Surprised by Soy: the Toxic Bean You Thought You Knew

update from July 13, 2008

NB- Since writing this blog, I was so amazed by what I learned about Hitler’s favourite food, soy, that I pitched the story and landed a gig at Gremolata. I urge you to follow this link and read a more refined and well researched article with quotes and insight from a thyroid expert, a scientist and nutritionist, a vegan cookbook author, and a woman who almost died from eating soy.

www.gremolata.com/soytrouble.htm

Beware of soy!

What if I told you that all that heart-healthy, cancer-fighting, protein-rich miracle soy food is a lie? You would laugh in my face.

So I won’t tell you that. I’ll say this instead: on top of actually being devoid of all these properties, soya food products are actually toxic and poisonous!

I see my vegan Vancouver friends throwing darts at my picture. While vegetarians have several thousand options for vegetable foods, somehow they think soy is a major food group. Soy milk, scrambled tofu for breakfast, soy bars, soy protein supplements, mock meat made of soy, soy patties, soy bean marmalade, yada yada. At the time, I thought it was a hopelessly meagre variety. Now I think it’s damn dangerous. Soy is one of the reasons that meat eaters think vegetarians look grey. I always thought it was the tobacco and weed. In fact, vegetarians who love soy are turning out to be MALNOURISHED in comparison to both meat eaters and their non-soy fellow vegetarians.

Now I was a vegetarian for about five years, and have been eating meat again for about eight. I also bought into the illogical arguments against meat, and replenished my protein with the so-called superior soy. Now I can say with absolute certainty that nutritionally speaking, there’s nothing like fish, meat, and eggs. But I won’t diss vegetarian people because there IS something to be said for the humane treatment of animals. If you aren’t eating meat because you care about our furry friends, or because today’s flesh factories are morally abhorrent, you are totally right and that’s great. Unfortunately, though, despite it’s ridiculously bad rep, which I myself bought into for years, animal protein is extremely vital to the body. Yes, you can live without it. But it’s better not to.

That said, the veg camp will often show up healthier because they must avoid a huge number of additives as they ban themselves from most fast food and unfoods and eat more plants. They avoid the sick hormones and drugs that factory farm meat is saturated with. Most meat eaters do not stick to organic, free-range, grass-fed options. Most meat eaters also eat massive amounts of sugar and never try things like carrot juice or wheatgrass.

What both camps do wrong is feast on starchy grain products and on sugar. The health nutters look to whole grains, the could-care-lessers indulge in white flour and have never heard of other grains like teff or quinoa. The problem is that humans have been eating these grains, whole or otherwise, for about one percent of their stay on earth. We are slaves to our biology in many ways, and vegetarians who claim health superiority are delusional. I used to tell people myself that hunter-gatherer people ate very little meat. I was constructing our history to suit my nice-girl spirit. I couldn’t imagine us to be killers. That’s just the truth of it: sometimes we tell ourselves nice fairy tales to avoid harsh truth. Our history is one of savage hunting. But the gathering was important, too- the foods that are good for us are meat and fish- hunted foods- and vegetables, fruits, and seeds- gathered foods. Low-carb camps threw the baby out with the bathwater: we need carbs, oh, how we need them. Fruits and vegetables, all you can eat. Along with that big juicy slab.

What you eat is up to you, but I don’t want to hear about the wonders of soy any more. Umm, can you READ? The news is everywhere. I can totally respect a person’s vegan diet because they care about animals. But telling me soy is healthy just means you have refused to read or believe the truth in science. You can tell me for hours the nutritional value of carrots, of green beans, of kale and chard, or tomatoes and apples and kiwis. But you have to accept that the soybean industry pulled one over on you, just like it did me once upon a time. Your health depends on it, and so does your credibility. You wouldn’t try to tell me Kool-Aid is good for you, without looking like a total idiot. You could say you love it, and we’d all agree we like soda pop or any other guilty pleasure. But imagine if the nation’s favourite health food was worse for you than soda? And it is.

