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LilEarthMuffin
Raw Newbie
Hello :)
Just wanted to ask a question about tofu.
Do you guys eat it?
Is it good for you?
In terms of food combining how would it combine? protine, starch?
I have read things saying that you should try to avoid soy and tofu products,
however i have read other articles that seem to contradict this and i am a little confused.
just wanted to hear you opinions on this.
thanks in advance.
Comments
I remeber reading so much good about it for several years (especially for women), and now I find a lot of articles saying how it isn't.
Me personally, I try not to use it as a daily stable. But, when I indulge occassionally when we go out for dinner, I'll have a veggie burger with tofu in it. That type of thing. I'm obviously not following a 100% raw diet (just aim for high raw).
But I quit ""living on tofu veggie burgers as a staple.
Moderation, for me.
I know there are some who are more strongly against soy and such.
It is not a raw food, so my guess is not very many people here eat it. Here are my personal opinions on soy. They may or may not be facts:
Soy is a great food with some awesome health benefits if you're not into cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, or nasty menopause symptoms. Like dairy, soy is a very common allergen, especially in children. Digestive intolerance to soy is also fairly common (allergies are different than intolerances). And people with thyroid conditions or immune disorders, or a family history of either, may want to avoid soy because some compounds in soy can trigger symptoms like fatigue, weight gain, mood swings and depression.
There is also very legitimate concern about the proportion of soy in a standard diet relative to other foods, our over-reliance on it as a crop (monoculture), the massive amount of pesticides and herbicides used in its cultivation, and the sad reality that most soy today comes from GMO crops. I would never advise eating soy/tofu that is not labeled organic.
However, if you know your ingredients, avoid highly processed foods, aren't allergic or intolerant, and are choosy about organic soy, then, soy? Loves it.
Suasoria thanks so much for that :)
The main reason i ask is because i looked at a couple raw cookbooks at borders and they reccomended tofu in a few of their lettuce wrap recipes.
So it just made me wonder.
Right now i dont consume any soy, no mlik, cheese or anything like that, but i was just curious.
Dr. Mercola's website has a ton of info on how soy is not a health food. Check it out :) Mercola.com
My opinion is that an overload of refined soy products (what Westerners did) is going to bad. soy milk, soy bars, soy powders, soy oils, refined soy this, refined soy that every day.
The only soy products I eat are raw miso.
Once in a while I very much enjoy tempeh and edamame (the whole green beans). Unrefined and in the case of miso and tempeh, fermented. (Tempeh and edamame are not raw)
Like Pirawna I use soy ocassionally and try to make what I feel are the best choices. I love miso soup and will eat that with chunks of tofu in it. I don't do soy cheese or protein bars, but will use tempeh at times. I'm moderate to high raw but vegan
This is a good thread. I was wondering about Tofu myself. I too have seen "raw" cookbooks which have tofu in some recipes and actually was a little taken aback by it. I always thought tofu, for the most part, was processed food.
This inspired me to search for some more health benefit/risk information in Pubmed Medline (I'm a medical librarian, I live for this kind of stuff). There is not a lot of information and the information that does exist is fairly mixed. Some studies suggest that there are benefits of dietary supplementation with soy aglycons of isoflavone for women, some say soy is only beneficial when you are young and still growing, others are inconclusive. Many, however agree that a lot more research in this area needs to be done.
Another thing that I think is important to point out is that most of these studies appeared to be designed to find health benefits. I had a difficult time finding studies aimed specifically at assessing health risks. Again, I didn't invest a lot of time in my search, so it doesn't mean these studies do not exist.
I personally have a mild allergy to soy, that's enough to keep me away from it.
I just saw this question on another thread here, so I wanted to share some info from that one.
From me - In a nutshell, soy has the following problems: it has enzyme inhibitors, it is phytoestrogens which messes with our hormones, it disrupts our thyroid funtion, it blocks some important minerals like calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc. In general, not good to eat. Another poster gave this link to an article that is excellent and a must read! Here is the link: http://www.healingcrow.com/soy/soy.html
I should mention that I've read the same info from quite a few sources for some time, even mainstream medical publications, so feel confident that this seems to be pretty accurate information. I do have soy products on every once in awhile like miso soup (I am only high raw and not 100%). I would not, however, have soy products in my diet on a regular basis. Hope this is helpful!
The soy debate was raging pretty fiercely even 8 years ago when I went Vegan. As a result, I didn't eat a single molecule of soy for the first two years. Then I did some better research to find out what all the hype was about and found some more balanced viewpoints out there. Here is a really great, informative, and level-headed article that everyone should read: http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/soymessina
And the people who wrote it aren't even trying to sell you anything. Remember that scare tactics help elevate the "guru status" of entrepreneurs.... gets you to rely on them for the "truth" and buy their stuff.
Soy is a big problem for our society overall, but, like corn, the vast majority of the "problem soy" is being raised to feed livestock.... with the overflow making into packaged foods as TVP, protein isolates, and so on. Avoid that kind of processed soy for sure! But rest assured that the organic tofu and tempeh makers out there are not part of the evil soy empire! Everything in moderation!
Yeah, tofu is processed-- in the sense that it is a prepared food-- and the stuff you buy at the store is cooked. I've seen recipes for raw tofu (in the Uncook Book, I think), but I can't tell you how it tastes. I can tell you that the store-bought tofu made with sprouted beans is pretty great (made by Wildwood, if I remember correctly).
Seriously, read that article... it'll really help you understand the soy debate, and inform you of the areas that are actually cause for concern. Hope that's helpful!
Also-- the concept of food-combining is out-dated, but soy falls into the protein category.
rayne thank you for posting the link - it was very interesting to read
Avoid eating soy. It will supress your health.
Admittedly, I like soy sauce and eat tempeh when it's offered as I really enjoy these awful treats.
If you eat soy, make sure it has been fermented.
It will be less harmful thusly.
I won't touch tofu or unfermented soy products like soy milk, braggs etc no point listing the reasons that has already been done by others
I will use a small amount of miso though, but that is fermented.
I see tofu as totally un-neccessary to a raw/vegan/vegetarian diets, give me fruit, vegetables, sea vegetables etc
any day over tofu.