Food and diet industry fascinations and contradictions

I am fascinated by the food industry. All that I know about nutrition is roughly the same as a thimbleful of the ocean's waters. The more I read and hear what people, particularly the experts have to say, the more I think the sum of all the knowledge we humans have on the subject would be the equivalent of a barrel-full of the oceans waters.

What I do know is when someone says they have the 'truth' on anything nutrition/diet related, I am immediately skeptical. I mean "Really? The whole truth?" Given all that we don't know, it hardly seems possible.

I receive a number of blog posts delivered to my email. Yesterday, I received one from The Food Revolution Network. It intrigued me. It is a long article. It was written to rebut a paper written suggesting that soy and soy products are not only not healthy for you, but are in fact dangerous. I encourage you to read it with an open mind, follow through to the comment section, where additional details, pro and con are added to the discussion.

I have one major critique of the article. OK two. First, it claims to provide the 'truth' about soy, which immediately throws a red flag in my mind. Given that no two human bodies are identical nor react to foods the same way, I cannot believe that there is an absolute truth on how the body reacts to any stimuli. Secondly, it is short on footnotes and references. If one is going to write about the 'facts' on anything, quoting papers and studies is not enough. One should provide the reader with the opportunity to pursue their own inquiries. Failing to do this is telling your reader, "I've interpreted this for you, you don't need to look any further." 

The more I know, the more I know I don't know anything.

Soy has undergone some incredible changes over the last 15-20 years. Once only found as tofu as part of a Chinese stir-fry, soy has become one of the fastest growing crop products. As 90% of soybeans are grown from genetically modified seed, so as to be resistant to harm from extensive pesticide spraying using Round-up, it has also become highly controversial.

An abundance of research that indicates soy in the diet can be a good thing. Is there some truth to the age old expression 'too much of good thing?' I think there is. I don't know for certain. As I said earlier, what I know, isn't much.

There is a line of argument that says much of the rise in peanut allergies was a result of the liberal use of peanut byproducts used in all forms of processed foods. A similar argument is panned regarding the omnipresence of corn byproducts in processed foods, particularly corn syrup, having a causal affect on the rise of diabetes and general ill health of the average North American. Are we to expect the same thing 5-10 years from now from the pervasiveness of soy products?

The gist of what I do read is the more what you eat is a derived from extensive processing, the less one should eat of it. Eating a wide variety of foods, in my case specifically plant-based foods, that are prepared from their natural state works best for me. I feel healthier than I have ever been before. I think this applies no matter what diet, vegan, vegetarian or omni, you are following.