What a Personal Trainer thinks about Diet

Thanks for posting this link, Tom -- I found the conversation between the women very interesting -- I didn't catch the exact credits and they didn't have it up there long enough for me to read, but it's an MD and a trainer I believe.  I think they give a lot of good overall information, including suggesting your best 'take with you snacks' can be fruits and nuts. 

I have a question and want to point this out for our Lumigrate readers --

They talk about incorporating a smoothie using a JP product, and I believe she said that has soy protein?  From what I've learned so far, soy can cause a lot of problems unless it is in a fermented form.  So I'm curious what your response is on that and if I was correct on what I heard.  I always like to get feedback to my posts or at least read them as soon after they are posted as possible, and in this case I definitely wanted to get your clarification on this one point.  THANK YOU!  ~~ Mardy

Mardy,

Sorry it took me so long to get back to your question about soy. But here is a very solid answer.

 
There are many potential pitfalls of doing “research” without having a scientific  frame of reference to judge the information you find.  This applies to soy and to just about every other subject you can find in the web.  Rather than re-invent the wheel, let me give you a link to a very well-written article on soy which touches on this very subject.
 
http://www.vegfamily.com/health/vegan-soy-information.htm [8] <http://www.vegfamily.com/health/vegan-soy-information.htm [8]>
 
 
This following paragraph is a quote from it;
 
“While I used to be a proponent of “doing your own research,” by searching for information on these websites, the more I have seen about how these abstracts are being used and interpreted the less inclined I am to advise the lay public to draw conclusions from abstracts that can be found on the internet. It is very questionable science to start with your conclusion in mind and then search for any and all studies to support said conclusion. Unfortunately, that is exactly what many of the soy detractors appear to have done, aided by abstracts found online.”

How can people sort real facts from wacky theories?  My recommendation is to look for information coming from authoritative, recognized professional associations of medical doctors, dietitians, etc.  One of the arguments anti-soy people often throw out when cornered is that there is a conspiracy and that the governments are in cahoots with big business and trade associations.  Even if that was the case, how could you buy the hearts and minds of thousands of independent medical or dietetics professionals?  
 
Let’s start with the American Society for Clinical Nutrition?  Here is a good link to their Journal;
 
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/39/1/16 [9] <http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/39/1/16 [9]>
 
Look at their conclusion;
 
These results indicate that for healthy adults, the isolated soy protein is of high nutritional quality, comparable to that of animal protein sources, …..

Let’s look at the American Cancer Institute, which has a little definition of Soy Protein Isolates;
 
http://www.cancer.gov/drugdictionary/?CdrID=42493 [10] <http://www.cancer.gov/drugdictionary/?CdrID=42493 [10]>
 
do you see anything scary there?
 
Let’s look at the American Society for Nutrition, here is a paper in their journal;
 
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/137/7/1769 [11] <http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/137/7/1769 [11]>
 
in the specific field they were studying, they conclude, …”soy protein isolate consumption, which may be beneficial in preventing prostate cancer.”

Here is a little blurb from the American Academy of Pediatrics http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics%3B101/1/148 [12] <http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics%3B101/1/148 [12]>
 
In term infants whose nutritional needs are not being met from maternal breast milk or cow milk-based formulas, isolated soy protein-based formulas are safe and effective alternatives to provide appropriate nutrition for normal growth and development.

These associations are well respected, and their journals are peer-reviewed and they are read all over the world; if there was any real concern about the safety of soy protein isolate, why would it not even be mentioned?  
 
 

Best regards,
 
Carlos F. Madero, Ph.D.
Director, Technical Support
NSA, the maker of Juice Plus+®

I really appreciate your responding about soy, Tom.  I agree with your statement that people are becoming haphazardly educated by the internet -- 5 minute YouTube expectations for video ... you cannot teach anything in as short a period of time as people are expecting content, really.  Abstracts are just that, abstracts, and when they are free but going deeper is an 'upcharge', that prevents that thoroughness.  These are all concepts I've considered when formulating the plans for Lumigrate in the past and present, and I'll presume the future.  In my case, however, related to what I have learned about soy so far, it had to do with my surprise after having considered it an excellent source of protein, to find through consult with integrative medicine providers that it's actually now considered problematic in a number of ways.  Again, I'd like to remind that allopathic teaching has generally lead people overall to think 'there is only one way and only one thing causes something' and it might be that every person really is best served by being presented with the best information from the diverse directions and then letting them decide for themselves, and in reality what is best for person A might be different than for person B.  So again, I appreciate your adding information here from your perspective as you do a very good job of posting things that resonate for you and saying what and why that is.  That in and of itself should be exemplary to many who are in the process as we all have been to get to devoting more of our resources to learning about our bodies and health.   

I agree that the journals that you're providing here are substantial and highly recognized providers of information and that is always a good thing.  However, they are from my overview of things, at least historically what I'd call 'western medicine allopathic focused', and so I'd appreciate the opinion as well from the other 'orbs on the You model' (refer to Lumigrate's You model, which I'll provide here for everyone's easy referral) -- naturopathy, chiropractic, homeopathy, acupuncture and traditional Chinese/Oriental medicine, etc.

Having said that, I purchased a copy of the newly revised Merck Manual and was blown away by the progressive content they include now, and it was my perception that the Merck is doing a good job of responding to what allopaths are seeing in their clinical practices -- people coming in who are taking supplements, herbs, and asking questions about the mind-body connection and truly providing information to their readers/users for everything 'far out there' such as 'what is energy medicine'.   They even have a fairly good piece about fibromyalgia, but I noticed in the back of the book when it comes to organizations and websites, they omitted fibromyalgia.  Which I found curious. 

Again, thank you for the response, Tom and I'll look forward to, over time, getting other perspectives here about soy or even the larger topic of the older and newer forms of information sources.  ~~ Mardy