for any men actually.

Impact on infants through soy infant formulas? Terrible. It’s been proven that infants fed with soy formula milks receive 5 birth control pills worth of estrogens a day.  This is a dramatic problem for their sexual development. How can that be tolerated and not clearly told to the parents?

 

Most of processed foods contain soy, whether it is soy oil (“vegetable oil”), soy lecithin, or any soil isolate/extract, soy protein…. All these compounds are equally harmful due to all the reasons discussed above. This is another good reason to wisely choose your food: it has to be all natural, not processed, non-GMO, organic. Trust Nature more than the chemists in labs that are elaborating some kind of new “food-like substances”.

So the most common soy products to avoid:

-          Tofu

-          Soybean oil (“vegetable oil”)

-          Soy milk

-          Soy cheese, soy ice cream, soy yogurt

-          Soy meat

-          Soy protein

-          Edamame

-          Soy infant formula

-          TVP = Texturized Vegetable Protein = Soy protein isolate, which contains a large amount of MSG, a very toxic harmful chemical

Some will say that Asian people used to eat a lot of soy, and didn’t have all those problems mentioned above. Well this is because:

-          They were not eating as much soy as we are now eating (due to the fact that soy today is everywhere in our food chain supply, from the animals food, to what we drink, to processed foods, etc)

-          They were mainly eating 100% natural WHOLE SOY BEANS (and not separating the oils from the proteins that we are doing now)

-          They were mainly eating FERMENTED SOY

Thanks to fermentation, the toxic harmful effects of all anti-nutrients in the soy are significantly decreased. On top of that, Fermentation is a powerful way of healing your gut flora with great beneficial bacteria.

Fermented Soy forms are mainly Miso, Natto, Tempeh. Natto especially allows your body to get a good dose of vitamin K2, which is essential to preventing osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and diseases of the brain such as dementia, and protecting you from various cancers including prostate, lung, liver cancer and leukaemia.

 

Hope this will help you make better choices for yourself, and for all your family.

Be aware of what you are ingesting: read the labels. If you want to be on the safe side, always choose organic fresh wholefoods, and FERMENTED soy from time to time :-)

As for the Babies infant milk formulas, there are much better alternatives than the soy-based ones. So choose wisely.

In Love and Health,

Stephanie