Alicia Silverstone Explains the Soy Situation

Ah, the soy situation. I know soy has good properties but there's the idea out there that too much of it can be bad for you - which is even further complicated by not knowing how much is too much. I mentioned my uncertainty back in the Non-Fish Omega-3 Sources post and even further back in my review of The Kind Diet. But I know it's something I already include in my diet in forms such as edamame, the occasional pieces of tofu and the once-in-awhile scoop of soy-based ice cream. (There's more but you get the point.) Soy is a rich source of protein, fiber, and... no-surprise-see-link-above omega-3 fatty acids.

Well Alicia Silverstone - yes, the same one who in my review of her book I said confused me on the soy situation - cleared things up a bit.

edamame image from Food Thinkers on Flickr

Basically she's saying that phytoestrogen (which is different than the estrogen you find in dairy products) in soy (especially organic soybeans) can help regulate our own hormone levels. But the soy you should really moderate is the heavily processed soy... like my aforementioned soy ice cream. According to her post, this is because there is some evidence suggesting this highly concentrated form of the protein can produce an insulin-like growth factor in the bloodstream linked to high cancer risk.

Ok. So I still don't know quite how much soy is too much, but now I have an idea of which soy is helpful and which I should have small amounts of, if any.

The strange thing is I knew this already. Processed foods tend to not be as nutritious and/or have elements that can harm your health in the long run. But it took Alicia Silverstone bringing up the issue for me to realize this applies to soy too.

Her post also mentions 5 soymilk alternatives (nut, rice, oat, hemp, coconut). Cow's milk has never been a staple of my diet due to intolerance so I was never in the mindset that I had to replace it with soymilk. Pretty much the only time I use a milk of any kind is if I have to when I'm baking and when I make smoothies, but in both cases I use almond milk because almonds are good for you (helps lower bad cholesterol, Vitamin E source, and more), I can tolerate it,  I don't mind the taste, and it can be gluten-free. Also it helps make smoothies a bit creamier.

Now I also know soy has issues all on its own in regards to farming subsidies, but as far as health goes (which is the main concern of this blog) - going for whole/non-highly-processed, organic-when-possible soy sources can be a helpful part of your diet.

And if you haven't tried edamame yet, do it. (It's on the good soy list.) Simple. Yummy. Great snack, appetizer, or side.

Well. I'm feeling better on this issue.

If you want to read the whole Alicia Silverstone post, you can find it on her blog with a title of "the deal with soy... and five soymilk alternatives."

©2011 Memo To My Health. Please do not republish our content without notifying us and getting permission.

Chips/Crisps: You Cannot Eat Just One

I'm pretty sure that's scientifically proven. Pretty sure. ;)

Even with everything I've learned I've been unable to completely walk away from the chip.

I know potato chips are not the healthiest food. I try not to buy them too often and when I do I go for what I think are the more natural (and hopefully healthier) options. They all still have fat and usually saturated fat too. (Saturated fats raise total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the bad one). The AHA recommends limited saturated fat intake to less than 7% of calories a day.) I know this and yet in the last year at least once I ate a family-size bag in less than a week. It's that same salt/fat combo that makes people want to eat more and more fast food and is so so so not good for you. I can stay away from fast food though.

It's not just the nutritional content that can be problematic though; it's the overeating. See the aforementioned family-size bag. The other day I stumbled upon an article on NPR's Shots blog: "The Naked Truth About the Chip Aisle." It made me realize I have never had just one chip (or crisp, dependent on which country I'm in) and then closed up the bag and put them away. You eat one. And without even thinking you hand is back in the bag. Suddenly you're stuffed, your greasy and/or salty hand is sweeping for any remaining fragments and you're not even totally sure how it happened.

In my case, I then try to appease myself with the thought that I could have bought less healthy chips.

image from Roadsidepictures on Flickr

This article though brought up a point I hadn't even considered... that those premium, "natural" chips could have more fat per serving than Pringles. Crap. I've fallen for the allure of the naturally formed chip that doesn't stack neatly in a tube. They say in the article that comparing the salt, fat, and calorie count on the fly in the grocery store is overwhelming. While I wouldn't call it that, I know it is time consuming. I've taken several minutes in the aisle before comparing bags to find the least unhealthy of the options in front of me.

