Sunday, July 29, 2012

Soy No Mas

Why is it that soy has earned such a healthy reputation when I hear so many bad things about it? Time and time again, I keep reading about studies that show plant estrogens in soy clearly cause a strong estrogenic effect in the body. This in turn can affect fertility; Not only in women who are trying to conceive, but also in the fertility and sex characteristics of unborn babies and developing children. It can have permanent effects on development long-term. It's pretty scary to read what soy can do to unborn babies and developing children. 

Please take a minute to read this ARTICLE!!! There are hundreds of peer reviewed studies out there confirming the points made here as well. It discusses how soy can affect various types of women: those trying to conceive, those already pregnant, and those breastfeeding.  Even if you don't fall into any of those categories, increased risk for breast cancer caused by soy can absolutely affect you.

I don't even want to know how much "old estrogen" I had lingering in my cells before I started taking Standard Process supplements to clear all that garbage out. Old estrogens and xenoestrogens lingering in your body are NOT what you want as a woman. I was pumping my body full of things that caused estrogenic effects for quite a long time:

-I was on birth control pills for about 10 years straight before finally discontinuing them in December 2008. Want to teach your body how NOT to make hormones on it's own? Take BCP's for a decade. That should do the trick.

-I lived out of plastic containers my entire life: heated food in them,  drank out of plastic bottles, the whole nine. My mother sold tupperware growing up, and everything we used to store food and drinks in was plastic. Very bad!

-I consumed an obscenely large amount of sports nutrition supplements (protein shakes/bars containing soy protein) and edamame. Is edamame or an occasional protein bar going to make you infertile? Eh, probably not, but on top of everything else I had going on, pumping soy estrogens into my body on a daily basis probably wasn't helping teach my body how to make hormones on it's own. It already had it's fill of estrogen, so why make any?


Not to mention, soybeans are in at least 75% of the foods on the shelves at the supermarket. This is my own guesstimate, but it's pretty astonishing how many things contain soy....things you've never even suspect, like crackers, cereals, condiments. Read labels in the snack isle at the grocery store sometime. It's in EVERYTHING, and the worst part is that the soy used in most products is also genetically modified, which brings it's own list of ill side effects, many of them fertility related as well. The last thing I need is more hormonal imbalances or an increased risk for cancer, so no soy for me thank you very much. I've gone completely glass in my kitchen and have cut out soy entirely. No mas! The more I keep reading articles like this, the more I'm thankful I have.

What about you? Do you try to limit your exposure to estrogens in food or the environment? Any thoughts or opinions on the article or soy in general?

8 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting this!! MORE women need to be aware of what this can do...just because you can get it OTC, does NOT make it safe...I would not touch soy with a stick for food or TTC reasons!It is just NOT good for us in excess...

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    1. You are welcome. I totally agree! I was guilty myself of soy overload. People think just because they don't eat tofu, they aren't eating soy, but it's in so many food products that it's complete overload! I hear about a lot of women taking soy isoflavones in pill form as well, and I just don't get it. Kinda scary!

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  2. OMG, this is so eye opening! I had no idea!! I've actually started using more soy products due to being lactose intolerant. I didn't realize I was doing worse by my body. Thank you for posting!!!

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    1. Yeah, it's kind of scary. I would definitely try to replace any soymilk with those made from nut, rice, or coconut if you can. They even make probiotics now that are lactose free, and those are fantastic for TTC and just in general. Lifeway organic lowfat kefir is 99% lactose free and it's so yummy! Might be worth trying out some new replacements for the soy. Let me know if you try anything new and like it!

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    2. I'll have to find some Kefir. I'm not sure what that is actually, so I'll have to look for it. Thanks!

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    3. It's basically liquid yogurt, and it's located near the greek yogurt at any health food store. Some larger grocery stores carry it too, but the brands and amounts of sugar vary widely. That is why I really like the Lifeway organic lowfat plain kefir. It has a good amount of protein, carbs, a little fat and very little sugar (no sugars added). Organic Valley make a good plain kefir that is also lactose free and fat free with low sugar.

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  3. I definitely was guilty of over-soying back in the day. I used to think those black bean burgers from Morningstar Farms were sooo good, and because they were lower in calories and fat than a regular burger, I'd eat them instead. I substituted soy milk for regular. I also ate lots of packaged stuff, which like you said, basically all has soy of some kind in it. I, like lots of other babies, was on a soy formula for a while as a baby because I was allergic to milk. I'll be honest, I have to wonder if that's why I needed a B cup bra by 4th grade and a DDD by my freshman year of high school. None of my 5 sisters did, and they also didn't have soy formula or substitute soy. I'm sure they took in some anyway, but maybe not to the extent that I did. I'm also the only one diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Hmmm... BTW, I've read that coffee is estrogenic as well, but I'm not a huge coffee drinker, so I haven't looked into that much yet.

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    1. I think you are probably right Farra. Soy and also non-organic animal products like beef and milk from cows given growth hormones have been shown to have those effects in young girls. I don't need a scientific study to notice that all the high school girls' boobs are bigger than mine, and they are starting younger and younger. It's pretty crazy!

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