Holistic Nutrition Bytes--San Francisco Nutrition Consultation » soy

Confused? Read on….

admin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:44:18 +0000

I had 2 depressing moments today. First off, this article in the SF Examiner trashing coconut oil and promoting canola oil was brought to my attention. Dr Oz says that coconut oil will put you on the fast track to a heart attack and that canola is a heath-promoting oil, oh– and eat low fat! Lots of grains and fish! Big sigh as my inbox filled up with clients writing: “You told me coconut oil was healthy! I’m so confused!”

Then on a totally different topic, I get a response from someone defending soy & canola oil, saying soy has been used in China for thousands of years, just as rapeseed oil (from which canola is derived) has been used in Europe for years.

Hold the phone, people. These sorts of responses make my heart drop a little as I realize that there is so much misinformation out there that it’s hard to know what to believe. I want to put it to you simply: if it hasn’t been around for thousands of years, don’t eat it. There is a lot of misinformation about both soy & canola. First off, soy is present in almost every processed food product (it is one of our most widely grown & heavily processed crops), and it’s the processed soy that causes problems, mainly hormonal issues. In Asian countries, whole, unprocessed soy is consumed fermented as miso or natto or tempeh, or as a condiment (think small amounts of tofu in miso soup), and not in every product at every meal as we use it here– in soy flour, soy protein, soy milk, soy crisps–all processed products. (reference: The Whole Soy Story, by Kaayla Daniels). I don’t think our ancestors were eating Soy Puffs.

Canola is genetically modified (hence–it’s not called “rapeseed oil” because it has been engineered by humans to contain lower levels of the toxic erucic acid). Canola is a highly processed product, and the heat processing kills any beneficial fatty acids and turns it rancid/oxidized, which is linked to arterial damage and inflammation. It is manufactured and deodorized with chemical solvents. (read more: Know Your Fats, by Mary Enig, biochemist).

As far as coconut oil deemed an “unhealthy fat,” look: I am so sick of this. Coconut oil is a natural, saturated, plant-based fat that is stable and holds up well to high temperatures. It will not go rancid and is not oxidized if you purchase virgin coconut oil. The research that supports the claim that naturally occurring saturated fat will lead to high cholesterol and coronary heart disease has been proven false (see the Framingham Heart Study). Man made trans fats present in processed foods & shortening & hydrogenated oils, however, and sugar/refined carbs (which turn to triglycerides – circulating blood fat- when consumed in excess the way most Americans consume it) will certainly clog your arteries and lead to heart disease. And this is what the majority of Americans are eating: processed fats, processed foods, and loads of sugar, and this is what is killing us, not coconut oil.

I know it can be confusing to decide what to eat, but I would never take nutrition advice from a doctor. They don’t study nutrition in medical school. Eat real foods that have been around for thousands of years. Does canola oil seem like a real food? Someone show me a canola plant. My coconut oil comes from a real live coconut, and my coconut oil SMELLS like coconuts, not like deodorized oil. Ugh. My olive oil smells like olives! But that nasty “vegetable oil” in a plastic jug smells like chemical solvents.

Nope, this is not a canola field. It is rapeseed. Theres no such thing as a canola field!

We are all biochemically different and we all require different amounts of carbs, proteins, and fats. Some people eating a diet high in grains will actually experience elevated cholesterol levels as the grains break down to sugar, while others will thrive on a diet with more grains. And here is another misnomer for you: high cholesterol doesn’t even cause heart disease, but OXIDIZED (damaged) cholesterol does. The typical Western diet with its highly processed food content is replete with oxidized fat that can contribute to heart disease.

Now I’m depressed. Are you still eating soy protein bars and using canola?

Soy Long to Fake Soy

admin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:08:24 +0000

I write a lot about soy foods, mostly because I believe they are one of the great mysteries and disservices of the decade. Remember when soy crept onto the scene as a magic bullet that can ease menopause, prevent cancer, and protect your heart? Soy has been consumed by Asian populations for centuries, and they have low incidences of breast cancer. In fact, the Japanese don’t even have a word for menopause. Soy is an ancient AND beneficial miracle food, right?

magic bullet?

