Soy, Toxins, Fast Food, and Fat
Mmm...chicken! Wait, what's this?
I have a lot of backlogged news stories to share, so today, I’m going to throw a few at you with a few comments (any bolding in quotes is mine). Some of these are pretty old, but no less pertinent. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!
I’ve mainly provided links that deal with fast foods or fake foods, along with a little dig at soy because we can never take too many shots at that food.
More Fake Soy Foods
Raise your hand if this scares you: It looks, feels and tastes like chicken, but it’s made of soy *raises hand* The fact that anyone could think a food product made like this could confer any health benefits is laughable.
Hsieh has developed a process that makes the soy product simulate the fibrous qualities of a chicken breast…..To create the soy chicken, Hsieh starts with a soy protein extracted from soy flour. The soy then goes through an extrusion cooking process that uses water, heat and pressure while pushing the mixture through a cylinder with two augers…..Along with pleasing the senses, Hsieh’s soy chicken provides health benefits for consumers.
Chemicals That Make You Fat
Men’s Health chimes in by telling you that it’s not the food you eat…it’s the chemicals: Fat epidemic linked to chemicals run amok. I don’t completely disagree with them about chemicals (which is part of the reason why Real Food helps you get healthier), but come on, there is still nothing good about fast food.
Obesogens are chemicals that disrupt the function of hormonal systems…They enter our bodies from a variety of sources — natural hormones found in soy products, hormones administered to animals, plastics in some food and drink packaging, ingredients added to processed foods, and pesticides sprayed on produce. They act in a variety of ways: by mimicking human hormones such as estrogen, by misprogramming stem cells to become fat cells and, researchers think, by altering the function of genes.
Taxing Instead Of Fixing
I came across this link and thought about the ridiculousness of this proposition: Unhealthy foods become less popular with increasing costs.
The researchers estimate that an 18-percent tax on these foods would result in a decline of roughly 56 calories per person per day. These declines would amount to weight loss of approximately 5 pounds per person per year, with corresponding reductions in the risk of obesity-related diseases, they note.
Does anyone else think perhaps we’d be better served to not subsidize the growth of the corn that allows food manufacturers to produce so many sugary, processed, fattening food products in the first place?
What Trans Fats Do To You
Trans fats hinder multiple steps in blood flow regulation pathways
Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in processed foods contain trans fatty acids that interfere with the regulation of blood flow. … “Trans fats inhibited the synthesis of arachidonic acid from linoleic acid, even when there was plenty of linoleic acid available,” he said.
Turns Out Soy Isn’t Good For That Either
Little Effect of Soy Isoflavones Found on Bone Loss in Postmenopausal Women
While the 120-mg dose soy isoflavones did reveal a small protective effect on femoral neck bone BMD, researchers found no significant effect of treatment on lumbar spine, total hip, or whole-body BMD.
Great News For Soft Drink Makers
Sweetened Beverage Consumption Increases Dramatically In U.S.
Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption was highest among young adults (231-289 kcal/day), who consumed roughly 20 percent of their sugar-sweetened beverage calories at work, and lowest among the elderly (68-83 kcal/day).
About Scott
Scott Kustes loves to cook and loves to eat. He started Real Food University to help you get maximum enjoyment out of the meals that you eat. To find out more about how he has rebelled against the fast food culture and counting calories or carbs, join the Real Food Revolution.
16 Reader Comments
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Just to think of years of tofu, soymilk,soy mayo, soy yogurt …eating , bc I though it was healthy …, makes me shiver:)Leaving out chemical added food , including whey on 30 day challenge here, lost 14 lbs in Jan and another 8 lbs in feb, …
Actually, there’s nothing wrong with soy, especially if it’s relatively unprocessed (soybeans, soymilk, tofu, for example). There have been a lot of unscientific articles written about the supposed “dangers” of soy, but you’d do well to dig a little deeper into these anti-soy claims.However, I do agree that the health claims of soy are often exaggerated, and when you process soy too much, just like any food, it makes it much less healthy. And if you fry it, that’s even worse. Add more chemicals, and forget about it.Just saying: don’t take the above-referenced articles to mean all soy products are bad.
“Obesogens are chemicals that disrupt the function of hormonal systems; many researchers believe they lead to weight gain and, in turn, numerous diseases that curse the American populace. They enter our bodies from a variety of sources — natural hormones found in soy products, hormones administered to animals, plastics in some food and drink packaging, ingredients added to processed foods, and pesticides sprayed on produce. They act in a variety of ways: by mimicking human hormones such as estrogen, by misprogramming stem cells to become fat cells and, researchers think, by altering the function of genes.”What nonsense – it’s a shame that “Men’s Health” (Rodale’s answer to Cosmo) can’t bother to actually read the literature on endocrine disruptors. The primary effect of biphenolic compounds such as BPA has been impaired sexual differentiation in maturing organisms, and only recently have studies been published correlating higher blood serum levels with other symptoms such as asthma and hypertension – no causative mechanism has been proposed by responsible researchers.While increasing evidence points to harmful results from some of these materials, blaming “soy products” for obesity must be the result of someone who’s never considered that a large (and non-obese) part of the world eats soy products as a staple part of their diet.I can only speculate that blaming external agents such as food additives rather than indolence and overeating allows the kind of cognative dissonance that magazine publishers, learning from years of “women’s magazines” (who intentionally publish chocolate cake recipes and diet schemes on facing pages) crave.I’m sure that this article was placed near the “Blast Belly Fat” and “Ways To Cook Steak” articles, and probably not too distant from the reviews of more-expensive cars you can buy to avoid walking.
