Soy-Things You Didn't Know, But Need To

I've been getting a lot of questions lately about soy and soy products (think soymilk, tofu, veggie burgers, etc.), so I figured I'd share a little bit about what I know with all of you. Soy is one of those products that has been dubbed a "miracle" food, and is one of the most widely used ingredients in world-wide food production. But is it as good for you as they'd like you to believe? Here are some things for you to read and chew over.

During early Chinese dynasties, the soybean became one of the five sacred grains - along with barley, wheat, millet and rice. However, the soybean, wasn't always used as food; it was originally used in crop rotation to fix nitrogen (a process which helps plants build amino acids by "fertilizing" the soil with nitrogen). The soybean didn't become a food until the discovery of fermentation techniques, some time in the early 1100 BCE.

So what have we learned about the soybean? It contains large quantities of natural toxins or "antinutrients". Potent enzyme inhibitors block the action of trypsin and other enzymes needed for protein digestion. These inhibitors can produce serious gastric distress, reduced protein digestion and chronic deficiencies in amino acid uptake. In test animals, diets high in trypsin inhibitors cause enlargement of the pancreas, and in some cases cancer. Soy also contain hemagglutinin, a clot-promoting substance found on viruses and bacteria that causes red blood cells to clump together. Oh yea, and did I mention goitrogens? Those depress thyroid function by blocking our body's ability to absorb iodine (an essential element for proper thyroid hormone function). Also, soybeans are high in phytic acid which can block the absorption of essential minerals - calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc - in the intestinal tract. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) The soybean has one of the highest phytate levels of any grain or legume, and only a long period of fermentation will significantly reduce the phytate content of soybeans.

Soy is also high in phytoestrogens that throw off endocrine function (our hormone regulators). Infants fed soy-based formula have 13,000 to 22,000 times more estrogen compounds in their blood than babies fed milk-based formula, the estrogenic equivalent of at least five birth control pills per day. Early development of girls has been connected to the use of soy formula, as has the underdevelopment of males, and infant soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's). Soy is linked to infertility, breast cancer, hypothyroidism, thyroid cancer, and many other disorders.

Soy protein isolate (SPI) which is the key ingredient in most soy foods that imitate meat and dairy products, including baby formulas and some brands of soy milk, is another doozy to watch out for. The production of SPI takes place in industrial factories where the soy beans are first mixed with an alkaline solution to remove fiber, then separated using an acid wash. Finally, it's neutralized in an alkaline solution. Well, acid washing in aluminum tanks leaches high levels of aluminum into the final product. So not only does it remove the good fiber from the bean, but adds high levels of a heavy metal linked to osteoporosis and Alzheimer's. Also, nitrites (potent carcinogens) are formed during spray-drying, and a toxin called lysinoalanine is formed during the alkaline processing. Then artificial flavorings, particularly MSG, are added to SPI products to hide the beany taste and to give the flavor of meat. SPI is used extensively in school lunch programs, commercial baked goods, diet drinks and fast food.

So what was once a minor crop, listed in the 1913 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) handbook not as a food but as an industrial product, now covers 72 million acres of American farmland and is one of the most genetically modified foods used. Turn over almost any food package in a conventional grocery store and you're bound to find soy-something in the ingredients list. My suggestion? If you do soy, buy the fermented stuff - think miso, tempeh, tamari, etc. And try getting your protein from other sources - anything with eyes, ears, nose, or beak are going to be a great source of complete protein. If you don't do meat, proteins can be found in veggies, nuts, and seeds. And always buy organic! This guarantees the food to be non-genetically modified and it benefits the environment as well.

A Woman's Heart Needs to be Feed Well

Amazing new research was published in the October 2007 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. This new study shows that women who eat a healthy diet, drink moderate amounts of alcohol, are physically active, maintain a healthy weight and do not smoke have a significantly reduced risk of heart attack - a reduced risk of up to 92 percent!

Dr. Agneta Akesson, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, and colleagues identified dietary patterns in 24,444 postmenopausal women by analyzing food frequency questionnaires, on which the women supplied information about how often they ate 96 common foods. The low-risk lifestyle, characterized by a high intake of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, fish and legumes, in combination with moderate alcohol consumption, not smoking, maintaining the proper weight and being physically active was associated with 92 percent decreased risk compared with findings in women without any low-risk diet and lifestyle factors.

Several components of fruits, vegetables and whole grains such as fiber, antioxidant vitamins and minerals, have been associated with a reduced risk for coronary heart disease, the researchers note. In addition, previous studies have found beneficial effects of small amounts of alcohol in preventing the buildup of plaque in the arteries, which could help prevent heart attacks. "The combined benefit of diet, lifestyle, and healthy body weight may prevent more than three of four cases of heart attack in our study population," Dr. Akesson and colleagues report.

Hidden MSG in our Foods making us Acidic and Sick

Chronic acidic illnesses of all kinds are now appearing in astronomical rates. A recent comprehensive review found that neurological disorders have been grossly underestimated and that neurodegenerative dis-eases are reaching frightening proportions among both our youth and older populations.

