The Soybean, or Soya bean as it's know in the UK is a species of legume native to to the Eastern parts of Asia. The use of soy in the UK has increased significantly since the 1980's and it's very likely that you will find it in the majority of processed foods stocked in your local supermarket. On top of that Soy is heavily used in both vegetarian and vegan diets in the form of Tofu and quite often used as animal feed. As for whether our paleolithic ancestors consumed soy, the likelihood is very low, mainly due to the fact that the soybean must be processed to make it useful.

Phytoestrogens

Being male, one of the main reasons I stay as far away from soy as I possibly can is because they contain high amounts of phytoestrogens, which mimic oestrogen in the body. Oestrogen, which as you may know is the primary female sex hormone, whilst required by men in small doses it can cause the formation of breasts, raised cholestorol, weight gain, osteoperosis, enlarged prostate and in extreme cases infertility if over-consumed. Another thing worth mentioning is that ancient monks were known to use Soy to reduce their sexual desires.

For the females reading this thinking that it doesn't affect them, think again. I think the fact that Oestrogen is the primary ingredient in a lot of birth control tablets should be enough to put you off over-consumption. It's also worth mentioning that 80% of breast cancers rely on supplies of oestrogen to grow.

Processing and Genetic Modification

As I mentioned earlier Soy requires processing to make it safe for consumption. Some of the processes involved sound pretty extreme like acid washing and the use of neutralisation solutions. On top of that you need to consider what is added in at the processing stage to improve the flavour. The likes of MSG are very high on my avoidance list and I feel it deserves an article of its own, but to be brief it's very bad news. Adding to the apparently about 91% of the Soy grown today is genetically modified, which opens up another can of worms worthy of a separate article.

Mineral Absorption

Soybeans have really high levels of Phytates, which are guilty of blocking mineral absorbsion, specifically minerals such calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc. All of which are required by your body to keep it running properly.

Finally...

Whilst it's pretty obvious that Soy has quite a lot of negative effects, if you must have something soy based, fermented products such as Miso and Tofu is probably your best bet, since the fermentation process makes it a little better for you. However, I choose to avoid it completely where possible, including eating meat reared on soy feed.

Sometime back around the beginning of this year, whilst looking through blog recommendations in my feed reader I came across Mark's Daily Apple, a website which promotes The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sission.

The basic premise of the book is that the human body is much better suited to the more primal diet of the paleolithic age, rather than the neolithic, grain based diet and on which humanity survives now. The book itself promotes a low carb, high fat and moderate protein based diet similar in many ways to the Paleo Diet and the research conducted by Weston Price, who spent most of his life studying the diet of the worlds remaining traditional societies.

Whilst a lot of the book discusses diet, it actually promotes lifestyle change, which can be achieved by following 10 simple suggestions, based on how a paleolithic human (known as Grok) would have lived.

• Eat Lots of Plants & Animals
• Avoid Poisonous Things
• Move Frequently at a Slow Pace
• Lift Heavy Things
• Sprint Once in a While
• Get Adequate Sleep
• Play
• Get Adequate Sunlight
• Avoid Stupid Mistakes
• Use Your Brain

After a bit of reading, I realised that what Mark was talking about resonated well with me so I decided to start making a few changes as an experiment to see what would happen. Over the following couple of months I cut out bread, pasta and rice from my diet and took part in simple lifestyle based like walking, chopping wood and doing the garden. My experiment turning out well, with positive results, including losing 8kg in weight, 15cm of belly circumference and 5% body fat.

Achieving those results in such a half-assed attempt had pretty much sold the idea to me entirely, but unfortunatly, as with a lot of things when the novelty passes, I started to slip back into my old ways. However, with the relaunch of this site I plan to get back to eating healthily by following the diet promoted by primal blueprint, whilst incorporating various aspects of the paleo diet and the work of Weston Price.