I have nothing personally against the soy bean or any other bean or plant, believe me. But I won’t touch it with a ten-foot pole, treating it like the poison that it is. I believe in plants, yo. But why is it so hard to swallow that some plants are poisonous? Every scientist knows that. Did you know that just a bit of soy milk every day can irreversibly damage the thyroid in a healthy person? Unfortunately, not only did I deprive my thyroid of much-needed animal protein for five years, but I pumped it full of soy. I didn’t know then that I’ve been hypothyroid since I was a child. Imagine the further damage I did. Though soy has thousands of ill-health effects, thyroid suppression is huge, instant, and automatic.

I know, you’ve all heard about the Okinawa diet. They live longer than anywhere else in the world. Hmm, they also eat a large amount of raw fish, the healthiest food on the planet. You’ve heard about those Asians and their lower rates of cancer. Hmm, but actually they average less than two teaspoons a day of soy: it’s a garnish. They eat massive amounts of fish and vegetables.

I don’t ask you to buy into my anti-soy theory. I do ask you to inform yourself, even if you think you already are sure, because the soy industry is laughing all the way to the bank. So I’ll list the many dangers of soy, and then I’ll tell you to go and do your own research. Why believe me, when I could care less about your man boobs, your poisoned infant formula, your reproductive sickness, your thyroid, or anything else? Actually, I do care, in the general way I care about people, and if you are my friend and know me, then please hear me out as obviously I am not attacking you. I care about you very much. I’m much more stubborn by nature than you are, and I’m admitting my deception publicly! It’s hard to let go of a belief, especially if you feel foolish or love a food. But you deserve the integrity of the truth, and if you are standing up for soy, you don’t know the truth yet. I mean, we all love potato chips and ice cream, but few would argue that they’re health food. We may excuse the occasional indulgence as well-deserved, or as delicious, but never as nutritious.

What’s wrong with soy?

