How America Was Sold on the False Health Promises of Soy

Soy has become so popular because of the industry advertising. It started me off as a believer! There was considerable research done in 1966 about the harmful substances within the soybeans. And now, it’s claimed to be the “miracle” food.
The truth is that it’s a multi-billion dollar business!

Production of soybeans in the U.S. is 40 times more now than it was starting in the 20th century. First it’s made for animal feed and then manufactured into soy oil, vegetable oil, margarine, and shortening.

Why has the soy industry concentrated on finding alternative uses and new markets for soybeans? Because it’s cheap and very profitable. It’s disguised in everything from hamburgers, hot dogs, baby formula, flour, and much more. It’s often marketed as low-fat, dairy free, or as a high protein meat substitute for vegetarians. The soy derivatives you need to look for are textured vegetable protein (TVP), partially hydrogenated soybean, soy protein isolate (SPI) hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP).

One of the dangerous substances in the soybean is phytic acid, also called phytates. These acids block the body of essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron and especially zinc. But, you never hear about that.

Read the labels very carefully – and you will be amazed at the soy contents in snack foods, fast foods, and pre-packaged frozen meals. It’s also in canned tuna! Why you need soy in tuna is a mystery to me.

Soy Serves Up Healthy Benefits will get your attention. They say soy foods are a source of high-quality protein that provides health benefits that may help to prevent or treat certain chronic diseases. This is definitely not so for someone with a severe allergy to soy – like me. I bring this to your attention because even though you may not be allergic to soy, it makes sense to me to look for healthier alternatives.

They claim soy foods contain less calories and fat grams making weight loss easier, and can reverse child obesity because soy foods provide critical vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein – the opposite is true. Kid friendly foods like soymilk, frozen pizza, taco-style meant and chicken-style nuggets. Really? This doesn’t sound like a healthy diet to me.

They claim that because they are filled with bone-building and heart-healthy soy protein, they reduce overall calories and fat grams. If this is true, how come I gained weight with my active lifestyle? And what about women who are in their forties that start gaining weight? I believe it’s because of the all the soy products that they are consuming. And, they could possibly be developing thyroid disease and not know it. Don’t believe what you hear about women going through menopause. It didn’t reduce my “hot flashes”, lower my cholesterol, decrease my risk for heart disease, or osteoporosis. What soy did do was slowly but surely, killing me! And, I thought I was following a healthy diet with all the soy I consumed.

When it comes to fad diets they claim soy foods help promote healthier eating habits with low carb diets. They say many soy foods are naturally low in fat and saturated fat, while being high in heart-healthy protein. The example they use is a soy veggie burger provides 12 grams of soy protein with 5 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat and just 3 grams of net carbs. That soy veggie burger is what landed me in the hospital…my body said “enough all already!” It took four days in the intensive care unit for me to get the “wake-up” call.

Everyone knows their own bodies. If you are not feeling like yourself lately, try to eliminate
soy products - I bet you will start feeling like your old self again!