The Soy Conundrum: Part 1

This is a HUGE topic that would take volumes to adequately explore, but I’ll try to give you the highlights. If you’ve been following health trends, you are likely as confused as most Americans about soy. Is it healthy for human consumption? My answer is a tentative maybe. Here’s why...

How Soy is Grown: About 85% of all soy grown is now genetically modified. Even if you don’t care about the genetic material itself, what this tinkering has done has allowed these crops to be even more heavily sprayed with pesticides and herbicides which travel up the food chain. We are seeing more and more research coming in now about how these residues contribute to disease, especially in children.

Health Claims: Most of the health claims are marginal at best. When you actually read through the literature and the research, you’ll find there are small benefits to LDL reduction associated with eating soy (although it’s hard to determine if that is the reason or if it’s because participants traded conventional meats for soy a few meals a week and maybe it was really just the removal of the damaged fats and fat soluble toxins that did the trick). Most of the positive health benefits are found from using fermented soy foods, not from products like “Tofurky” or SPI (soy protein isolate).

Protein Quality: You will hear many proponents of vegetarian and vegan diets claim that soy offers a complete protein source. While it is true on a chemical level that soy offers a broad spectrum of essential amino acids, it also important to understand that soy contains chemicals that slow or prevent the digestion of proteins and significantly impair the bioavailability of their component amino acids.

Human systems simply don’t produce the all the enzymes essential to the complete digestion of soy protein or the breakdown of the “anti-nutrients” that get in the way. When we rely strictly on soy for protein, or have a very high intake of soy products in the diet, we risk long term amino acid and mineral deficiencies that create problems in all our systems including hypothyroidism, anemia and immuno-deficiency.

Anti-nutrients: These are substances that either impair nutrient bioavailability or are chemicals that directly impinge on human systems creating health problems in the long term. One of these problematic substances is phytic acid or phytate. Soy has one of the highest amounts of phytate of any legume or grain studied, and to make matters worse, the phytates in soy are highly resistant to breaking down by heat (unlike phytates found in spinach, for example). Phytic acid blocks the absorption of vital minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and zinc. Because we don’t have the capacity to break down phytates, we have to rely on other mechanisms to do it for us. Happily, bacteria can do this via fermentation. This is why fermented soy products are considered by most nutrition experts to be the best form for human consumption. Fermented soy products include tamari (soy sauce), miso and tempeh.

Unfermented soy also contains enzyme inhibitors that block one of your body’s main proteases: trypsin. This is essential in the digestion and breakdown of proteins. Diets high in trypsin inhibitors can precipitate pancreatitis (and other pathological conditions of the pancreas), amino acid deficiencies and gastric distress as the undigested proteins make their way through the intestines.

If you choose to use soy, please choose organic, non-GMO, fermented products, and rotate your protein sources so you don’t rely exclusively, or even heavily, on soy. It is essential that growing children NOT use soy exclusively as their bodies try to build bones and brains. There are plenty of other legumes out there and when combined with a grain you will have a complete amino acid profile, and a broader spectrum of nutrients.

Get Informed. Get Help if you need it. And Get REAL.

(also published on the Patch.com)

Reader Question: "Is eating yogurt daily good for the average person?"

The short answer: Maybe... It depends... On a lot of things... like your personal biochemistry, the source of the dairy, and the ingredients in the yogurt to name a few. The longer answer: First let’s take a VERY short look at the history of dairy as a human food. Really we should not be able to digest milk beyond when we should be weaned from our mothers, by about the age of six. Waaaaaaay back during when human tribes were far flung around the globe and not in regular contact with each other, the northern European tribes, Egyptians, and other groups who were domesticating cattle began to exhibit a genetic mutation that left the gene responsible for making the lactase enzyme in the “on” position. This meant that these humans could continue to digest the lactose sugars in milk beyond childhood. The tribes who were not exposed to this mutation have maintained their “normal” adulthood lactose-intolerance. This is why many African and Asian populations are largely lactose-intolerant. Today this is changing as genetic material is rapidly mixing as we become a more global society. 