• high levels of phytic acid- this blocks mineral absorption, meaning your body won’t absorb the nutrients being digested along with the soy
• these phytates cause malnutrition, effectively nullifying the other food you eat!
• high levels of enzyme inhibitors, which means you can’t make use of the protein in soy, either- fermented soy products like soy sauce and miso soup do not have this particular problem
• haemagluttin, which is an inhibitor of oxygen uptake to your cells, and also stunts growth
• phytoestrogens, long pumped as ‘healthy plant estrogens’ to women, causing endocrine disruption and disease on a massive scale- plus, it puts major amounts of estrogen into male bodies, causing some boys to grow up infertile, or hormonally confused, or to grow breasts
• eating soy causes ‘inexplicable’ loss of vital minerals like copper, calcium, iron, magnesium , selenium, and especially zinc, even in people who are ‘getting enough’ because of the malabsorption that soy causes
• this leads to bone problems, psychiatric problems, intestinal problems, reproductive problems, and much more
• soy is one of the top allergins, along with wheat, peanuts, dairy, corn, etc
• 2/3 of people allergic to dairy will also be allergic to soy, though they are encouraged to switch to soy if they must exclude dairy-best to exclude both, and fill up on healthy fish and veggies
• soy protein isolate is acid-washed in aluminum. hello, Alzheimer’s!
• even one serving of soy a day in clinically proven over and over to seriously suppress thyroid function. yet millions with thyroid disease are never told to religiously avoid soy products.
• soy hormones eaten in pregnancy cause brain damage in infants
• ‘vegan’ infants fed nothing buy soy formula actually die of malnutrition
• nursing infants of soy-eating mothers receive toxins through the milk!
• soy-eating vegetarians have a five-fold chance of giving birth to a boy with hypospadias, a birth defect of the penis, due to toxic estrogens
• babies on ‘healthy soy formula’ have estrogen levels up to 22 THOUSAND times of other babies
• soy-fed babies are likely to develop serious thyroid problems
• about one percent of soy fed baby girls begin puberty before the ago of THREE
• breast is best, obviously, but soy is not second best
• for those of you who do not know, the thyroid is a tiny gland that regulates hormones and every cellular function of the body, and it also is connected with liver function, totally vital to all aspects of nutrition, detox, etc- every single function of the body’s metabolism is dependant on the thyroid. love yours, and throw out that soy.
• eating just two servings of tofu a week causes accelerated brain aging and puts you at a high risk of earlier dementia
• women are told that soy helps prevent breast cancer. funny, because excess estrogen is a major CAUSE of breast and other cancers. Genistein, a soy ingredient, promotes breast cell proliferation, which often turns cancerous.
• the long process of fermenting renders the toxins in soy neutral, so miso, tempeh, and soy sauce are better options if you insist on soy- that doesn’t mean they are nutritious, but not toxic!
• genistein and daidzein, which are chemicals that occur naturally in soy, are proven to cause chromosomal damage and DNA disruption
• nitrosamines are often referred to as known cancer-causing chemicals. but no one tells you that soy is loaded with them!
• the body can’t use the B12 analogs in soy
• soy causes vitamin D deficiency!- which causes osteoporosis, among other things
• but it’s a complete protein, right? wrong again- another sick lie they told us. soy is not a complete protein- it is very low in methionine and cystine: plus, lysine levels are easily destroyed.
• soy is trumpeted over meat because it is low in fat…the fat in meat is not unhealthy, but that is still to come out in the wash. we are more sedentary than our hunting ancestors, so we need less, but small amounts are vital.
• processed soy products like soybean oil are high in trans fat, the only ‘bad’ fat, because it is artificial and not recognizable by the body
• the worst offenders are soybean oil, texurized vegetable protein, soy protein isolates, and all the soy products and their derivatives that are stuffed into veggie dogs, tofu nuggets, veggie patties, yada yada…still, eating the plain edamame bean is still toxic!
• while many studies claim that high-protein diets may cause health problems of every ilk, if all of these were revised with reduced grains, sugars, and chemicals, and increased vegetables and fruits, the opposite would be shown. animal protein has been used by humans for millions of years, and our brains are made out of DHA, found only in fish.
• soy contains many toxins, and one is naturally occurring MSG
• it is a toxic myth that soy helps prevent cancer- longer-term scientific studies show that it CAUSES cancer
• soy is not a green option, as often assumed- in fact, soy crops are usually genetically modified and use very high levels of pesticides
• soy toxins are often hid under labels like ‘vegetable oil’- not only are they hydrogenated poisons, but those allergic to soy will not avoid that product because of its misleading ingredient names

I’m not done yet. The list GOES ON AND ON. Don’t take my word for it- places to start your own research:

http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/index.htm
A New Zealand nutrition expert and scientist tells all.

http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/articles/veganism.htm
Read the New York Times article here: yet another vegan infant starves to death. Even babies BREASTFED by a vegan mother are deficient nutritionally.

http://www.amazon.com/Whole-Soy-Story-Americas-Favorite/dp/0967089751
The Whole Soy Story- the dark side of American’s favorite health food

http://www.utne.com/2007-07-01/TheDarkSideofSoy.aspx
The Dark Side of Soy: Is America’s favorite health food making us sick? from Utne Reader

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/07/21/soy-cancer-part-two.aspx
Soy Maker Omits Studies That Soy May Cause Cancer

http://www.vegansareevil.com/soy.html
umm, well, the site name is harsh, but there is lots of real information here

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/vegetarian.html
lots about soy dangers, our history of omnivorous eating, misconceptions, etc.

That should be enough to get you started. Please protect yourself and your family. If you are a vegetarian or vegan, remember that soy is not synonymous with vegetarian. We all eat too much soy, even if we think we’re avoiding it. There is a growing movement of vegetarians who do not eat soy or any other kind of poison. Here are a few resources to start with:

http://www.amazon.com/Mediterranean-Vegan-Kitchen-Donna-Klein/dp/1557883599
soy-free Mediterranean recipes

http://www.foodallergysurvivalguide.com/
a book about avoiding certain food groups

http://www.amazon.ca/Alternative-Vegan-International-Straight-Produce/dp/0977080420
a soy-free vegan cookbook, with many gluten free recipes as well!

