Bad rap on soy
 

Hi,
First I want to thank everyone for explaining hypothyroidism and how it can block weight loss. For years I've wondered why I can't lose weight, and why my weight has been slowly increasing by a few pounds every year. I was thrilled with Atkins because it was the first diet where I actually lost weight! However, I wasn't getting the spectacular results everyone else gets, and I've been pretty strict with my diet. After 2 weeks I had lost 7 pounds, and after nearly 3 months I've lost about 19 lbs. I'm thrilled because I've never found a diet where I could even lose 5 lbs. Now reading through postings here I've discovered that I have most all the symptoms of hypothyroidism. I just ordered some coconut oil today, but also in searching around the net I began to learn how bad soy products are for the thyroid gland. I want to post this reference here for others to read.

http://www.mercola.com/2000/sept/17/soy_brain.htm

Thanks to you all
Linda

Here is a better reference that takes you to many articles that have a rather negative view of soy products. Many of them relate to hypothyroidism. I always thought of soy as beneficial to the body. Now I'm not so sure. I seem to be relearning a lot of things I took for granted are wrong. For example, I always believed that saturated fats were bad for you. With the reading I've done today, it sounds like polyunsaturated fats are the bad guys because of the free radicals they trigger in the body, and stable saturated fats are actually much better. One article I read by Dr. Bruce Fife explained that cholesterol is a necessary product used by every cell of the body, and it doesn't stick to your arteries unless it oxidizes. What causes it to oxidize is getting hit by free radicals, and the primary cause of those--is unstable polyunsaturated oil! I think I'm getting off topic. If you want to know why soy is bad for the thyroid, check this out:

http://www.mercola.com/article/soy/index.htm

Its surprising isn't it? I started suspecting soy was messing me up several years ago. I found a lot of supporting evidence on the internet. Once I got off soy completely, I felt tons better. I am hypothyroid, and even my medications seem to be more effective without soy in my diet. I try and spread the word, especially to thyroid patients about the dangers of soy. The soy council has really done well with its marketing though. Most people think I am nuts. It took me months to convince my husband, but thankfully, his own experiences helped convince him. Thanks for sharing the Mercola site. Its a good one.

I don't have thyroid disease, but I do eat lots of soy products. I read a good book by Elton Haas, MD, The False Fat Diet and he says that a lot of obesity is due to foods that people are allergic/sensative to. He names the sensative 7 as soy, wheat, corn, peanuts, dairy, eggs and sugar, that most people are likely to react to. I was tested by a NAET practitioner and found that I was allergic to 6 of the seven, all except soy. I have had no ill effects from soy and am grateful since I am lactovegetarian and eat no meat or eggs.

If you are truly hypothyroid, see your doctor, he/she can prescribe medication so you'll be normal again.

I had my thyroid removed due to a disease and I just take a little thyroid medication every day and I'm like a normal thyroid person would be.

BTW: I've been on Atkins almost never cheat, for 10 months and have only lost about 18 pounds, so I think your results have been wonderful. :p But it does come off, very slowly and yet surely.

I'm a skeptic by nature, but I would believe about 1/100% of what you read from so-called experts claiming one particular food is good or bad. Do your own experimenting and trust yourself more than someone trying to make a fast buckk off of selling a book.

I will vouch for the badness of soy for ME. And yes, I am hypothyroid. If I have very much soy at all, I turn into a zombie. I completely had to give up Soy Milk (which I hated cause I really liked it). Right now I am trying to wean myself off all the Low Carb Bars and other products that contain soy. I KNOW I would feel better without them... but I'm stuck in this rutt of wanting "easy" food. Sigh.

Nancy
If you had your thyroid removed, your problem is probably different from just having a sluggish thyroid. For me, taking a synthetic hormone daily would only be a last resort method. I prefer to look at less radical approaches. Eliminating soy from your diet or cooking with coconut oil are simple changes that can sometimes yield better results. The endocrine system is very delicately balanced and adding hormones of one type can often upset others. In your case you really had no choice, but some people have had real trouble on hormone supplements.