Dairy as a food has changed radically in the last 150 years with the advent of pesticides, industrial confinement dairies, growth-hormone injections, antibiotics and pasteurization. Let’s just look at pasteurization for a minute. This process was largely adopted in an effort to stop the spread of diseases such as typhoid, scarlet fever, and tuberculosis that sickened many people during the early 1900s by way of ingesting contaminated milk products. Pasteurization is now mandated in many states and dairy products must meet certain national standards to cross state lines. The two main pasteurization techniques subject raw milk to temperatures exceeding 161F for 15 seconds (high-heat-short-time; HTST) or 280F for 2 seconds (ultra-high-heat; UHT). The UHT or “ultra-pasteurized” process is becoming more popular so now you can even find milk in tetra-packs on unrefrigerated grocery shelves. 



What does this do to the milk? Consider that milk proteins, primarily whey and casein, are fragile. When they are subjected to high heat, vigorous shaking, or high-speed blending, they begin to break apart quickly into random amino-acid groups or singles in a process known as “denaturing”. The body likes to receive intact un-denatured proteins so it can break them apart into the puzzle pieces it knows how to use. Highly processed dairy products create dubious protein bioavailability for our human systems. In addition, the high heat damages the fats found in milk, including beneficial conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which helps trigger healthy body composition balance (i.e. supports lean mass and helps the body let go of extra body fat mass). 



Keep in mind that toxins tend to travel most effectively up the food chain in fats (the subject another upcoming post) and you’ll want to avoid any non-organic dairy product as well.



So back to the yogurt question: Yes, unflavored yogurt made from whole, organic milk from grass-fed, hormone-free cows can be healthy for people who are not allergic to dairy or lactose intolerant. Highly-processed, denatured, fat-free, "squeeze-pack" yogurts with loads of sugar or sugar-substitutes and carrageenan thickeners? not so much (and especially not for children). Get the good stuff. Get as close to milk from a happy, healthy Bessie as you can. Get REAL.

Being Vegan or Vegetarian Still Can Be Unhealthy!

Rant Alert: Ok, so I have a bone to pick here (pun intended). We need to talk about what it means to be a Healthy Vegetarian or Vegan, and the importance of understanding that just because you don't partake of animal offerings, doesn't mean you get to eat junk food all day long. Why is it that the vegetarian aisles of most of our grocery stores consist mainly of highly processed snack foods? And sadly, why is it that so many of my "vegetarian" clients think that a diet almost entirely of boxed mac and cheese, diet soda and Twizzlers qualifies as healthy? Psst: the word Vegetable is the basis for the word Vegetarian. If you want to be Healthy, whether vegan, vegetarian, pesca-lacto-ovotarian, or omnivorous, you need to eat Real Food. Don't preach to me about animal cruelty while wearing leather shoes, a down jacket and driving a car that runs on gasoline. Don't talk to me about how healthy your lifestyle is as you struggle with your constant post-nasal drip, weight gain, huge dark circles under your eyes, flaking nails and hair loss from nutrient deficiencies.

The Cold Hard Hairy Eyeball of Truth: to be a Healthy vegetarian or vegan you must eat a combination of Vegetables, Fruits, Whole Grains, Legumes, Nuts/Seeds. The only difference between a Healthy vegetarian and a Healthy omnivore is in the choice of some proteins and some fats. The thing is, if you rely on convenience foods, the vegetarian products can be even more dangerous than the omnivorous options. You can actually set yourself up to consume some of the most highly processed foods available on the market today. Yes, you read that correctly. Here is just one in a whole laundry list of problems: the standard vegetarian offerings at most grocery stores rely heavily on products made using TVP or texturized vegetable protein. TVP is usually made from soy but also from cottonseed (which contains a natural spermicide), wheat and oats. Please read the description found at Wikipedia for the utterly delicious sounding way this "food" is made complete with carcinogenic hexane solvent residues. TVP is loaded with damaged proteins, damaged fats, toxic processing residues, and neuro-toxins such as high amounts of MSG.

Soy itself has a really controversial history in the field of human nutrition which is far too big to tackle here. Technically yes, it contains all the essential amino acids to qualify as a complete protein on strictly a chemical basis, BUT the human body doesn't digest and absorb it in the same way as an animal protein so it is still considered low quality by many researchers, scientists and nutritionists (myself included). Most soy products are highly processed, high in phytates (enzyme inhibitors that block mineral absorption), goitrogens (that damage your thyroid), phytoestrogens (which can feminize male children raised on high amounts of soy), and trypsin inhibitors (essential for proper digestion). Fermented soy products are slightly better because some of these anti-nutrients are broken down by fermentation, but soy can still be extremely hard on your thyroid and can push the human system into fat storage mode thereby contributing to body fat gain rather than lean tissue balance. In addition, soy is one of the most highly sprayed crops in the world, as well as nearly all of it is now genetically modified thanks to Monsanto.