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/vegex/msg0917221522922.html

visit writer Lorette C. Luzajic at www.thegirlcanwrite.net

I Heart Cilantro/ I Hate Cilantro

Got too much time on your hands? Hate cilantro? Then you, too, could join over 1000 others at www.ihatecilantro.com. You can even order a hoodie making your loathing of this herb clear to any doubters.

As for me, I’m with MJ when he purred, “I’m a lover, not a fighter.” It’s true that cilantro is an acquired taste, but then again, so are most of the best ingredients in life including wine, coffee, chili peppers and asparagus.

Few herbs inspire the love-hate camps that cilantro does. Detractors find the sharp, astringent, soapy taste too bitter, but fans are addicted to these exact qualities. Mexican and Thai dishes use the herb liberally, and Indian and Portuguese cuisine is not complete without it. I find that cilantro adds distinctive, unusual flair to all kinds of dishes in my kitchen, but if you don’t like the flavour, there are plenty of reasons to add it to your diet anyways- this herb is extremely nutritious and healing. Its medicinal qualities are wide-ranging, from promoting urinary tract health, boosting the immune system, fighting allergies, aiding digestion, reducing gas and nausea, soothing inflammation, balancing blood sugar, fighting salmonella, alleviating arthritis symptoms, detoxifying the liver, and killing viruses and bacterial infections. In addition, the fresh herb is a good source of thiamin and zinc, Vitamins A, B6, C, E, and K, riboflavin, niacin, folate, pantothenic acid, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper and manganese.

Cilantro is unique in its ability to help eliminate toxic metals like mercury and aluminum from the body. It is so efficient and swift at chelating metals that they can be found in the urine directly following ingestion! Many naturopathic doctors recommend chelation therapy even though it is time-consuming and introduces a chemical compound called ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) into the body to get rid of metals, because lead, arsenic, and mercury are highly poisonous and cause severe symptoms in metal-sensitive people. Cilantro is the only known natural chelation agent.

Coriandrum sativum is a hearty annual with vibrant green, fan shaped leaves. It resembles flat-leaf parsley, and is sometimes called Chinese parsley. Asian cookery uses the root as well as the seeds, called coriander, and the leaves, called cilantro. Keep in mind that the seeds and leaves are two different ingredients. Seeds can be powdered and added to dishes to help marry flavours together. They have a warm, nutty taste with a hint of lemon. Do not interchange these ingredients when following a recipe. Also, do not use the flavourless dried cilantro, though this may be useful to those who don’t like the taste. The dried herb retains some of the health benefits, but does not pack the medicinal punch of fresh leaves. Most recipes call for cilantro to be added at the end of cooking because heat removes much of the flavour- this may be desirable if you are adjusting your taste buds to the tangy wonder herb. It’s also a good idea to freeze the herb rather than letting it go rotten- a fresh bunch keeps for a few days in your fridge and a few months in your freezer, retaining much but not all of its flavour.

The best way to begin exploring this amazing plant is to head out for some Vietnamese, Thai and Mexican cuisine. Or impress your friends with a killer Mexican-style hors d’oeuvre that is easy and spectacular- melt a bit of butter and lemon juice with piles of chopped leaves and garlic, then grill shrimps in the mixture. Everyone will ask for the recipe!

Few dishes excite me as much as my recipe for Summer Soup. Its warm lemony chicken broth contrasts with a dollop of ice-cold but hot cilantro salsa, and makes a perfect appetizer or light meal. Sautee two chopped leeks in butter with a pinch of cinnamon. Add about eight cups of chicken broth, juice from two lemons, salt and pepper and a beaten egg. Use a hand-blender on the mixture, but leave a few chunky leeks, then toss in a few egg noodles. In the blender, mix a cup of chopped cilantro, a tomato, half a red onion, lemon juice, a red and green chili, 2 tbsps olive oil, cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until cold. Spoon into piping hot soup with a bit of yogurt or sour cream just before serving.

visit the writer, Lorette C. Luzajic, at www.thegirlcanwrite.net.

order Lorette C. Luzajic’s book through Indigo or Amazon online, or visit thegirlcanwrite.net.

