When I started lifting weights back in 2008 I thought it would make sense to do something about my diet. At the time, a normal meal looked like two bits of toast with some designer ham and cheese – the sort of meal that can be eaten whatever the time of day (perhaps its only attractive quality).
I wanted to learn more about nutrition and decided to do the research. I clicked on a link about vegetarianism being the optimal diet, and, after reading the bare minimum, decided to give it a go. It became impossible to look past this word soy, a ‘superfood’, the answer to the vegetarian protein conundrum, touting such benefits as lowering cholesterol, containing more protein than even broccoli, and being the perfect substitute for meat, milk, and condoms.
Down at the local muscle shop I bought a mega-bucket of soy isoflavonoid protein (isoflavonoid is the type of phytoestrogen in soy) complete with a woman in a string bikini on its plastic convex surface. The whole experience made me sick: the taste, the oligosaccharides (a tricky carbohydrate to break down and one that causes unreal gas and bloating) and the objectification of a beautiful woman for such an average product. Nevertheless, I stood by the toilet and got it down. I did this for a few years before realising I was getting soft around the middle as well as somewhere else – clue: Monks of the Zhou Dynasty would ingest soy to maintain their celibacy. However, I was in my 20s and had made no such puritanical vows.
The reason for my involuntary celibacy could be blamed on estrogen. Soy is a phytoestrogen, or plant estrogen, which tampers with the body’s natural estrogen production. While estrogen is an androgen or sex hormone, responsible for your girlfriend’s shape and her ability to have a baby, men have it in small amounts too. With androgen receptors all over our bodies, estrogen can go just about anywhere and become active. It can also block testosterone—hence my floppiness at 20-years-old.
Artificial estrogens, also called xenoestrogens, pollute the body by creating a biological simulation of pregnancy in a woman as well as the general feminisation of a man (man boobs anyone?). These artificial estrogens are everywhere, but you need look no further than the plastic drink bottle in your hand, the parabens in the soap you’ll use before eating your lunch, and in your non-organic food (RoundUp is not a condiment).
The soybean, of which soy is derived, is a monocrop, similar to wheat and cotton, and was originally used as a nitrogen fixer, which means it takes nitrogen from the air and puts it back in the soil where it can aid the generation of new crops. Think of it as manure. In short, it was never intended to be a food source, as essentially it’s a root with little to no nutritional value. Such little value, in fact, that 93% of soy produced worldwide is GMO (Genetically Modified Organism). This means there’s a lot of chemical tampering going on to make your tofu edible.
I think the vegetarian diet can work for some people, and I think if I did it today, knowing what I know, I could do a better job of it. There are still the obvious pitfalls, which are impossible to get around with a human body (we’re not that different even though we like to think so).
You’ll likely have big nutrient deficiencies (Omega 3’s will be hard to come by unless you like scraping the moss of rocks with your tongue) and a lack of diverse amino acids, which ultimately run the orchestra of your body. Protein isn’t just protein, nor is its only role protein muscle synthesis. Proteins do everything from making skin and hair to the production of hormones, enzymes and neurotransmitters.
I do think we were designed to eat meat (you’re currently reading a blog with an opinion). And I do think plants have agendas, depending on your definition of agenda. One day the soil will take your body and its juicy bacteria, and then the plants will suck the soil dry of your nutrients. The ruminants (cows, buffalo, and all their big gentle friends), who have four stomachs, eat the cellulose, adequately break it down and absorb these nutrients, because they have the intestinal tract to do so, and then you, in an ideal world, swiftly kill, and then you and your family slowly eat the animal, all the bits, nothing wasted.
You didn’t start this process, nor did you end it—you are but an incident in its motion. Each part of the cycle is only truly compatible with the next. Each entity becomes a vessel of nutritional information, converted and passed on, and though it seems like the death of a plant, or animal, or your ex-boyfriend, it’s actually the birth of the next phase of this cycle. To be one with everything, you also have to do the job of your operating system and eat something of nutritional value, so that the next thing can eat you and your nutritional value.
But these are food wars, and go much deeper than we can see here. I’m talking about ideology, politics, money, and belief systems. The point of this article: Give up the soy and see how you feel.
Come in today and consult with one of our coaches on how to best begin your food journey!
