Soy What!

Over at My Thinking Spot, supergirlest is saying bye bye, soy...

Many of my friends are vegetarians and vegans. Has everyone heard about this "dark side of soy"? I left her this comment about my experience, when I started eating more soy in place of meat in my diet:

I too stepped on the soy bandwagon when I tried to become a vegetarian.

My mother's side of the family has always had problems with anemia, and I've always had low iron levels when I've had my blood tested.

In 2005, I went completely vegetarian, replacing much of the meat with soy based recipes. In Jan 2006 I had a physical, and my doctor told me my iron levels were too low (otherwise I was in great shape for someone my age). I tried to increase my iron thru my diet, but it wasn't working. By March I was back at the doctor because of severe RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome), and I couldn't sleep because it, my legs just felt like I needed to stretch them. If I did fall asleep, the legs would wake me up with uncomfortable sensations and electric feeling twinges.

After seeing a neurologist, he confirmed the RLS, and he prescribed the widely advertised drug for it. It worked for me, but he also said that my iron and ferretin levels were way too low, almost nonexistent. I started taking iron supplements and in less than a week the RLS was gone without the RLS drug.

Then I find out that soy actually blocks the absorption of iron.

I'm also a runner, and in the south, during the summer, I produce tons of sweat. I am soaking wet after any run, if the temp is over 70. We lose a lot of iron in sweat, so that wasn't helping, but I wasn't about to give up running.

I changed my diet again, including foods that help the body absorb iron, but no red meat, only fish, and some poultry, and much less soy. I still enjoy edamame from time to time, it is my favorite bean. (I also make a tasty black bean chili, with blackstrap molasses, that is high in iron).

I also noticed that after I changed my diet, my running improved, and I didn't have so many problems with muscle pain and recovery after long runs.

Now last week, I learn that taking iron supplements has been identified as a cause for some types of cancer.......

DAMN IT! What now. We need the people like the oriental plant experts that knew what foods we should consume to keep us healthy. Now we just have fascist corporation creating foods in the lab that only taste good and sell well, but making us sick. The almighty dollar is only thing that matters here, making us ill and, providing the healthcare industry with long term revenues. I think it is a conspiracy.

Don't get me started on the bad things that sugar substitutes do to the body, and trans-fat is just plain poison, causes inflammation, it's all bad. These things make our foods taste better, feel better, but rages havoc on our health, so we go to the doctor to get drugs to make us feel better, and then other drugs to counter the side effects of the first drugs, and then its a downward spiral?

Where/When does it end? It ends when we stop buying all this convenience, and start living more "natural".

Thoughts?