Enter HealthCastle.com, a nutrition website run by dietitians (and introduced to me by the article). They compare foods and have a handy chip review tool. Of course it doesn't have every kind of chip out there, but I definitely found ones I recognized and had bought before in the 40 listed. You can go see if your preferred chips are on the list, make some comparisons, and decide where to go from there. And remember to multiply the calories/salt/fat since you're liable to eat more than one serving size in a sitting.

You can also read the Shots blog article if you'd like.

I'm going to go definitely put chips on the only-eat-sometimes food list... in marker.

©2011 Memo To My Health. Please do not republish our content without notifying us and getting permission.

Conscious Eating & Oprah's Vegan Challenge

Ok. I still haven't seen all of the Oprah's Vegan Challenge episode, but... I have managed to see about ten minutes of clips that people have shared online. It's not enough to really make an assessment of the whole adventure, but there were some interesting points.

Image from Ex-Smith on Flickr

Oprah had Michael Pollan on as a guest - which seemed like an interestingly odd choice because Michael Pollan is not a vegan. He is a food guy though. And I have to credit his writing with giving me that last big push to become a definitively more conscious shopper and eater. From what I saw, I think that was his role for this Oprah show too - to help the audience understand what it means to be aware of what you're eating and why it is important. He pointed out that their week-long vegan challenge would really help force them all to think about how much animal product is in their daily diets.

I think it'd be beneficial for everyone to really take a good look at how much of everything is in their diet - not just animal products. But taking an element at a time will empower you to make your own decision as to whether or not you feel like maybe there is too much or not enough of that element in your current diet. And then you can take action to make a change for your overall health.

Pollan admitted that he does eat meat a few times a week but he makes a point not to eat feedlot/industrial meats. If you read his book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, you can learn more about what he means by that and how he came to that decision. But I can tell you right now that it means if he's eating fish, it's wild. If he's eating chicken, it was truly free-range and it ate what chickens are naturally supposed to eat... and so on.

The clips I watched also included a few moments with staffers and their thoughts on this vegan challenge. Some were not thrilled but one said she thought she could be vegan two or three days a week easily. And that's something I've been talking with people about lately - unless you are making sure you eat meat at every meal, you could easily consume a vegetarian or vegan meal and not even realize it. That's because many people aren't raised to frame their meals that way.

Image by karimian on Flickr

I also wondered - What if everything that was technically vegan was labeled so? Many vegan packaged food products have a small symbol somewhere near the nutritional information. But what if absolutely everything that was vegan was largely and clearly marked so? Would people turned off by the idea of veganism move away from those foods/products - even if they were foods/products they had liked? Would some people automatically assume it meant they were eating healthy?

Because that's another important key - vegan does not necessarily mean healthy. It can, but it doesn't have to. The classic example is Coca Cola. Yes, Coca Cola is technically vegan. Yet I think we all know soda is not the healthiest drink available. It has 170 calories in a 8oz bottle. Then there's the highly processed high fructose corn syrup and the caffeine. The point is you could consume a technically vegan diet and still feel crappy from eating tons of sugar or sluggish after coming down off of a caffeine jolt. You could still become overweight from consistently consuming way more calories than you burn.

The thinking is that vegans have to be more conscious of what they eat because mainstream food isn't always vegan-friendly. And conscious is a good step but it's not an instant fix. As Michael Pollan put it on Oprah's show, people are eating "too many calories, too much processed food, tons of refined carbohydrates..." (Refined carbohydrates would include white flour, sugar, and soda.)

So here's where I encountered a huge disconnect. This is the shopping list posted on the show's website.

The vegetable and fruit section is the smallest section on the whole list! And almost the whole first page is processed "replacement foods"... aka fake meat, fake cheese, fake mayonnaise... aka highly processed foods. If you eat meat at least twice a day, every day, but now it's fake meat... is that really mounds better for you?  Aren't you now eating a bunch of preservatives and possibly dyes and other chemicals?

Again, I did not see the whole episode. But between what I saw and this list, I'm not sure viewers got the full message about eating healthy because so much attention was paid to associating veganism with processed foods.

©2011 Memo To My Health. Please do not republish our content without notifying us and getting permission.