Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

One of the most interesting facts I find about people today is they don't use common sense. We all know that orange juice is good for you, it has vitamin C. But orange juice consumed by the gallon daily is NOT GOOD for you. So if someone consumes a gallon of orange juice everyday and becomes diabetic, does this imply that orange juice is evil and has no merits? Overdoing anything, even the best nutrient, and you can overdose. As a Chinese, and still eating Chinese food 90% of the time, no one in our family overdoses on soy. We drink 16 oz of soymilk at the most per day. Fresh soybeans (edamame), only a handful twice a week. Fresh tofu, freshly fried tofu, miso, tempeh, real fermented soy sauce, fermented soybean pastes, are consumed in larger quantities. But we never eat soy alone. And we don't have these strange soy hotdogs, soy burgers, soy powders, soy shakes, engineered soy products. Babies are never fed soymilk. As soon as babies can start eating food, they are fed fresh silken tofu, as it is an easily digested protein. But tofu is never the only source of protein. Small amounts of ground meat, milk and regular food are fed to babies. As for adults, tofu will always be eaten with eggs, or meat or fish in a meal. Never by itself. The same with soybeans, miso and soy sprouts and soy sauce, etc. I believe that Chinese and Japanese have eaten this way for centuries. And because we consume mostly tofu and fermented soy products, you don't hear people having these kinds of problems. Soybeans are naturally high in trypsin. The process of fermentation and tofu making is what deactivates trypsin, and makes it safe for consumption. That is why soymilk and edamame are not eaten in large quantities. Also what is unknown to most people is that Chinese eat larger quantities of soy bean sprouts and black soy beans. The black soy beans are commonly mistaken as "black beans", but they are not the Mexican or South American black beans. Black soybeans have higher protein content, and are considered superioer to yellow soybeans. Even though soybean sprouts have phytoestrogens, they contain less phytoestrogens than alfalfa sprouts. One birth control pill has 5000 times as much estrogen as 20 grams of soy sprouts. So eating soy sprouts occasionally (as in once or twice a week) does not hurt you. But going overboard and eating large quantities everyday is not good for you. And until Americans started producing soybean oil, the majority of Chinese was raised on peanut oil and safflower oil (made by pressing you choy). The first written record of the soybean plant is contained in the book "Ben Ts'ao Kang Mu", describing the plants of China by Emperor Shen Nung in 2838 BC. They have been cultivated and eaten since then. If a food has been eaten for 4800 years, I'm pretty sure there is enough empirical data to show that soy itself is not evil. If the plant was toxic in any way, it would be listed as such in the "Ben Ts'ao Kang Mu" and the Chinese Materia Medica. Perhaps engineered soy foods, such as soy hot dogs, soy protein powders, and such should be eaten sparingly. But if you have any doubts about soy, you shouldn't eat too much of it, and definitely do not eat engineered foods. As in everything, moderation is key to good health. UPDATE 7/21/2015 SOY NOT RECOMMENDED in your diet, or eat very tiny amounts (like only soy sauce for sushi). This is my personal journey, and yours may vary. Listen to your body and do what's best for YOU. I had been diagnosed with chronic fatigue and leaky gut in 1995. The western trained doctor did not know what to tell me; he just said that there's nothing I need to do and it doesn't cause any medical issues. At the time, I didn't know any better, and just left. Since the leaky gut issue was not fixed, hence my gut has been "leaking food debris" for close to 20 years now, no wonder I started developing autoimuune conditions, like eczema that won't go away, hair loss, thinning hair, low thyroid, fertility issues, and finally celiac. I remember I went to another doctor, who after reviewing blood tests, said that my thyroid number is lower than she liked, but not low enough to give me medication. "What can I do?", I asked; she replied, "there's nothing you can do." Then many years later, I met a naturapath doctor, who said I need iodine tablets supplement, which helped. Then I stopped one day many years later, thinking I no longer need supplements since I started eating lots of nori and wakame. Then I started having this heavy lead-ball feeling in my stomach after eating breads (gluten). The new western trained MD said, "you might be gluten sensitive; might be a good idea to remove all wheat products". He referred me to a GI specialist (this was back in 2007. The GI specialist said, "oh, that gluten sensitivity is only for people who have specific genetic markings; is anyone in your family allergic to gluten?" "No", I said; then he said, "well, I wouldn't put any faith in that unless you tested positive. It's probably just some indigestion, and you can use OTC and it'll go away." Once again, I left and took his word. A couple more years later, when I started yet another naturalpath healer, who also did NET, EFT, Bodytalk, muscle testing, and a whole slew of other studies, she said that I need thyroid supplements, additional nutrition, and put me on a leaky gut healing supplement. Unfortunately the leaky gut supplement first started working, then stopped and I felt worse, like something's grating at my stomach lining. It turned out that I was allergic to aloe vera, and aloe vera is in a lot of gut-healing supplements. So I stopped that. I seemed to be eating well, but still feeling foggy headed. We tested again, and I definitely had gluten allergy. I had no digestive issues at the time, so I thought she was quack. But it turned out, she was right and I was wrong. I went to another GI specialist, who said, there are many levels of gluten allergy. I didn't have to limit my grains intake. He was wrong. I went on a long family trip through route 66, which meant there was very little fresh food, and gluten-contaminated foods everywhere, plus everything is cooked in soybean oil ! Came home with horrible celiac skin rashes from my neck to my feet, which I still see the marks close to 2 years later. The GI specialist said that's not conclusive proof of celiac, he'd have to do a biopsy to confirm it. I don't need a biopsy to confirm something's damaging me !! When I eat even a bite of anything gluten, I start getting itchies within one hour after eating. Even though my own soy intake involves gluten-free soy sauce (made from black soybeans and rice), soybean and rice miso, and the occasional organic nigari tofu, I had been continually damaging my GI system, my thyroid, and my immune system. I thought I was eating very clean, but it turned out a LOT of canned foods were canned with soybean oil, many XO special Chinese sauces are all made with soybean oil, lots of asian sauces are soy sauce based, like teriyaki, stir fry sauce, many Japanese prepared dressings and sauces all have soy sauce and MSG. I did NOT eat soy hot dogs, or soy chicken or fake meats. Still, I wasn't eating clean as I thought! My naturopath doctor confirmed that soy screws up my immune system, and confuses it, which is what all autoimmune diseases are about. Now reading this book again, I realized had I stopped eating soy after this book, maybe my symptoms would NOT have developed; maybe I would heal myself long ago, and avoid all these autoimmune diseases, which all started because of leaky gut. I'm not certain if it's the soy in this country that's different from the soy I grew up with (there was no monsanto, no archer daniel midlands, no cargill in Taiwan back then). But Taiwan now has all those companies selling their toxic wares over there and in China. The soy that we knew from long ago probably has changed there as well, and whether fermented soy or not fermented is no longer the issue. Fermentation used to reduce/eliminate all the trypsins and whatnots; now I'm not sure if it does anymore. As delicious as soy sauce may be, my health is more important. I'm now on the autoimmune protocol (aka the AIP), and avoiding soy. Hope this info helps someone to avoid getting sick from eating soy.