It's the...Soy??

Yes, after my disappointing revelation that coffee was totally messing me up, I had an even worse one. The soy milk, which is the only "milk" I like, might have been doing some damage as well. I have been enjoying soy in my latte almost as long as I have been enjoying my latte.

As Pranic Healers, we get together once a month for a "practice" session. During this, I had my friend work on my throat chakra because I'd had a slightly sore throat lately. I had also been unusually thirsty (though I always seem to be dehydrated no matter how much water I drink). She scanned and found the throat chakra to be very congested, and she also scanned my thyroid and found IT to be very congested. She has worked for a vitamin company for years and is very knowledgeable about nutrition and health. So this prompted a conversation on thyroid health. (I have also gained about 5 pounds in the last few weeks with no change in my diet and lifestyle which made me wonder about a thyroid problem because the thyroid controls the metabolism.)

Lack of sodium and iodine can cause thyroid issues, but also hormonal stuff such as estrogen levels. I am obviously nowhere near menopause and am not on any medications, so we ignored this for a while. Until it came out that I drink soy daily in my latte and have for years. My friend almost jumped up--soy has "estrogenic" effects. I didn't really know what that meant, and I REALLY didn't want to have to give up soy. So I did a little research. Within about 2 minutes, my hopes came crashing down: I found numerous problems with soy.

The following are some quotes from a website by a naturopathic doctor, Dr. Lam:

"There is ample evidence that the isoflavones contained in soy products, including genistein, are toxins. Isoflavones are inhibitors of thyroid peroxidase that makes T3 and T4."

"Soy acts as an competitive inhibitor of estrogen at the cellular estrogen receptor site, reducing the effect of estrogen in our body. At the same time, over consumption of soy can overwhelm many of the body's cells and may overload them."

"For adults, just 30 mg of soy isoflavones per day is the amount found to have a negative impact on thyroid function. This amount of soy isoflavones is found in just 5-8 ounces of soy milk, or 1.5 ounces of miso. Interestingly, while miso has the phyto-estrogenic effect, it does not have the enzyme inhibitory effect because it is fermented. Other fermented soy product include soy sauce or tempeh."

"Soy contains a variety of toxic chemicals, which cannot be fully metabolized by the body, unless it undergoes a long cooking, or fermentation process. Unfermented soy contains phylates, which acts as an anti-nutrient and blocks the body’s absorption of minerals from the gastro intestinal track. It also contains enzymes inhibitors that reduce protein digestion. Processed soy protein contains carcinogens such as nitrates, lysinoalanine, as well as a large group of anti-nutrients not found in traditional soy consumed in Asia. It also lacks calcium and causes a deficiency of vitamin D, both of which are not conducive for bone building."

Bummer.

I have often heard of the "dangers of consuming unfermented soy products," but honestly did not feel it was all that serious. It's just a bean! I also felt it was probably over-hyped by the meat and dairy industries who stand to lose money by us switching to this vegan product. I now feel I was wrong to underestimate the problems with soy--I had really not done any personal research into it until now.

Back to the coffee shop for solutions:
One place in West Seattle has rice milk. Uptown Espresso. My husband and I go. Terrible. Rice milk doesn't foam at all. That's out.
Organic milk. Starbucks has that, right? I called the one on Alki and they don't. C & P doesn't. Bird on a Wire Espresso doesn't.
Caffe Ladro! They have organic milk. I drink it. Not digging it. It tastes like....milk! Gross.

The problems with caffeine haven't been enough, until recently, to get me off coffee. But this loss of the soy option has, perhaps, finally taken my ritual away. Milk just doesn't taste good. If it's to be consumed at all, it should be raw so the enzymes are intact in addition to the vitamins. This twice-cooked (pasteurized + steamed) milk contains just about nothing nutritionally plus tastes bad.

I still haven't solved my dilemma.

Aside from this. This is my long-term solution. Investors, listen up.

I will, at some point, open my own cafe. It will be a primarily raw food cafe. It will be a place where you can grab a pick-me-up without having to harm your health. We all need to learn to cook from scratch, but sometimes, we still need some food or a drink in a hurry.

There will be no refined sugar.

There will be no pasteurized milk.

There will be no soy.

There will be no refined grains.

There will be fruit smoothies and green smoothies.

There will be healthy, raw breakfasts like cereal/raw granola with almond milk.

There will be healthy, raw snacks and healthy, raw desserts.

There might be healthy, raw lunches.

There might be caffeine (hey, you gotta make money).

Everything will be organic.

You can stay, surf the web, have a drink or some food and actually nourish your body.

You can be in a hurry and still eat/drink something good for you.

It will be designed entirely by me, an energy healer and nutritionist, and people will actually be able to trust what we sell because it's not designed just for profit, but for sustaining healthy bodies. It will be totally original and wildly, immediately popular... :)

Wish me luck.