Let me be clear about something here. Yes, it is true that soy can be beneficial, but only when it is consumed as ACTUAL SOY and not a PROCESSED FOOD. Let me be clear again: when you pick up a soy protein bar or soy protein powder and read the label, what do you see? Hydrolized soy protein? Isolated soy protein? Textured soy protein? Soy crisps? Soy flakes? Soy grits? Does it come in a package or a tin or a bar? That is a processed food. That is not a whole food.

textured soy protein. not exactly a whole food.

Processed foods have been broken down, refined, had chemicals added to them, molecularly altered, or altered from their original states in a lab, then added to a food to fortify it or boost the protein content. Your body cannot properly process and fully utilize these foods because they are at least in part unrecognizable from real foods.

Another thing: as a society, we feel that if a little of something is good, more must be better! And all of a sudden here is the American Heart Association telling us that soy isoflavones are beneficial, and we should have 25 grams a day. Isoflavones are naturally occurring plant hormones. Fine. They also exist in flaxseeds and other plant sources. But when Big Food Corps start creating soy plant-derived isoflavones in a lab so they are more potent, then adding them to packaged foods and slapping a “Heart healthy source of soy!” on the label, this is not the naturally occurring element, and it can have very detrimental effects. Sure, it may make you feel better for a while, but these artificially-generated hormones build up in your system over time because they cannot be processed and utilized, and then the pendulum swings the opposite way. You can begin to have low thyroid symptoms, mood swings, disruption of female hormones (heavier periods, no periods, worsening of menopause), develop soy allergies, and actually an increase in your risk for breast cancer.

This is very deceptive, and it’s a marketing ploy. Soy is very cheap and is a government subsidized crop. It’s easy to make lots of it, process it, and use all of its parts in food (soy lecithin, the waste sludge left over after soy is processed; soy milk after it is pressed and sugar and other vitamins/minerals added, for example). It’s also easy to genetically modify it so it grows better, faster, repels pests, whatever. Soy is one of the most highly genetically modified (GM) crops. There are no clear long term studies about the effects of GM foods. Do you want to be part of the nationwide study? You probably already are, unbeknownst to you, when you consume processed soy. I’m not trying to point fingers here, but let’s just say that I’m not sure major food corporations have your best interest in mind. I kind of have a hunch that they’re concerned with profit over public health. Just sayin.’

Anyway, sure, soy has been consumed for centuries and can be beneficial, in its original state, or better yet, fermented, like miso, natto, tempeh. When it is fermented (also an ancient practice), it is easy to digest and offers probiotics to help your digestion. Soy is very hard to digest in its whole (edamame) form. Some edamame is fine if you can tolerate it, but no need to overdue it. Eat whole or fermented soy only three times a week, not every day. In Asia, it is used as a condiment: a little bit of tofu in miso soup, for example. I don’t think Asian women are using soy protein isolate protein powders in their smoothies in the morning.

Read your labels, folks. I’ll broken record this again: stick to whole foods as much as possible. This removes the mystery from the magic food of the week debate. Too much of any food is bad, even eggs. Even fat. That’s why it’s best to rotate foods and don’t eat the same thing every day. Avoid processed soy bars, shakes, powders, whatever, at all cost. Stick to fermented. If you are vegetarian, stick to beans, lentils, quinoa, brown rice, eggs, fermented dairy. You’ll find you feel much better for your efforts.

To Veg or Not to Veg?

admin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:32:37 +0000

When I was 15, I attended an animal rights workshop. There, I saw for the first time the deplorable and unsanitary conditions associated with factory farming. The mistreatment and blatant abuse. It was inhumane. A lifelong animal lover, I was appalled and vowed never to eat meat again.

And so it was, for the next 13 years. After a bout with anemia, I did reintroduce fish (as if that’s particularly high in iron). I carefully researched how to craft the perfect veggie diet. For the most part, I felt fine. I didn’t crave meat. But I did overdose on soy products, as is common with vegetarians and vegans, and experienced hormonal problems. But when I cut back, I just wasn’t getting enough protein for my physiology. I felt tired and developed some nutritional deficiencies.

So I started eating chicken again. And slowly, some beef here and there. Always organic and sustainable, and usually purchased from local farms. I felt horribly guilty at first, but I also felt…. good.

