Are you scared of soy?
I wouldn’t be surprised if you are. There’s so much misinformation out there… and this needs to be addressed!
ORGANIC whole food soy products are a part of my plant based diet. They’re a great source of protein, prebiotics, isoflavones and plant sterols. Foods like edamame, tempeh and tofu. Where we run into problems is when we consume the highly processed soy products like fake vegan meats and protein powders that contain soy protein isolate. Not to mention the non-organic and gmo soy products/ingredients/oils that are rampant here in the U.S.
It’s all about the type of soy and where you source it from. And with any food, you can overdo it. I love to eat whole food soy products in my menstrual and follicular phases when my estrogen levels are lowest, but I also follow my intuition and eat it when I feel like it, maybe a couple times a week! I talk more about this in my book, The Happy Hormone Guide. And for women going through menopause, you should totally increase your intake of soy to provide some relief of symptoms!
The benefits of sprinkling soy in your diet far outweigh removing it completely.
If you look at the countries that eat higher amounts of whole soy foods they actually have lower rates of hormonal cancers! It just doesn’t make sense that a whole food like edamame of fermented tempeh would be detrimental to health… it’s common sense, right?!
Now as with any food, there are exceptions. If you’re allergic you obviously should avoid it or if you have super high estrogen levels you probably shouldn’t eat soy everyday, and you definitely should not be eating any highly processed soy. But like I always say, VARIETY is the most important part of a plant based diet so if you eat a variety of foods, you wouldn’t be eating soy everyday anyway.
So, always choose organic and as close to it’s whole food form as possible! I’m currently loving organic soy milk in my morning decaf coffee because it froths the BEST out of any plant milk and that makes me happy.
THANK YOU for not spreading misinformation about soy. this has become a topic of passion for me and i’m always so relieved when other people know their stuff too. i live in atx and places have been taking soy milk out of most coffee shops. it makes me so angry because it’s the only plant milk i’ll drink, and sometimes employees get judgmental when i decide to leave rather than use a different milk (pre-covid). it’s like if you went to a coffee shop and they told you they didn’t have milk, you’d leave too lol
I love soy foods, and they make my skin look amazing! I could not have gotten through menopause without soy – for me, it was the only thing that worked for hot flashes. My experience is that soy balances my hormones, along with lots of fresh greens and selected herbs.
Hey! Good info! I know this site is primarily for women, but do you have thoughts on soy for young boys? My 11-year-old is vegan and looooves tofu. I have to keep him from eating the whole “batch” at once when I make it. Thanks!!
I always had read that soy products were not healthy to consume. This definitely gives me new insight on the topic, and is a good starting point to learn more about organic whole food soy products. Thank you for sharing!