highly recommended foods for women, soy is another common offender when it comes to food intolerance—and despite the recommendations, it might not be good for women.
If you’re soy intolerant, you don’t produce the enzymes your body needs to break down the proteins in soy. That leads to symptoms such as cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, and diarrhea. A sure sign of soy intolerance is heartburn after eating soy foods. A lot of people are allergic to soy, although it usually takes a large amount to trigger a reaction. If you’re allergic to soy and drink a big glass of soy milk, for instance, you might get hives, an itchy skin rash, or abdominal pain along with nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. A small amount of soy sauce, however, probably wouldn’t kick off a reaction.
Soy is often touted as a healthy plant protein that’s a good substitute for meat or dairy foods. Today, soy is one of the largest agricultural crops in the United States. Unfortunately, most of the soy grown here is also genetically modified and highly subsidized. So, we now have a lot of cheap, genetically modified soy in our food supply. Soy is used in thousands of processed foods, often in hidden ways you’d never suspect. Unless you read the label very carefully, for example, you’d never know that soy is an important ingredient in a lot of energy bars, breakfast bars, and “nutrition” bars.
Soy is also the darling of many people who are eating a vegan or vegetarian diet or who want to avoid the cholesterol and saturated fat in meat. They buy soy products in place of animal protein. But are tofu (bean curd) hot dogs, sausages, burgers, and cheese really any better for you than their animal counterparts? Maybe not. Even if these products are made with 100 percent organic soybeans, the ingredients label sometimes shows that they’re heavily processed and loaded with additives. Read your labels and buy products that contain only organic ingredients that you recognize.
There’s a bigger problem than just the chemicals and taste of processed soy foods.
Soy contains phytoestrogens, meaning plant-based substances very similar to estrogen, the female hormone. So, if you eat a lot of soy foods, you’re also getting a lot of phytoestrogens—and that may not be good for you. If you’re a breast cancer patient whose tumor was estrogen sensitive, the last thing you would want to do is add something that mimics estrogen to your diet. If you’re in perimenopause or menopause, soy phytoestrogens in the form of soy isoflavones are sometimes recommended as a natural treatment for hot flashes and other symptoms caused by your body’s own diminishing supply of estrogen. These substances have the same problem as hormone-replacement therapy, however: a potential increase in your risk of breast cancer. Also, dietary soy has been linked to thyroid problems.
Needless to say, as a health coach I don’t like to recommend something that could harm my clients. I suggest that all my female patients of any age eat soy foods only in moderation. If they have a history of thyroid problems, estrogen-sensitive breast cancer, or any other female cancer, I suggest actively avoiding soy foods. The exception would be small amounts of naturally fermented soy sauce or miso used for cooking.
I suggest that all my female patients of any age eat soy foods only in moderation.
But what about those reports from Asian countries that women who eat a lot of soy have lower rates of breast cancer and osteoporosis? Asian women eat soy mostly as soy sauce and fermented soy products, such as tempeh, miso, and natto. They do eat tofu in moderation, but they don’t eat soy practically every day in the form of an additive to processed foods. They don’t drink soy milk, much less eat soy cheese, soy ice cream, and soy burgers. When we look more closely at the claims that Asian women have less breast cancer and osteoporosis because of soy in the diet, they don’t really hold up.
The bottom line on this Bad Boy is that he’s powerful and carries a hormonal punch. If he’s on your love list, make sure the soy you eat is organic, and enjoy it in its whole form, such as edamame (immature soy beans still in the pod) or organic tofu, only now and then. Use organic soy sauce and avoid excess processed soy, including soy milk (try almond or hemp milk instead). If you’re avoiding soy on a doctor’s recommendation, you must read every label on every item you add to your shopping cart, because soy is commonly found in many packaged foods—even in chocolate bars, candy, breakfast cereals, soups, and condiments.
Sugar
Look out, girl: This Bad Boy is highly addictive and will make you his love slave. This deadly Bad Boy has created an epidemic of obesity in unheard of proportions. It’s in everything—80 percent of all processed foods have added sugar. Our palates have been so manipulated to crave sweetness that we Americans need it all day long.
Sugar is being force-fed to our children, disguised in cereal boxes and “healthy” drinks and energy bars. Because it’s so addictive, if you need it, you need it bad, and that makes this Bad Boy really difficult to give up.
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