Stage four inflammatory acidosis dis-eases (lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.), certain stage seven degenerative acidosis including all cancerous conditions (leukemia, multiple myeloma, and lymphoma) and a number of stage one and two acidosis including endocrine-related disorders, chronic fatigue, and PMS have all exploded in recent years. So, what gives? The majority of "savants" have concluded that most of these problems have an environmental cause, which means we are doing this to ourselves.

The big question is, what environmental acidic toxins are responsible? The evidence indicates that a wide assortment of lifestyle and dietary acids acting together in an additive or synergistic way cause these quasi-epidemics.

There is general agreement that a drastic change in our lifestyles and diets over the decades, with heavy doses of acidic junk foods and other acidic foods with poor nutritional content, also contributes heavily to our problems. One of the major changes has been a huge increase in the acid MSG, which is acidifying to the brain, in our diets. MSG raises the amount of the amino acid glutamate in the brain, which in high levels, can cause the fermentation and death of nerve cells.
Since many people try to avoid MSG (mono sodium glutamate), food manufacturers have disguised its presence.

We frequently see MSG hiding behind such innocent-sounding names as hydrolyzed protein, vegetable protein, soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, whey protein, and natural flavoring, spices, enzymes, autolyzed yeast extract, stock, broth and carrageenan,which are all acidifying to the blood and tissues.

It is important to realize that when humans eat a meal containing acidic MSG, their blood levels of potentially acidic glutamate rise 19 times to as much as 50 times higher than normal. This is sufficient to ferment and rot your brain.

For more information on MSG and its devastating effects on the body, read Sick and Tired by Dr. Robert and Shelley Young.

Combined with the excessive use of acidic vaccines, which also triggers fermentation within the brain, dietary acids can have devastating effects on brain function. This is especially true if the vaccine contains mercury, such as the acidic flu vaccine. For more information on the dangers of acidic vaccines, read A Second Thought Concerning Viruses,Vaccines and the HIV/AIDS Hypothesis, by Dr. Robert Young, found at the end of the Sick and Tired book.

Americans eat a tremendous amount of the acid sugar, especially in sweetened drinks and colas, which is also acidic to the brain. A 12-ounce cola contains 9 tablespoons of sugar and has a pH of 2.5 with an ORP of +450 mV, which is 10,000 times more acidifying to the blood and tissues then purified water. Since 1974 cola consumption has doubled, even among the elderly. Diet colas are not a solution either -- the acid aspartame found in many diet drinks is a powerful brain acid and accumulates in the brain as the acid formaldehyde.

Foods that are highly acidic and a risk factor for dis-ease are corn, peanuts, peanut oil, soy sauce,vinegar, all animal proteins, all dairy products, all sugar including natural sugar and carbohydrates like bread and pastas are also known to significantly interfere with brain function.

They can also lead to a number of health challenges, such as insomnia, anxiety, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive behavior, anger, aggressiveness, suicide, and criminal behavior.

For more information on our book, Sick and Tired, Reclaim Your Inner Terrain, and to learn more about the one sickness, one disease and one treatment go to:
http://www.phmiracleliving.com/books.htm

According to Dr. Robert O. Young, a research scientist at the pH Miracle Living Center, "there is only one sickness and one dis-ease and that is the over-acidification of the blood then tissues due to an inverted way of living, eating and thinking. And if there is only one sickness and one dis-ease then there is only one treatment! The one treatment is to maintain the alkaline design of the body with an alkaline lifestyle and diet. It is truly that simple."

As someone that looks to improve their health we are pleased to offer you this free audio, an excerpt of a powerful two hour interview with Dr Robert O. Young and Anthony Robbins. (it is free to listen!)

Click here to listen: http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=1870270
I trust you'll enjoy this...

Not part of our healing alkaline community? Visit our website at:
www.phmiracleliving.com

To learn more about the science of Dr. Robert and Shelley Young go to:
www.articlesofhealth.blogspot.com

Doctors Turning Sweet on Healing with Honey

March 8, 2000 CNN
By Charles Downey (http://www.webmd.com/)

Peter Molan, Ph.D., likes to tell the story of the 20-year-old wound. Infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, an abscess oozed in an English woman's armpit long after it had been drained. Nothing seemed to help, and the pain prevented her from working. Then in August of 1999, she read about the remarkable wound-healing properties of honey. She convinced doctors to apply some to the dressing to her arm, and a month later the wound healed. Now she's back at work.

Novel as this treatment sounds, it would have inspired yawns among doctors in ancient Egypt, according to May Berenbaum, Ph.D., a University of Illinois entomologist. "Honey has been used for centuries to treat a wide range of medical problems like wounds, burns, cataracts, skin ulcers and scrapes," she says. "And now various researchers worldwide are also studying -- and finding -- strong antimicrobial properties in some honeys."

