Hi.  First poster here.  I have an observation about soy.  First of all I will have been 100 percent compliant for 3 years in January '07 (the only exception being a month-long tryst with ice cream in Feb '05...hadn't had it in 10 years so I went a little crazy).  And as you can see by my avatar I am B-non so soy milk is allowed for me.  I decided to add soy milk back into my diet earlier this year to simply have another beverage available for variety (I only drink herbal tea, green tea and distilled water).  I found an excellent brand that was totally B-non compliant and had only 4 grams of carbs per quart!  Pretty much a perfect beverage for me...on paper at least.  

Now for the reality.  

I drank about 2-4 cups a day for 2 months and put on ten pounds of fat.  I do mean fat!  My diet is incredibly simple and never deviates...also, my weight never varies more than 5 pounds so I am certain it was the soy as it was the only new variable.  I went from a svelte 135 to 145...heaviest I have been in a decade.  I then cut it out and in less than a month I was back to the same weight I have been for basically 20 years.  

Just wondering if anyone else had this happen?  It kinda threw me for a loop because I was sooooo happy I could drink soy again (was a vegetarian for 8 1/2 years...drank half gallon a day...lol).  What really freaked me out is that I only normally gain fat when my carbs get a little high but this was mainly protein and hardly any carbs at all.  It only increased my daily carb intake by an average of about 3 grams per day.  

Anyway just wanted to check in and say hi to all the other BTDers and see if anyone else has had fat/weight gain with soy intake.  

Thanks.

you need to watch the frequency values given on beans or legumes for your type and nonnie status, too.....
soy milk would be considered that and not a dairy category.

Do you have thyroid problem's? When my thyroid med's were being regulated I had more of a problem with soy and my weight fluctuating.

bposnon7-Welcome to the forum and congratulations for being on BTD for the past three years.  Especially 100% compliant.  I just want to say that 2-4 cups of soy milk is alot to be consuming in a day.  Especially for a nonnie.  It is only a neutral and other products of soy are avoids in the Live Right Book.  Beans and legumes are only recommended 3-5 times a week in a one cup serving.  Glad to hear you were able to lose the 10 lbs. that you gained.

Debra

Yup,
You are overdoing the soy, I also agree.  I do better without soy, so I stopped using it at all, about 4 1/2 years ago.  But for the sake of variety a few times a week, you may be able to get away with it.  

Do you have a copy of LR4YT?  I think that book is essential for non-secretors especially, because it's the first book that explains it, and also gives detailed recommendations for amounts and frequencies.  It makes a big difference.

how weird in the past 2 weeks i've added tofu to my diet using a one lb block for 4 meals.  No other food changes except tofu in place of meat and i've gained 5 lbs.  oh my gosh, this is so frustrating.  The bean legume category is the only one i struggle with.  Now that i've introduced it to my diet i've gained weight.
maybe i'm going to have to learn to live pinto beans and lentils since those are the only other bene's.

Mandi,
Are you eating other beans as well as the tofu?

no, i'm just making a stirfry-- onions, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower,tofu, olive oil and ghee with a little braggs liquid aminos.

bposnon7,

I think it can be potentially easy to overdo it with soymilk, as previously stated portion size is 1 cup.  1 cup of soymilk is easier to consume for some people than 1 cup of cooked beans.  Perhaps try diluting your soymilk with half filtered water or mix it with your tea, so you are not using such a large quantity.

Alia

Quoted from mandi

no, i'm just making a stirfry-- onions, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower,tofu, olive oil and ghee with a little braggs liquid aminos.

Recommended portion for AB Nonnie is 2 to 5 x week.  Maybe you could still enjoy it if you stick to the low end of this scale.

mandi-same for you...soy products are either neutrals or avoids for nonnies.  As Victoria mentioned maybe other beans.  Lentils and pinto beans are beneficials.  I know...it's tough being a nonnie sometimes.  

Debra

Thanks for the responses.  I have pretty much decided to kick the Soy altogether.  Haven't had it for many months and I don't really miss it.  It's just nice to have some variety.  About the only thing I can drink is green and herbal tea so that was a nice deviation.  The thing is that if I am allowing myself to drink soymilk I pretty much have to kill a whole quart to be satisfied so therein lies the problem.  No biggie, though.  I'll just have to start drinking a greater variety of teas!   !  I think Celestial Seasonings has about 50 different types...plus my favorite beverage of all time is the Republic of Tea's Earl Greyer Green...thank God Bergamot oil isn't on the avoid list!  

Thanks again!

