The Soy Myth

“What kind of milk would you like?” The barista echoes as you weigh your options. You want to make a healthier choice than whole milk and less fat than 2%, so your first thought is soy. “Soy” you answer not knowing the detriment this substance can bring to your body.

Soy originated from Asian cultures from soybeans. It is a common ingredient in today’s culture. There is soymilk, soy proteins, and even soy burgers. Soy is “filler” for many cereals such as Kashi and is an ingredient that helps produce foods cheaper just like corn. America’s top leading ingredients for growing, adding into, or creating food are soy and corn.

Soy became popular in early 2000 as a health food and a beneficial alternative. This was a lot of marketing that allowed people to believe that soy could be beneficial when in fact soy is harmful.

According to Dr. Mercola, an alternative physician and author of health books soy can cause breast cancer, brain damage, thyroid diseases, kidney stones, infertility, and immune system failure. Just to name a few. Soy contains toxins that act as “anti-nutrients”. One of these toxins includes hemagglutin that causes your red blood cells to clump and create a blockage of oxygen to your tissues. Another toxin is goitrogens that break down your body’s ability for your thyroid to function. This harms the natural process of your metabolism.

So why if soy is so harmful is it in so many foods today? It’s cheap to grow and helps mass production in the food industry.

“The average American, of course, would not describe his or her diet as “soy based,” but soy ingredients are found in more than 60 percent of packaged and processed foods and nearly 100 percent of fast foods.   The plant-based diet fad has furthermore encouraged many health-conscious Americans to substitute soy products for both meat and dairy.   Although animal products would appear to be “soy free,” most commercial and health-food store eggs, milk and flesh foods contain residual isoflavones from soy-based feeds.” Dr. Kaayla Daniel's groundbreaking book, The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food is a great resource if you are more interested in the harms of soy.

Along with soy being a creation from chemists, it is also genetically modified in the United States. Genetically modified is the human manipulation of a substance to receive the outcome desired. Genetically modification began to impair resistance to herbicides such as Roundup when the crops such as soybeans were being grown. The only reason behind this creation is because of time and money efficiency.

Next time you’re at the coffee shop or grocery store choose an alternative to soy such as hemp, which comes from hemp seeds that are high in protein or almond, which is from the nut that is high in antioxidants.

Starbucks does not carry any alternatives to soy, but other local Seattle coffee shops such as The Flying Apron in Fremont or Café Fiore in Queen Anne carry alternatives such as almond, rice, and hemp milk. Talk about this and educate your friends so more alternatives can be started at larger chains and available in more grocery stores.