I realized the other day that there is soy in my hippie-dippy, outrageously expensive, organic, "made with whole foods" prenatal vitamins.
And then I noticed soy is also an ingredient in what I believed to be a healthy dark chocolate bar I'd purchased.
And you know ... maybe soy is fine in the form of non-GMO soy lechithin, but I still don't want it in anything I'm eating. I just don't. If that makes me a crunchy hippie or a bandwagoner, so be it.
Are you up on the evils of soy? If you're in this (in)fertility game, you probably already know what I'm talking about. And if you don't, this might be worth a read.
In short, soy is an estrogen mimicker. Estrogen is a hormone that already occurs naturally in your body. You don't need or want more of it because it will jack you up. Especially if you're like me and you've got a few pounds to lose -- excess fat already equals excess estrogen. The last thing you want to do is put more of it in your body.
Here's an interesting post about soy from Naturally Knocked Up; I know she won't touch the stuff with a ten foot pole.
Foods soy is in: Tofu, edamame, soy milk. Fermented soy products like tempeh and soy sauce are supposed to have a decreased estrogen-mimicking effect, but I'm not sure I even want to risk it.
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So enough preachiness for today. Nothing much is new over here. I lost one more pound. I'm still guzzling raspberry leaf tea. I've been taking my morning temps; they're rather low and flat-lined so far. And I started The Machine back up. It's telling me ovulation is approaching. I'm waiting for it to confirm that it actually happens. Fingers crossed.
It's amazing how hard it is to avoid soy. And when I tell people I'm vegan, they naturally assume I make sweet sweet love to the soybean all day every day. When I tell them that I avoid soy, as much as possible, they look at me like I'm a vegan with horns on my head. The concept of avoiding any additional soy in my diet is so foreign to most people. The soybean marketing board has done a great job.
ReplyDeleteThere is SO much "hidden" soy in the foods we eat that if I can consciously avoid additional soy, I feel like it's a great thing.
Stupid soy estrogen mimicker bitch.
Yeah, a lot of people consider soy a health food, and so did I before this whole infertility journey began. I was tempted to touch on parabens and pthalates, too, but thought better of it. :)
DeleteI have to avoid soy because it can impede the effectiveness of the synthetic thyroid hormone medication I take. Hormones will mess with other hormones, apparently. Hormones are messed up shit!
ReplyDeleteSee, this seems really revealing to me in regards to the evils of soy. The stuff should come with a warning label!
DeleteMandy - as an aside, check into armour thyroid rather than synthroid. It's metabolized by the body more efficiently.
DeleteI don't NOT like soy. Went off it while TTC and haven't looked back. I was shocked at how many foods it's in. Of course, two of the only foods Meg will eat are tofu and edamame. I just try to make sure she only eats soy at the most every other day.
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