I am a Type B - not sure of secretor status - and I have found that soy does not agree with me either. I have heard, as stated above, that it can really cause problems with your thyroid. Also soy has phytoestrogen compounds which mimick estrogen in the body and this can cause an estrogen type overload. Also have to watch eating soy that is not organic because some of these cash crops are the ones with genetically altered seeds and plants.

Because they medical professional was saying "eat more soy" I did and it did nothing to help me with weight loss. I eventually stopped. I personally avoid most soy - just occasional tofu in Asian food but I don't go out of my way to eat it.

I recently read that now after years of telling post menopausal women to eat loads of soy if they have hot flashes and such, that now it is unproven it did anything to help them.  I have also read that we are told in the West that the Asian people eat their majority of protein as soy or tofu and I guess that also is not correct as well.  It seems to me that each year, the doctors say that there is a problem and it is caused by this and you should do this to prevent or cure it and then a year or two later, they say that was not the case at all.

There probably are other good protein sources you can depend on rather than using soy if it does not agree with you.

I overdid the soy thing during my menopausal days and stopped it even before I heard about the BTD.   Now the only soy I consciously consume is soy sauce sparingly when I eat Chinese food.  Some habits are hard to break.

I’m surprised that soy milk is OK for us since soy everything else is not.  Soy milk is an avoid for B regulars.  I’d stay away from it except for the occasional avoid binge.

Quoted from Arlene

I overdid the soy thing during my menopausal days and stopped it even before I heard about the BTD.   Now the only soy I consciously consume is soy sauce sparingly when I eat Chinese food.  Some habits are hard to break.

I’m surprised that soy milk is OK for us since soy everything else is not.  Soy milk is an avoid for B regulars.  I’d stay away from it except for the occasional avoid binge.

Even if soy milk is allowed for us B nons, it still gives me a stomachache and I don't eat it!

And regarding the soy sauce, if you use Tamari, it is not an avoid like soy sauce is.

Thanks Victoria, I'll look for Tamari.  Whole foods probably has it.

I suggest you look for wheat free tamari.

LIke many have already said, too much soy which translates into too much protein.

What else is in your soy milk? So called natural soy milks are very often not that natural.

Quoted from ironwood55

I suggest you look for wheat free tamari.

By its nature and definition of the word; Tamari is Wheat-Free.
Any Tamari with the added label "Wheat-Free" is probably charging too much, and the product is most likely inferior.

Plus I don't understand the TYPEBase description of Tamari - it is not 'thick'. The flavour is 'richer', more intense maybe....
'Thick Soy Sauce' does exist, like the Thai "Kecap" whose consistency is like Ketchup.

For all intents purposes avoid the 'Lite' Soy Sauce as it will have more avoids, as in higher Wheat content.

Quoted from northstar27

LIke many have already said, too much soy which translates into too much protein.

What else is in your soy milk? So called natural soy milks are very often not that natural.

I believe the full ingredients were as follows: Water, Organic Soybeans, Vanilla, Sea Salt.  No oils or gums/cargeenan, etc.  About as good an ingredient list as it gets for a B-non.  Guessing the fact that I drank an average of 3 cups a day for 2 or so months is what packed on the pounds.  

As you see, I'm an O, but soy does the same thing (I think)--it may be water retention weight.  It makes me feel as if I have too much estrogen.  Not supposed too, but I have tried too many times to make friends with soy.  Miso and tempeh are not so bad.  My pre-BTD efforts to "incorporate more soy" (milk and tofu) made me truly physically miserable.

after all it s a legume, and Os can live without legumes in a way.)

In addition to checking out the quantity, I would definitely check the soymilk label for avoid ingredients, such as carageenan.  I was never able to find a commercial soymilk (or rice or almond milk) that did not contain avoids.  I bought a soymilk maker and made my own soymilk.  I also occasionally make rice milk or almond milk.

Quoted from Schluggell

By its nature and definition of the word; Tamari is Wheat-Free.
Any Tamari with the added label "Wheat-Free" is probably charging too much, and the product is most likely inferior.

Quoted from San-J
What is Tamari?
http://www.san-j.com/tamari.asp

While regular soy sauce contains 40-60% wheat, San-J Tamari is made with primarily soybeans and just a small amount of wheat. San-J Organic Wheat Free Tamari is made with 100% soybeans and no wheat.

yes, a friend of mine brought me a 'kikkoman' tamari soy sauce and sure enough it has wheat!!!
some people, you just can t say!  lol

I guess those producers naming their wheat laden soy sauce 'tamari' just don t speak Japanese!!!

It just pays to read labels, all the time, even for things that you have bought before...