Paprika, Hungary’s Spice of Life

Without paprika, there would be no goulash- or any other passionate cuisine in Hungary. What Hungarians ate before Christopher Columbus brought back the capsicum annum from Mexico is a distant memory. Hungary’s red gold is truly the spice of life, an integral part of their culture. At harvest season in Kalocsa, the “paprika capital”, the shiny little red pepper can be seen far and wide. Fields of plants shimmer in the sun, and strings of peppers hang from every porch and doorway.

Paprika is nearly a synonym for Hungary. This bright red, sweet spice with a light bite of heat and bitterness enlivens everything from sausages to mushrooms to potatoes. The use of paprika seems an innocent enough freedom, providing a colourful and affordable condiment. However, during the Turkish rule, cultivating this pepper was prohibited and the punishment for flouting regulations was death. Thankfully, many Hungarians took this risk and cemented growing and curing traditions that now yield the piquant, sweet flavour to many dishes around the world.

Hungary was hit hard again in the mid-1990s when unscrupulous growers began adding lead oxide, a poisonous pigment used in red paint, to intensify the colour of lower-grade crops. This led to stomach aches, paralysis and death, and caused a drought in spices when paprika was pulled out of the marketplace, creating lost revenues and economic fallout. The hearty, pragmatic Hungarians refused to eat without their beloved spice and bought coffee grinders to make their own from whole dried plants, instead of relying on merchants and producers to create the peppery powder.

The spice was banned again in 2004, this time when it was found to contain aflatoxin B 1, a carcinogenic microtoxin produced by mold. Growers and cultivators were horrified that their world-class crops, renowned as the best paprika in the world, were contaminated. Merchants of Hungaricum, this world-famous paprika, were incensed to discover that the bad batches contained peppers imported from Spain and Brazil and not their own products. Despite these seemingly constant setbacks, few cabbages or stews are ever made without the national spice, and most Hungarians consider paprika a food group.

Hungary sure is valiant about a good goulash or chicken paprikash, and its historical methods of production and curing give us the bittersweet and pungent delicacy, but Spain was the first to powder the pepper. Legend says Columbus gave samples of the capsicum to the monastery in Guadalupe, and cooking with the new world pepper spread rapidly through Spanish cuisine. It also became a classic ingredient in Serbia and Croatia and other Balkan lands. Each country has slightly different preferences in strain of the pepper, in drying times, in smoking (or not) procedures, and so on. It’s still popular in Central America and Mexico, though the palate must share this flavour with dozens of other hotter peppers. Americans love it, too, often using it as a cosmetic to liven up the colours on the plate. It’s a handy condiment to have in the pantry when fruits and fresh veggies are lacking, because paprika is laden with Vitamin C, and its transport via ships in the days of world exploration saved many smart sailors from scurvy.

Hungarians would say there’s no taste like home, and it’s easy to try your hand at some classic, hearty dishes. To make goulash, simply simmer a couple of chopped onions in butter with garlic and paprika (I like to use lots, in the Hungarian tradition that this is a food group!) Stir over low heat (high heat scorches paprika and makes it bitter). Add chunks of beef and a little bit of water, a few potatoes, and some salt, and let it simmer on low heat for an hour or so. Many recipes call for tomatoes, but many traditional Hungarian cooks veto this idea. The tomato can overshadow the sweet intensity of the paprika.

Chicken paprikash is just as easy and quite possibly the best chicken I ever made at home. Though leaner cooking calls for boneless, skinless breasts, cooking with the meat on the bone makes this so tender it’s worth a few extra calories. Sautee, on low heat, a few chopped onions in butter and garlic until tender. Add sour cream and as much paprika as you want, making a vivid red sauce. Pour this simple mixture over your chicken and cook in the oven for an hour. Salt, and sprinkle with another dash of the good stuff before serving.

