Soy has got to be the world’s most misunderstood health food. The biggest problem with soy is that chemical manufacturing giant Monsanto (Now part of Bayer) decided to get involved in the consumer food business. That created a huge chasm with regards to the legitimacy of soy as a food product and most importantly a “health” food product. It has pissed me off ever since. I never really liked tofu, but I understood its protein value to vegans and vegetarians. Asians, especially Chinese, have long believed in the health benefits of fermented soy; and I still agree. The problem is there’s no real soy in America or the Americas. Every seed is a GMO that’s Roundup ready. Yep, that Roundup. Weedkiller.
That’s not even where the bullshit begins. I almost don’t give a shit about the GMO part… I said almost.
Oh, Soy… It’s Everywhere!
The issue I have with soy is that it’s in every processed food and even some health foods at very unhealthy concentrations. The way they utilize soy—as in soybean oil and soy lecithin in almost every frozen food or shelf-stable food product—is where it gets a little dicey. Most health food, fitness, and nutrition experts will confuse the soy products of tofu, edamame, and miso as estrogen-filled, cancer-causing killers. I think the estrogen police should go screw themselves and clamp their mouths shut with vise-grips… The isoflavones that sort of act like estrogen aren’t enough to do anything. But that’s where the waters get really muddy and cause soy to be the most misunderstood health food. No one knows the truth (or they’re too afraid big bad Monsanto will come after them and kill their firstborn.
Monsanto has done an awesome job solidifying their Washington contacts to allow soy in any form they can produce to be put in our food supply. The more you muddy the waters, the more people get confused and don’t know what to believe. And this is exactly where we stand right now.
Soy Lecithin in All Your Processed Foods
Soy lecithin is an emulsifier that acts like paint thinner for fats in food production and can help blend ingredients together with such as the cocoa and cocoa butter in a candy bar. This ensures it won’t fall apart while you’re eating it and make a mess all over your nice party dress. The baking industry uses soy lecithin to keep the dough from sticking and improve its ability to rise. It sounds like a good idea. Despite being a cheap food source due to all the government soybean subsidies, the concentration of soy in processed food is where it gets to be very unhealthy. In order to produce soy lecithin, it needs to be extracted using a chemical called hexane. I can’t even go into the controversy that comes with the use of hexane… Well… Here’s just a little bit.
Hexane, A Hidden Health Risk of Soy
Experts generally believe hexane is toxic or at least harmful when inhaled. There have been instances of workplace injury—and even death—d
ue to long exposure with the fumes during work hours. As you would guess, this is common in factories or manufacturing plants where oil extractions and industrial cleaning take place. From what the experts say, high exposure can cause skin irritation, dizziness, and nausea that progressively worsen over time if consistently exposed.
Every now and then those pesky questions come up. Is hexane residue possibly lingering in the foods that oils are extracted from? Many health advocates, including me, argue that the presence of this chemical is unacceptable and dangerous. The idiots who don’t give a shit if you live or die say that it’s benign and shouldn’t be cause for alarm.
Not Enough Data
In the cases that have been tracked, the amounts that actually end up in food are supposedly very, very small. However, hexane hasn’t been studied to the extent that it should be so no one actually knows how it will behave once ingested into the body. At this point, there are so many hidden health risks and almost all the studies conducted only have to do with the toxicity of inhaled hexane and its exposure to human skin. And those have shown high toxicity levels. If it shouldn’t come in contact with your skin or in your lungs, why would you want it in your body?
Soybean Oil is Taking Over for Vegetable Oil
Let’s get back to the high concentrations of soy in our processed food supply. Soybean oil has taken the place of vegetable oil in just about every aspect of our food-consuming life. What used to be a rare appearance in our diet has now become a frequent occurrence. Most of the time, I discount the whole estrogen-soy health risk connection. Furthermore, with the abundance of soy lecithin, soybean oil and the insane consumption of the stupidity that is soy milk (which is just white, infused juice); it’s time to reconsider. That actually always made me laugh.
Do the powers that be think we believe there’s some elf pulling on a soybean teat spewing milk into a little elf bucket to make soy milk?
Moreover, with the government subsidizing soy production then asking government-subsidized experts to come to a health conclusion concerning soy product; it kind of gets you thinking about the real benefits of soy. Oh, that’s right. With the GMO-food supply saturating companies’ pockets. Oops, did I misspeak? I hope the hell so. Eat your tofu, edamame, and miso but just stay away from processed foods saturated with soy. Do that and hopefully, you’ll stay away from cancer.
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