Monday 7 November 2011

Soya - Facts and safety about Soya

Hi friends,
I have neglected this little blog of mine, for quite a long long time, It reminds me of these stories we used to read when we were kids like, long time ago so long ago..., so that's what has happened to my blog.
Coming back to the blog post of today I came across this book by Rose Elliot who is a top vegetarian cookery writer mentions about soya and how good is that ?, she also tells us what kind of soya should be consumed.
Reading across the pages I started deeply into it  to find more about soya and its products, and how it has taken the world over by its various uses in lot of products and byproducts, I found a few websites which tells us about soya and facts and things you should know about this product.  I found this article quite useful and the comments below by people who have gone through the article also is a must read.



Photo courtesy: google Images


As I always I tell my friends and family that anything consumed in limited quantities will not certainly cause any disruption to our body isn't it right ?


I started reading about soya, only when my sister was talking about GMO ( Genetically modified Organisms), because her H doesn't like to use any soya products in cooking.
when I started searching for this GMO thing, I realized soya and corn are two main products are highly talked about, even though lot of articles indicate that they are not really going to harm your health and millions of people consume them everyday. I still have my doubts
It is such a vast subject starting from wikipedia it has two links about GMO here and here take a look at them. 
Lot of other people talking about this product I came to a conclusion that you need to read the label and go organic when buying things from your grocery stores. But, reading about this also ended me up in a dark corner, not all times we can see products being labelled as to the standards. So, the big question is how do we do this, COOK EVERYTHING FROM SCRATCH.  Is it possible ?.... sometimes yes sometimes no, as lot of people do not have time for such things.


According to this website the information about GMO is


Soybeans and corn are the top two most widely grown crops (82% of all GM crops harvested in 2000), with cotton, rapeseed (or canola) and potatoes trailing behind. 74% of these GM crops were modified for herbicide tolerance, 19% were modified for insect pest resistance, and 7% were modified for both herbicide tolerance and pest tolerance. Globally, acreage of GM crops has increased 25-fold in just 5 years, from approximately 4.3 million acres in 1996 to 109 million acres in 2000 - almost twice the area of the United Kingdom. Approximately 99 million acres were devoted to GM crops in the U.S. and Argentina alone.


This is an other website which tells you about Genetically modified foods what is it ?, how it is been done, causes and concerns, how safe is it ? etc...,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/02/99/food_under_the_microscope/280868.stm


An other website which talks about GMO
http://www.combat-monsanto.co.uk/spip.php?rubrique5


This is an other website, which was fascinating and he has a number of articles which keeps you thinking and quite interesting too...
http://www.johnrobbins.info/blog/what-about-soy/

Just do not read the entire article and go away read through the comment section too, you find it really useful and you can compare notes with your encounter with soya..
why did I say encouter ? yes, exactly when you use soya, how do you feel, do you notice any changes in your body and here people in the forum talk about a lot of these things and it is definitely an enlightening read....
Check out and write to me about how you feel....
click on the older comments in this article to know more about what people say...
John Robbins also writes on various other subjects, look through his articles and enjoy reading them...



Photo courtesy: Google images


There is an other website and read the whole article and you will be amazed knowing about soya
http://jacknorrisrd.com/?p=1778


Reading all these articles I have come to a conclusion and it is my personal opinion that is all, what I can do, being a vegetarian as they say soya is rich in proteins... a diet which vegetarians and vegans need as they are not meat eaters!
After reading all those articles, I have drastically reduced the intake of soya in most of my cooking may be monthly once or twice I use it, I do use silken Tofu sometimes in baking, which is in a very minimal quantity. As I am not a doctor nor a researcher and I don't hold an authority on this subject, I am not entitled to any kind of accusations or opinions right ?
So, what can I do with my diet ? I simply cook simple Indian food with lots of lentils and vegetables as our ancestors did try not to eat lot of take away food, very rarely go to Macdonalds or subways, try and make everything at home from scratch, feeling better when I  do so, as I know what I am cooking in what quantities and qualities :)
Reading all those articles one thing I have found out is I cannot runaway from soya or its by products as it has entirely occupied in each and every product, it may be fresh, frozen or long life food products... read the labels of each every product you buy then you would know what I am talking about...
As I said try and cook from scratch, read label carefully for GMO free when buying things and enjoy the rest of your life...
c u soon with an other tit bit....
write to me, if the information on the website was useful..... checking out the links...., 
If you would like to share anything about this subject please do write in the comment form I will be much obliged...