How to Avoid Soy in Your Diet

edamame fermented soy foods genetically modified soybeans isoflavones phytoestrogens second-generation soy foods soy soy cheese soy elimination diet soy ingredients soy lecithin soy meat soy milk soy protein soy-free diet soybean oil soybeans tofu traditional soy foods vegetable protein Apr 08, 2023

Many people think soy is healthy. This belief partly stems from the popularity of soy-based foods as protein-rich components of vegan and vegetarian diets. The fact is, soy is bad for health for several reasons. What's more, it can be found in almost all food products today, and you're probably eating it even if you do not know you are. It follows that various health issues can be addressed by not eating soy. However, eliminating soy from your diet is not as simple as it seems. We'll find out why it can be challenging to stay away from soy as we cover the topics below:

Where is soy found?
Why is soy bad for you?
What is a soy elimination diet?
How can you avoid soy ingredients?

Let's start discovering practical tips for keeping your diet soy-free.

Where is soy found?

All soy foods come from soybeans, a legume species native to East Asia. Soybeans in the pod harvested when they are around 80 percent mature are called edamame.¹

Most soy-derived foods can be divided into three groups. These groups are traditional soy foods, second-generation soy foods, and soy ingredients.²

Soy milk is an example of a traditional soy food. It is produced by soaking and grinding soybeans, then boiling and filtering the resulting mixture. This liquid can be thickened into curds, which can then be pressed into solid white blocks called tofu.¹

Soybeans can also be fermented in different ways to produce other traditional soy foods, such as the Japanese foods miso and natto. Another one is tempeh, an Indonesian product.¹ Soy sauce, which is commonly used around the world, is a fermented condiment.³

As for second-generation soy foods, they include soy meat — i.e., soy burgers, soy sausages, and imitation chicken. Soy cheese falls under this group too.²

Soy ingredients are processed soybean products found in almost all manufactured foods today. Examples are soybean oil, soy flour, soy concentrates, soy isolates, soy lecithins, textured vegetable protein (TVP), and hydrolyzed soy protein.²

Why is soy bad for you?

In the United States, most soybeans are genetically modified (GM). It is hard to know how the genetic material of the soybeans is changed because GM seed producers are not required to disclose such information. Plus, a study showed that GM soy had high residues of glyphosate, a chemical used to kill weeds and grasses. Exposure to glyphosate is linked to various health problems like abnormal heartbeat, kidney failure, breathing issues, and cellular damage.^4,5 Aside from their high glyphosate levels, GM soybeans were found to be less nutritious than conventional and organic soy. That is, GM soybeans contained much less protein, but more linoleic acid.⁴

Linoleic acid is an omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA). It is the main PUFA present in vegetable oils like soybean oil. The problem is, recent clinical research shows that linoleic acid promotes stressful conditions that damage cellular DNA. Moreover, linoleic acid is associated with low-level inflammation and hardened blood vessels. Thus, because of their linoleic acid content, soybean oil and other vegetable oils can be linked to a greater risk of heart and blood vessel disease.⁶

Lastly, soy foods are the main dietary source of phytoestrogens. These substances, which are also called isoflavones, exist naturally in plants. However, phytoestrogens are considered endocrine disruptors.⁷ This means that they change hormone levels in the body, as well as the processes controlled by those hormones. For instance, phytoestrogens alter the levels of thyroid hormones, which affect metabolism, temperature control, and many other body functions. As a result, thyroid disruptions caused by phytoestrogens can make people gain or lose weight, feel too hot or too cold, and even increase their risk of thyroid cancer.^8,9 Besides harming the thyroid, soy isoflavones increase the levels of the sex hormone estrogen.^10,11 Excessive estrogen is associated with a whole other variety of health issues such as blood clots, disorders of smooth muscle in blood vessels, and even snoring.^12,13,14,15

What is a soy elimination diet?

Soy elimination involves avoiding all natural and processed dietary sources of soy as a way of life, rather than just for a short period of time. This type of diet is commonly used to address allergies to soy protein.¹⁶ As we've discussed above though, soy harms the body in other ways. These negative effects serve as additional reasons for eliminating soy from one's diet.

Avoiding traditional soy foods is quite straightforward, since they are usually clearly labeled. The same goes for most of the secondary soy foods. On the other hand, it can get tricky to stay away from processed soy. This is because food manufacturers are not required to list all types of soy-containing ingredients — specifically ingredients of ingredients — in food labels.¹⁷ Also, soy ingredients often go by names that don't include the words "soybean" or "soy" — a convenient situation for food manufacturers (who may want to change ingredients without changing labels), but a very inconvenient one for consumers.

How can you avoid soy ingredients?

To keep your diet soy-free, one of the best things you can do is learn the hidden names for soy. This way, you can look for them in food labels. Some of the names to watch out for are vegetable protein, vegetable broth, vegetable gum, vegetable starch, tocopherol, and vitamin E.

Another essential step is to ask questions about the foods served at restaurants. In particular, you should ask about the oils the restaurant uses for their cooking methods and salad dressings. You'll be better off skipping menu items made with soy oil, soybean oil, or vegetable oil. Furthermore, you'll need to find out the kinds of seasoning used. Besides soy sauce, soy-containing seasonings include shoyu, teriyaki sauce, natural flavor, and just about any commercial seasoning blend.

Conclusion

A soy elimination diet is a permanent solution to soy-induced health issues, including snoring. Avoiding natural and fermented sources of soy consistently is necessary to reap the benefits of a soy-free diet. In addition, one has to be careful about processed soy ingredients that may appear as hidden ingredients in food labels.

If you snore or have any of the other health issues mentioned earlier, check out The Snoring Diet Solution. This complete program will help you eliminate soy from your diet for good — and you can start seeing results in as little as two weeks!

References