When I started drinking soymilk years ago I thought I was being smart. I would even admit to feeling virtuous – who bought soy creamer?! I’d watch other women buy their skim milk and wonder if they knew that they could do better with soy. But now I’m not so sure. More and more research has shown that maybe soy isn’t the health food we thought it was. On a recent episode of The Dr. Oz show, Dr. Kaayla Daniel and Dr. Mark Hyman battled it out. According to Dr. Daniel, because of the phytoestrogens in soy that mimic real hormones, soy causes issues in adults (think infertility, thyroid problems, breast cancer risk) and is harmful to children (early puberty and fertility problems in girls and future infertility and delayed physical maturation in boys). Dr Hyman disagreed saying that as long as you avoid processed soy products (cheese, burgers, etc.) that soy is overwhelmingly better for you than it is harmful. Dr. Oz’s final word? That soy in its whole food form (tempeh, tofu, miso) eaten once a week is ok. So what should we think? And what should we do? Let me also mention that soy is in everything – snack bars, cereals, breads, crackers, salad dressing, you name it.
Listen, we’re moms. We’re busy moms. I might have time to make my own salad dressing out of olive oil, vinegar and lemon, but I don’t have time to bake my own bread and I have no clue how to make cereal. Add to that the fact that my son is obsessed with graham crackers, which have an emulsifier called soy lecithin in it, and I’m back where I started. Kind of. Nutrition is an evolving science and really the only thing we can do is be open to learning and trying new things. Becoming obsessive is never the right answer, for us or for our kids. So I’ll make smarter choices when I can, not freak out over the graham crackers, and remember that healthy is one step at a time…
Warmly,
Stephanie
