Just when you thought you were all set, making the switch from all the world's unhealthy foods and onto the ideal soy diet ... I'm going to ruin your day.

Now, I'm going to preface this article on soy by making two comments that will probably have a familiar type of ring to them if you've read many of my articles:

First, I recognize that every time you turn around, someone's saying something bad about food you thought was good ... and often, someone else is saying something good about food you thought was bad. (For instance ... they're saying that a beer a day can help reduce the risk of certain cancers. I'll bet the beer industry paid for that research, but nonetheless, you get my point.) SO ... take this article in stride. We're all in the process of finding a diet that works for us, and maybe there is no IDEAL diet in this day and age.

Second, and on that topic, I am STILL sometimes eating soy, exactly BECAUSE I find my dietary choices dwindling as I learn more about food and its effects on the body and as my body becomes more sensitive to certain types of food.

So, here we go. Like many people interested in getting into a more healthy lifestyle, I gradually began my shift into eating more soy foods a few years back and actually prefer it in many cases over the alternative. Among meats, I happen to only eat fish and fowl (and this is not an endorsement of that choice; again, I believe the meat issue is one unto itself, and I'll have an article on that later). So having soy options was useful. I also happen to enjoy soy in my coffee drinks.

Then I had to go and read this book called Electrical Nutrition. If you are into Reiki and you're into health at all, I HIGHLY recommend this book. Please click here if you'd like to learn more about it and/or buy a copy. In short, the book goes about showing how the whole universe is of an electrical nature (clear to those of us using or benefitting from Reiki) and that we, as humans, are as well. It then shows how the body uses food in an electrical manner, contrary to much of the information currently out there.

This is a VERY interesting book to read. My only concern about the book is that the authors are a little bit evangelical about their information. But if you can look for the information lying beneath that approach, you'll learn a lot. Oh ... by the way ... they are ANTI-vegetarian. They are all for eating meat. Again, we'll talk about this later. If you're against meat, you can still learn a lot about nutrition from this book! (Very good chapters on the electrical impact of birth; antibiotics; etc.)

Anyway, there is a whole chapter on the "electrical nonsense of vegetarians," and in with this information is a detailed, scientific report on soy, which the authors say (along with its derivative, tofu) is extremely toxic to the body. They say that, once upon a time, it was used as a soil conditioner, inoculating nitrogen into the soil. In the report reprinted in the book (written by a PhD), we see that "What was once a minor crop, listed in the 1913 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) handbook not as a food but as an industrial product, now covers 72 million acres of American farmland." The article goes on to link soy with cancer and many other diseases.

I won't go into the whole chapter. I do encourage you to check out the book, even if you're not in favor of everything they say. Again, it simply provides a lot of information that may at least inform you and provide you with a broader view on nutrition.

So anyway, I ran into an article recently in a local health publication called "Natural Awakenings," and the article was called "The Dark Side of the Soybean." The article talks about how soy has been marketed ahead of the science, getting FDA approval to make health claims that were not yet proven while there are many known health risks associated with the consumption of soy. According to the article (by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN):

The FDA "disregarded warnings from independent and government scientists and ignored hundreds of peer-reviewed studies linking soy to malnutrition, digestive distress, thyroid disorders, allergies, ADD/ADHD, reproductive problems, infertility, cognitive decline, cancer, and heart diseases."

Interestingly enough, the Israeli Health Ministry has now warned "that children under 18 years of age should eat soy foods no more than once per day and a maximum of three times per week, that babies never receive soy formula, and that adults exercise caution when consuming soy products." Other national committees have shown people to be at thyroid risk when consuming much soy.

Again, does this mean you should avoid soy? I would say ... you have to follow your own inner guidance. But I would suggest that you start studying into the topic a bit and considering whether it is in your best interest to eat it, rather than eating it because soy marketing has told you to. I believe some bodies will do a better job of converting certain foods than others. I do not believe there is one perfect answer for everyone.

But I also believe that being an educated consumer -- of food or anything else -- is the ideal way to be a consumer. So keep this information in mind as you continue looking toward healthier ways of living.