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that vegetarianism is healthier, that vegetarians experience increased longevity, and that eating meat causes cancer. There is no proof that a healthy vegetarian diet when compared to a healthy omnivorous diet will result in a longer life. And typically, people who choose a vegetarian lifestyle also choose to live a healthier lifestyle.

There is little data to support the idea outright that meat-eating causes cancer or heart disease. However, eating processed meat has been linked to higher rates of colon cancer. Here in America, we have very high rates of heart disease and cancer and these diseases are most certainly linked to diet, mainly because we subsist on trans-fatty acids, boxed foods, and too much processed or factory farmed meats. This meat has an altered and unnatural fatty acid composition over the grass fed meat we are designed to consume, contributing to a higher level of the inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. Inflammation leads to disease. The French have one of the highest per capita consumption of meat, yet they have low rates of heart disease. In Greece, meat consumption is higher than average but rates of heart disease are low there as well.

Protein is the building block of health. In this country, most of us consume way too much protein, and we’re consuming too may calories overall. We eat like marathon runners and sit on the couch. We have diseases of excess. We need on average about half of our body weight IN GRAMS in protein per day. So, if you weigh 140, you need about 70 grams. And yes, it is possible to get a complete plant protein. This means you are getting all the essential amino acids that are key factors for health, needed to build and repair tissue, and are necessary for brain chemistry and overall metabolic function. But vegetarian protein sources (quinoa, legumes, nuts) do not contain B12, critical for energy and heart health, and nutritional factors like coenzyme Q10, carnitine, and alpha-lipoic acid are only found in animal foods.

Typically, vegetarians survive on soy products. Non-fermented soybeans and foods made with them are high in phytic acid, an anti-nutrient that binds to minerals in the digestive tract and carries them out of the body. Mineral deficiencies are common in vegetarians, zinc especially. Zinc is a critical antioxidant for the immune system. Also, most soy products today are processed, delivering chemicals like soy protein isolate or hydrolyzed soy protein that can cause major health issues. Fermented soy — miso and natto and tempeh — is healthy in moderation.

In keeping with my belief that we should eat according to our ethnicity, here in North America, we evolved on a hunter-gatherer Paleolithic diet of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and meat such as mammoth, sloth, bison, mountain sheep, antelope, beaver, elk, mule deer, and llama. Our stomach’s production of hydrochloric acid is something not found in herbivores – we need it to break down meat. This is one of the many physiological factors pointing to the fact that we are designed for meat consumption.

Here’s the thing. We are all biochemically different. Your nutritional needs are different from mine, and our dietary needs change over time. Some of us require more protein, and some may thrive on a carb-heavy diet comprised mostly of fruits, veggies, and grains. You may thrive on a vegetarian diet. But when vegetarians show up in my clinic with hormonal issues and deficiencies, or if they have health issues that call for a building diet, I supply facts about why introducing some animal protein can be beneficial.

I believe that we thrive on a plant-based diet, with meat as more of a side dish. 50 -60 percent of your plate should be leafy greens and optional starchy veggies/beans with a little fat and a little meat. Those recovering from surgery or illness may require more, or less. Our ancestors probably did not eat meat every meal or even every day. The current Standard American Diet is too high in protein, unhealthy fats, and sugars.

Eat meat heathfully and sustainably. Support local farms. Look for meat CSAs (community supported agriculture) in your area. ALWAYS eat organic, grass fed, hormone-free meat. Buy from the farmers’ market. Eat more fish. Take a vegetarian day every once in a while. Do a vegetable and fruit-based cleanse a couple times a year. In the end, it’s a personal decision, but meat isn’t the enemy – when it’s done right.

