My "book" on soy
I struggled with this big time.
I tried to go cold turkey about a year ago and for 2 months I had ovulation bleeding, which I've never had before. I felt terrible. I know my body relies on it now. I also went off soy cold turkey with my second pg, which ended in miscarriage (not saying that was the reason, but you never know). So I feel like just in case, I can't take the chance of going off like that again.
So, I don't go haywire on it, but I do have one soy product a day. I really believe it's the processed soy that gives lots of problems, like soy burgers. I try to eat edamame and soy milk as it feels good to me, and I do indulge in a veggie sausage patty a few times a week with breakfast.
I would encourage anyone who's looking at reducing soy who also eats soy "meats" to check out
www.quorn.com. They have excellent soy-free meat substitutes.
I also feel that the jury is still out on soy. There are great benefits and some studied risk. I have lots of heart disease in my family and I feel soy perhaps may help me reduce my risk. While there are lots of claims about the ill-effects of soy, I don't feel confident in the amount of research or who is doing the research to completely alter my diet to completely avoid soy. I don't think that my soy consumption would influence my son to be feminine or gay, as I don't believe that it will influence my girl to start her period at 6.
So, for now, I enjoy it as I like without too much worry. I believe everything is fine in moderation. If I excluded everything that might be potentially harmful from my diet, I'd be anorexic!
... what about people in countries that eat a lot of soy as part of their diet (southeast/asia for example)?