Eat, Drink, and Be Mary

Zelda’s is not your average nosh pit: it’s Toronto’s one and only trailer camp. Keeping camp alive is the name of the game. Queer history keeps writing itself, and we’re integrating seamlessly in a progressive post-Will and Grace-culture. But certain ebulliences of bygone days are necessary complements to our life of Starbucks, Ellen, Utne Reader and the urban dog park (where we’ve never had to sit at the back of the bus!) These include rags like Fab- (because tacky journalism must never die), old-time and heavily powdered queens who remember Shirley Bassey, the feather boa, and the penchant for lisping that neither scientists nor theorists can yet explain but which has such a comforting lull. This is the place where it will always be cool to say “work it, girl” and have fussy pink or purple cocktails. This is the place where no one forgets about Erasure. Think of pink flamingoes and beehive wigs and you’re already here.

No matter that no waiter will sashay toward your table in the time it takes you to say “Cher”. Or, in fact, to read the whole menu and the Fab Boy blurb as well: there is no effing hurry, dahhhling. Now lounge! Zeldatinis like Yeehaw, Bitch Slap, and Sugartits will get you off in the right direction. Hopefully they’ll have karaoke somewhere tonight! Expect your ambience to be swaddled in pink and velvet drapery and gauzes, supremely tacky retro wallpaper, and severed mannequin bits glued all higgly piggly in every manner of boa and Fame-set legwarmer. Yeah, baby, of course the festive and the fey didn’t forget those patio lanterns, tiki lights and buoyant bubbling baubles of light and yeah, order another one of those lip smacking…things with those little umbrellas….

If you’re lucky, Donnarama will be headlining tonight. Long live Cher and Shania but the real dame of Church St. is this brilliant female illusionist and her signature performances of Courtney Love. You never know what song or genre or even gender Donnarama will be next: she’s done Barbra, Bjork and Elton John.

Truly, wacky drag shows are staples here, one of the things that make Zelda’s so fabulous. The campiest wait staff don’t work here, they ‘work it’ here, or even ‘work it oouutt!” here. Other great stuff: ten years of bawdy, zany, humour, so much more buoyant than mine but still sufficiently twisted to feel at home with. Ten years of heavy community involvement and all kinds of trampy fundraising marathons. Zelda’s cares. It’s not all just face paint.

And girl, the gift just keeps on giving, ‘cause Zelda’s has pretty good food. It’s really rather yummy. The yam frites are by now a classic- gooey fries with a stellar dose of beta-carotene. The Mac and Cheese- well, that’s just tacky ol’ hilly billy food now iishn’t it, slurred Dolli Parton one night and I had to try it. Brandine, you’re just divine- oven baked and like, a half-dozen cheeses? The Billy Bob BLT is best for hangover breakfasts: it comes with maple-smoked bacon, a luuurvely detail. Goes down luuuurvely too with a nice Bloody Caesar- you know, while we’re having tomatoes. Honestly, just order anything. Zelda’s has pub food, from people who care about pub food. The burgers, the pierogies, all damn delicious and there’s always a detail or twist that stands out and there’s even vitamins in minerals in most of the selections. Groovy. The salads are wonderfully fruity, perfect for patio picnicking here with another two jugs- yes, jugs, you know, pitchers? of Jackie-Ohhhhh. The scrumptious and dutifully named Cala-mary the jalapeño munchers, and the Marvelous Meatloaf are all delightful.

Did I mention the staff loves to dress up? Go hang more often at Zelda’s- you’ll just be happier overall. You’ll be certain to hit a theme night, cause at Zelda’s, every day is gay Halloween. Which means you, too, can head to that lighthouse in the city in any possible getup without fear of being inappropriate. So c’mon over and have some fun.

Zelda’s
542 Church St.
416.922.2526