For the vegetarians

[lathriel]

Soy Alert!

I've long been forced to endure conversations about nutrition that, while boring, and at the time I didn't care or didn't want to hear it, have helped me to build a sprawling informative base on holistic nutrition that could probably trump any med student's. I remembered a conversation a few years ago with my mother that went something like "Soy is bad! Blah blah blah! The Japanese use fermented soy blah blah blah but everything else is BAAAAAAD." At least that's what I think she said. Anyway, the link above explains!

So, for all you vegetarians who think it's wrong for vegetarians to eat "veggie" meats... you might be right, at least nutritionally.

Comments

[roofpig13.livejournal.com]

Craziness. It also tastes like crap most of the time. Although I have had some decent tofu dishes (and miso soup is always good).

I love the bit about the Buddhist monks eating tofu to reduce the libido. It totally made me think of this scenario:

Me: Hey Katie, feelin' frisky? Eh? Wait, what's this... tofu? Are you trying to tell me something? What happened to "not tonight, I have a headache"??

;-)

[bitterbonker.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I'm not sure what to make of that. I've seen a number of pamphlets very much like that, making a flurry of claims as to the absolute goodness or badness of a number of things, including a sewage treatment plant in Syracuse, corn-based ethanol, and yes, vegetarianism/veganism... which turned out to be overexaggerated or just plain wrong (based on the bulk of more even-handed literature I encountered elsewhere). For this, I am put off by a lack of sources to start, and also it looks like they're repositioning soy to sound like it has a greater impact on certain things than the studies might suggest. Other information has been contradicted in alternative studies and can't simply be taken as gospel. I guess, for me, I don't see any compelling reason to stop eating soy in moderation, as part of a balanced diet (and all that other nutrition rhetoric).

One vexing misconception I'll point out--at the end, the pamphlet points out the problems associated with growing soy in the U.S. and in "developing" nations. These issues are valid, but the vast majority of these soybeans go to animal feed, not to making soymilk and tofu. I'm not going to be one of those who says that if people didn't eat meat, we'd be able to feed the human population of six billion going on nine. This is technically true, but the more daunting requirement would be a fundamental restructuring of the world economy.

[steps off his soapbox]

[lathriel.livejournal.com]

The link I posted was to a pdf of a user-friendly pamphlet, but it's found on this website: http://www.westonaprice.org/splash_2.htm
along with other tasty tidbits...

[bitterbonker.livejournal.com]

Interesting... very well supported. Much more to consider, here.

Down with CAFOs!!!!