Fats are essential for human health, including saturated fats. Vegetarians and vegans often have the highest intake of omega 6 fatty acids due to the ingestion of higher percentages of plant based liquid oils. Safflower, sunflower, corn, cottonseed, grape seed and peanut oils are pro-inflammatory and chronic consumption can lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimers and cancers. It is important to consume a combination of types of fats to be a healthy vegetarian or vegan. Consider coconut oil which has a broad range of fatty acids, is anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal. Omega 3 fatty acids are harder to come by in the plant world and are not as easily assimilated as those found in fish or krill. Consider algal forms over seed sources. Reduce or eliminate all high omega 6 oils. Remember that a damaged healthy oil is just as unhealthy as a bad oil. Don't overheat or reuse oils after cooking. Keep oils away from light, heat and air while storing.

Please, if you choose a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, learn how to be Healthy. It's not as simple as believing the big food product manufacturers and subsisting on boxed, bagged or instant food products. Read labels. Learn about amino acids and how to combine foods to get complete proteins. Get Smart. Get Healthy. Get REAL.

Vanquishing the Dragons: Migraines and Chronic Headaches

So many people I know (myself included) are plagued by migraines or by chronic debilitating headaches. I have found that in many cases once the detective work has been done effectively, we can eradicate the causes of these inner fire breathing dragons that hold so many of us hostage.

Quick Definitions:
A migraine is not just a really bad headache. Migraines involve a whole host of other systems and symptoms that can range from visual disturbances such as the illusion of flickering lights or auras, to severe light induced nausea, to hemi-facial (“half the face”) pain, numbness or nerve dysfunction. Often pain is actually less of a problem than the other symptoms which can drive some sufferers into dark silent rooms for days. Most people who are susceptible will experience their first migraine right around puberty.

Chronic daily headaches (CDH) are defined by their frequency (15 or more days out of each month for more than 3 months) and the primacy of blinding pain as the key symptom. Chronic tension-induced headaches typically hurt on both sides of the head and evolve from tension of the muscular structures of the head, neck and/or shoulders.

Common Causes:
Medication misuse or overuse; allergies and toxic exposures; stress; sleep issues; caffeine withdrawal or overindulgence; illness; infection; skipping meals; chronic dehydration; and obesity. Often there is a hormonal influence that comes into play (especially for women). Testing is an important part of the detective work to get to the root cause.

My Own Story:
As a child and then teen I began noticing that I had worsening headaches every time I ate conventionally raised beef. In college I decided to try vegetarianism and took a few years off of all meats and the headaches disappeared. I then was traveling and opted to try a hamburger with a couple of glasses of cabernet right after a week of high stress, little sleep and food poisoning. Needless to say my body went into conniptions. I gave myself my first classic migraine and ended up in the hospital for five days while a multitude of tests were run to determine that I wasn’t having a brain hemorrhage. My symptoms: flickering visual aura in my right eye, extreme light sensitivity, nausea, numbness and tingling on the right side of my face, and a strange “far away” feeling headache. Once I eliminated conventionally grown beef from my life and took a break from the red wine, chocolate, aged cheeses and coffee, and learned how to manage my stress, I have only experienced a handful of migraines since.

3 Things to Try Now:

1. ALWAYS start with a big glass of water. We are a chronically dehydrated culture. See what 16 ounces of cool water (not iced) does before diving into medications.
2. Test for food allergies. Typical foods that drive the headache/migraine response include all those on my list above: red wines, aged cheeses, chocolate, caffeine, and cured meats as well as preservatives, artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, and the toxins in conventionally raised foods (pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and hormone residues).
3. Breathe. We forget to simply breathe in our rush rush rush way of living. Take time to just focus on the breath taking clean life-giving oxygen in deeply and exhaling equally deeply for a few minutes each day. If you don’t have any other stress-reduction technique, at least incorporate this one! You can do it anywhere!