Leo, I agree. The problem is few people are eating the soy foods that can have some benefits, namely the ones that are fermented to neutralize most of the toxins in the soybean like miso, natto, and tempeh. Most people are downing soy milk (which is actually quite heavy in the antinutrient department, the main issue with soy), soy hot dogs, and the such.CheersScott
Scott, very few people actually eat soy “as a staple,” but you are correct that there are a lot of soy eaters in the world. They tend to eat good soy products though like I mentioned in my comment above to Leo, not soy junk food like we find in the grocery store that are loaded with chemicals, including these plant estrogens. However, I agree with you that Men’s Health likely has something to sell, though to be fair, the article does take aim at fast food burgers and their chemical content as well. Gotta pick the nuggets of truth out of the sea of crap.CheersScott
Good info Scott…Before I did any of my own research, I was using soy milk as a diary substitute. I’ve since switched to almond milk. Do you know of any additional studies on dairy substitutes such as almond milk? What’s your take on it?Mike
I agree about soy hot dogs and the like, but soymilk is usually just soybeans ground up and then soaked in water. It’s really not bad for you, and things made from soymilk (natural soy yogurt, tofu) aren’t bad either — they contain good nutrients and protein.It’s possible to make these things just using extracted soy protein, which I wouldn’t eat, but if they use natural processes (as I described above) there’s nothing in soymilk that’s not in soy beans.
As I said in my comment above just now, soymilk isn’t bad — it’s just ground up soybeans soaked in water. Almond milk is made the same way. There’s nothing wrong with these foods — in fact, I’d prefer them over dairy any day.Of course, eating the actual almonds or soybeans is better, and soymilk or almond milk alone won’t get you the nutrients and fiber you need, but there’s nothing wrong with them.
I am not a vegetarian, so probably not going to be a major proponent of soy…and from everything I read, it will be an ongoing battle between “it’s good” and “it’s evil”. If it is processed, then I am not interested in it nor do I believe it to be healthier than a more natural option. If you can make it yourself (such as almond milk as described above), then its probably the best option.There is also a billion $ industry behind products made from isolated soy, so you know there will always be a strong push to make it look healthy in the public’s eye. Read enough studies and you know most can be biased and made to whatever outcome the people funding it want.I would also ask people why they choose soy. If it is because “saturated fat is bad” (from animals) then they really should research that more in depth…as even now it is coming out in nutritional journals that there is NO real connection between increases in saturated fat and increases in heart disease (and cholesterol myth is hopefully soon to follow….although with billions in stake for Lipitor, that will be harder to get out there). If anything Sat fat only helps make the big fluffy particle LDL (not harmful) and not the small dense (really bad) LDL that elevates with a low fat diet (since that usually means higher carbs from processed grains/sugars and elevated triglycerides as well).Also if people choose soy because people in Asia eat it (and assume they are healthier from it), you also have to look at all the other factors in their diet such as higher intakes of fish and a more balanced Omega 3:6 ratio (which you can also get from natural meat, grass fed….not grain fed), plus a slower paced lifestyle and probably lack of other processed foods/sugars in their diet. Add more processed foods, vegetable oils and sugar into that diet, and I’m sure you will see rapid increases in heart diseases and cancers.Lastly you have to ask yourself if what you are eating/drinking is the same thing to any other culture you are comparing intake and health to. Is it prepared, heated, treated, fermented, etc….all the same ways? If it is not, then it is not the same food. Many cultures still persist on diets of soy, grains, beans but it also involves long processes of soaking and fermentation. I don’t think there are any religious reasons for this long preparation, so it must be for a good nutritional reason that was figured out and passed down through the generations. What you find in a store is not going to be the same as what you find on those people’s plates (unless it was prepared in the same fashion of course…but costly and longer processing times is not what many processed food industries are about).In the end….we all want the same thing….many ways to health….many foods to choose from….the least processed, the better….everything in moderation…..people have a right to choose whether or not to eat meat…..but also “real natural” meat isn’t so evil as it is made out to be and fattened meat from sick grain-fed animals is not natural either. We just need to do our own research, come up with our own answers, and never listen to anything advertised on TV (as we all should strive to maintain our intellectual independence). I’ll share a cold beer with a vegetarian anytime.
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The problem with soy is that most of them are altered MONSANTO monopoly on it.Apart from omega 6, my main concerne is that soy has phytohormones that are very similar to our own natural hormes, and do compete for the active sustrate in our body resulting in malfunction of many glands as thyroids and ovary …etc.On the other hand once fermented like miso, not only is delicious but beneficial…
I suppose we’ll just have to agree to disagree here. I feel that there are lots of things that are in soybeans that you wouldn’t want in your soy milk, soy yogurt, or tofu that only fermentation deals with (phytates, enzyme inhibitors, and such).CheersScott
Thanks for this very informative article! The information you included is exactly why I’ve decided to grow a little garden this year and shop at farmer’s markets. Besides making these choices to lose weight, natural grown food with no extra additives tastes a lot better.
Great post and comments! Soy was addressed well.I totally agree that we should stop subsidizing corn production, but I also agree that we should tax fast foods. Not all fast foods involve corn and corn derivatives.Coming from Atlanta, one of my favorite fast foods are Chick-Fil-A’s Chicken Sandwiches, which are fried in peanut oil, not corn or vegetable oil.All Americans including myself have a right to eat whatever we want, but we should have to pay extra taxes to of set the health care costs that eating nutrition poor foods create.The taxes and increased costs would also force poor Americans to think twice before purchasing nutrition poor foods. Poor Americans can least afford the chronic diseases that eating poorly eventually lead to.
I agree that fake soy foods are quite scary and pretty much harmful to the body. Plus the fact that an average person normally consumes almost a liter of soft drinks daily is a total horror. That’s why obesity, cancer and other chronic diseases thrive 10 times as much as used to years ago when processed food was not invented yet. Great article and great ideas!
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