Honey fell from favor as a wound dressing when antibiotic dressings were developed during World War II. But the new research -- and the rise of antibiotic-resistan t bacteria -- are putting this old-time folk remedy into the contemporary medicine chest. Last year, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration -- the equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- approved honey as a medicine. A company in Australia this year began marketing medical honey as a wound dressing in pharmacies there. It's available in the United States through the Internet.

Honey helps wounds in several ways, says Molan. Its thickness provides a protective barrier. The hydrogen peroxide it contains is released slowly, killing germs in the wound. Some as-yet-unknown ingredients reduce inflammation, while others, perhaps amino acids and vitamin C, speed the growth of healthy tissue. Honey even makes wounds smell better, possibly because when bacteria in wounds eat honey's sugars, they give off sweeter-smelling gases.

Dozens of studies, in animals and humans, have documented such benefits. One of the most convincing reports, published in the 1998 issue of the journal Burns, tells how researchers from the Dr. V. M. Medical College in Maharashtra, India, compared honey with silver sulfadiazine, the standard treatment for superficial burns.

The researchers first smeared honey on gauze and used it to dress the burns of 52 patients. Another 52 patients got the same treatment but with silver sulfadiazine in place of the honey.

In the 52 patients treated with honey, 87 percent healed within 15 days, compared with 10 percent of those treated with silver sulfadiazine. The honey-treated patients also experienced less pain, leaking of wound fluid, and scarring.

Molan, a biochemist at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, and other researchers have found special bacteria-killing properties in honey made from the nectar of the tea tree (Leptospermum) . In laboratory experiments, reported in the November 1992 Journal of Applied Bacteriology, Molan and his colleagues found that it was particularly effective in slaying staphylococcus aureus.

This so-called "Golden Staph" -- which infested the English woman's 20-year-old wound -- sometimes survives the most potent antibiotics, killing its victims. "Manuka honey has worked in very desperate cases where nothing else has worked," says Molan.

Based on the research of Molan and others, an Australian company is now marketing Manuka honey under the name Medihoney. To make it, beekeepers set their hives close to tea trees so the bees will gather their nectar.

Studies so far have found no side effects other than an occasional slight burning sensation when the honey is applied. Though honey sometimes contains the spores of bacteria that cause botulism, Molan says there have been no reported cases of this bacteria or anything else in honey infecting a wound.

Experts do caution that infants should not eat honey because of the botulism risk. "But it's still OK to use honey on children's (and infants') burns or scrapes," says Molan.

Molan also believes it is safe to use ordinary supermarket honey on such minor wounds. And it's a lot cheaper than antibiotic ointments. But since ingredients vary depending on the nectar from which the honey is made, Medihoney offers the advantage of laboratory testing.

It's one medicine that doesn't need a spoonful of sugar to help it go down

Raw Food Chef ~ Brooke Preston, Partnering with Fountain of Health

Brooke Preston is partnering with Fountain of Health to teach classes on raw food, healthy lifestyles and food preparation.

Brooke is the executive chef, senior instructor and co-owner of The Green Boheme, a dynamic gourmet raw foods company in Sacramento devoted to sharing the beauty of delectable raw vegan foods with all who desire to live in optimum health and vitality while easily delighting their tastes. The Green Boheme offers a holistic approach to raw vegan foods through fun and interactive food preparation classes, personal chef services for those wanting turn-key raw gourmet foods stocked in their own fridge, and raw vegan transitional coaching. The Green Boheme also honors times of celebration by offering themed brunch and dinner party workshops where you can enjoy a six course gourmet meal with wine pairings in your home. You and your friends will learn all the secrets of creating beautiful cuisine as our chefs prepare each course on the spot right in front of you!

Brooke originally developed a deep passion for the culinary arts when she “accidentally” began working as a personal chef to families in Santa Barbara and San Francisco while attending college. Always looking for the cutting edge in health, she designed menus for her clients that would satisfy their palates while sensitively handling their health concerns and issues. Soon after, she opened her first company “Tita’s Kitchen” which delivered healthy, home-style meals to busy families in the Bay Area.

While preparing for her 1st all natural figure competition, Brooke stretched to satisfy her own palate within the strict confines of a diet designed to support an intense training regimen. During her training, she shared her innovative menus with other figure competitors and then began culinary school intending to write a diet and training workbook for figure competitors. Halt! That’s where the plan had to stop.

Although she placed 1st in her division, Brooke was left with low energy, intense food cravings and hypothyroidism. How could she continue on that same path knowing the damage that had been done to her own body by an extremely high protein, low fat diet?

In her quest to heal she learned how a raw foods lifestyle can allow the body to come back into balance and heal itself.

Brooke left her standard culinary school and enrolled in the internationally acclaimed Living Light Culinary Institute and received certification as a Raw Foods Chef and Instructor. Since then, through The Green Boheme, Brooke has been teaching and coaching others in their journeys to achieving optimum health and athletic performance while delighting their tastes.

She is currently training for her 2nd all natural figure competition on a raw vegan diet.