Soy: good, or bad?

[shootingstar]

Given your doctor's diagnosis, Oakleaf in previous threads, your salt need is very specific to you.

On the opposite side my mother was advised by a Western trained Chinese-speaking doctor in Toronto (therefore Canadian medical doctor like my sister), to severely cut back on her salty soy sauce intake. This was 15 years ago. It is salty which means dear mother should not have olives from brine either nor miso. Miso is high salt content. Period. It's not the soy I'm objecting to, very high salt content. Ok like once a month, not several times per week to have lots of miso.

So tough to get totally organic soy sauce.

[OakLeaf]

So tough to get totally organic soy sauce.

You mean you don't trust the certifiers? I would trust Eden brand for sure. They're a very reputable company, and they have their products independently tested for GMOs. I don't have such a strong opinion about other brands (and actually a pretty negative opinion about anything certified by QAI), but there are lots that are at least labeled certified organic - including Kikkoman which is available in any grocery store.




And just FTR - though kind of drifty - most active people need at least as much salt as I do. What's specific to me is that I eat very little processed food AND I don't enjoy the way highly salted foods make me feel. My neighbor brought over some chicken soup the other day, that she must've made with canned stock. The first few bites tasted good, after that not so much. I need to get it in small amounts throughout the day.

[Owlie]

And just FTR - though kind of drifty - most active people need at least as much salt as I do. What's specific to me is that I eat very little processed food AND I don't enjoy the way highly salted foods make me feel. My neighbor brought over some chicken soup the other day, that she must've made with canned stock. The first few bites tasted good, after that not so much. I need to get it in small amounts throughout the day.

FWIW: When my dad was in his 20s and in the British army reserves (and a lot more active otherwise than he is now), he had a similar issue of just not being able to hold on to enough salt. He started having to keep potato chips around. Good thing (or not so much, now) that he likes them.

[OakLeaf]

Mmmmmmmm, potato chips.

Pesticide-laden potato chips fried in GMO soybean oil.

[Owlie]

Mmmmmmmm, potato chips.

Pesticide-laden potato chips fried in GMO soybean oil.

I'm sure there are fancy ones out there.

[shootingstar]

I only eat tofu several times per month or less. It's just normal to eat like this. I've always been like this

As for genetically modified foods....probably more in our different fresh foods than we realize. Unless we become a farmer, gardener.

As for what people say about soy...if I can give the opposite: I hardly eat any butter in my food. Maybe several times on rolls per month. I go for months without butter..and bacon, etc. That's it. I don't think I'm missing much....a huge part of the world survived without butter for a looooong time. It doesn't exist in some of the traditional cuisines.

[emily_in_nc]

I never worry about sodium content of soy sauce or in anything else, for that matter. I have low blood pressure and always have. My 78-year old mother does as well. Seems to run in the family. That said, I don't care for really salty foods and don't eat a lot of salt, but occasional soy sauce on broccoli or whatever, I don't worry about. Should I? Is there a reason to worry about salt other than blood pressure? I should add that I sweat heavily when I work out (and where I've been living for 18+ months, it's usually hot, so I sweat hard every day).

[KerryCrow]

Just thought I would add to the conversation about soy...I agree with the "moderation" comments. Soy got a bad rap some years back, kind of like eggs. And yes I would make sure to go organic with it, but it's not the devil.

I enjoy the info and videos on this site. The good doctor presents everything with a vegan perspective (which I am not) so the paleo folks will disagree with what he has to say about meat...but his clips are usually well researched and documented. Here's what he has to say about soy: (coconut oil is covered extensively as well)

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-...y-is-too-much/

[Thorn]

Just thought I would add to the conversation about soy...I agree with the "moderation" comments. Soy got a bad rap some years back, kind of like eggs. And yes I would make sure to go organic with it, but it's not the devil.

I enjoy the info and videos on this site. The good doctor presents everything with a vegan perspective (which I am not) so the paleo folks will disagree with what he has to say about meat...but his clips are usually well researched and documented. Here's what he has to say about soy: (coconut oil is covered extensively as well)

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-...y-is-too-much/

+1 on this site. Sure, the doc is vegan and so has a specific point of view, but he can cite juried medical studies to support his points; in fact the videos are really just meta-research. And, if the study may be flawed (e.g., oh, say, a "benefit of milk" study funded by the dairy council or a "benefit of nuts" study funded by Diamond walnuts), he points out that the results may be suspect.

[Eden]

Indeed Oak - my point simply was that it likely isn't an "evil" food... otherwise all those Okinawans would be suffering from osteoporosis, cancer and the like.... There are other things in their lifestyle that are very relevant to life span (low stress being one of them).

[shootingstar]

I read the book on the Okinawan diet...and medical research they did on the seniors by following them through the years. I read this over decade ago. It's actually the only book which I could relate dimly in terms of any diet that they described only because I had some dim (very dim) comparisons on an predominantly Asian diet that against what I grew up ...but totally different in Canada and with milk in my diet. (Ah, assimilation can be a good thing..)

Okinawan diet really is not that mysterious in terms of other influential factors: eat only 80% full, little meat in their diet (though I believe there may be more seafood in their diet), very little sugar in their diet (oh come on, Asian cuisines are NOT known for their desserts in traditional diet), lower fat in many of their dishes, daily physical activity, spiritual sense of something greater than themselves (helps lower stress and not get overly depressed), social network of friends that helped one another (very important..unlike my parents. I wish my parents were more socialable. ) They did show that the younger generation who ate some more fast/processed foods may have more health problems.

I bought a tub of fresh tofu ..today. As I said earlier, only a few times per month or less. I'm such a lazy slug in certain areas and penny pincher...(more expensive than Vancouver's prices). Would I refuse a tofu dish if someone offered it to me? No way... It's almost like a comfort ingredient for me.

I'm sure I'm doing more damage by eating several coffee sweet snacks per week.

[Miranda]

Thanks ladies for that additional feedback.

[zoom-zoom]

I avoid soy as much as possible, simply because I have endometriosis and the last thing I want is to add any extra estrogen to my system. Perhaps when menopause hits I will be less concerned about estrogen-containing foods.