Are You Drinking the Whole Foods’ Kool-Aid?

admin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 02:30:41 +0000

I’m not talking about whole foods (apples, kale, anything unadulterated that comes out of the ground, off the vine or the stalk or the tree), I’m talking about Whole Foods.

organics mega-giant store

After reading public health lawyer Michele Simon’s post on a recent ground beef recall from nationwide Whole Foods’ grocery store chains, I got to thinking. First off, and pun kind of intended, I have major beef with Whole Foods. Sure, they sell, well, whole foods, lots of organics, and they play up the fact that they support local, family farms, but you can still buy asparagus and avocados from Chile in the middle of winter. That’s not seasonal, and you’re paying for the fuel cost and the environmental cost to ship those puppies (along with apples from new zealand) all the way to you. And they still support big agri-business over small farms, even if it is organic. Here’s a funny tid-bit. Earthbound Farms, famous for their organic salad mixes and spinach, is right here in California. So why are the greens picked, shipped to NY to be processed and packaged and then shipped back here to CA on my store shelves, 2 weeks later and near spoiling (not to mention devoid of nutrients by this time)? Read Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma for more on this.

Look, I’m not going to get nit-picky here (too late?), because at least they are making good food available to us. But good lord you’ll pay: there’s a reason it’s called Whole Paycheck. $8 for a pound of organic beef?

My beef is that as a somewhat recent convert over to meat-eating from a 13-some-odd year stint as a vegetarian, I want to be *very* choosy about where my meats come from. I still have a major dilemma consuming animal flesh and by-products because I literally have nightmares about how animals raised for food are treated. It’s horrifying to me. (side note: Here in California, we recently passed Prop 2, which calls for the humane treatment of animals meant for slaughter.)

Whole Foods would like us to believe that its meat comes from happy, frolicking animals that haven’t been force-fed antibiotics or hormones, and while the latter is true, I’m not sure about the former. I don’t really know what goes on behind the scenes, but raising organic cattle is still an industry. Horizon’s organic milk is a perfect example: they are a huge CORPORATION acquired by Dean Foods, the nation’s largest milk producer, who once fought to allow antibiotic use for cows under one year and then still label them organic after their first year. Do you think these cows are roaming happily on their organic farm? Um, not so much.

Anyhow, Simon’s post says that there was a beef recall at Whole Foods’ stores in many states due to e. coli back in August. E. coli is not something that just happens to appear in meat. It comes from shit-contaminated meat, most often from dirty feedlot conditions where cows are crammed together and on quick assembly lines to be slaughtered one after another. This troubles me because I’d like to believe that the beef I buy from Whole Foods comes from farms with a little more care and attention to the herd. I see signs at the meat counter saying that they get lamb from Sonoma county, up North near me, but I’m guessing they don’t always go the same route for the beef. As far as I’m concerned, they should be hand-feeding and massaging those cows for $8/lb.

On a side note, I believe, from personal experience and from studying, that not every physiology is meant for any one diet, and our needs change over time. I felt fine as a veg for many years until I suddenly realized I needed meat. Years of all that soy had created an imbalance – we’re not meant to thrive on soy protein! Don’t send me hate letters. I already went through that when i wrote this infamous article for Terrain. I’m talking processed soy here, the stuff of your Chik-N-Nuggets, Boca Burgers, and Soy Crisps. Edamame, miso, tempeh – fine – but in moderation. The body isn’t meant for soy protein isolate and hydrolyzed soy protein, and even soy milk is processed. That’s right. It’s not a whole food – the fiberous part has been stripped from the bean and separated out and what’s left has been processed with sugar to bring you a product high enough in phyto-estrogens to equal a birth control pill.

Back to the point: even though i cringe slightly, I do shop at Whole Foods. I’m not immune to convenience and it’s a helluva lot better than Safeway. I urge you, as I have before, to investigate meat CSAs and to buy meat straight from the farmer at the farmers’ market, where you know how the animal was raised and slaughtered. It’s 100% grass fed and not “finished on grain.” Cows aren’t meant to eat grain! It makes them sick, calling for antibiotics.

A couple years back, I attended a Whole Cow Picnic sponsored by Slow Food Berkeley (read about it here) where Slow Food USA’s Berkeley chapter bought a cow, had it humanely raised and slaughtered, and sold of its meat and had a big picnic featuring $5 burgers from the leftovers. This is a great idea, and sure, it takes more effort, but it also eases my conscious, and this is one issue that weighs on it.

So. Shop at the farmers’ market. Investigate meat CSAs. Just investigate period. It’s better for your health, the planet, and the animal you’re eating.

Happy cows apparently come from California.