Anyone else who has reservations about Soy which is a VERY BIG part of a vegeterian zone diet?

It plays with hormones, estrogen I think. For me, I've got something called uterine fibroids and that is supposedly made worse by soy (they grow..) It also gives me little red spots on the chest, for some strange reason.
I am very suspicious against Soy and never use it as a milk substitute (am allergic to cows milk). I choose Rice milk or Oat milk instead.
Very rarely I have a soy latte, only if I am very tired and it is the only pick me up avaialble.

Tofu is ok, I think, because the soy undergoes a change before it becomes tofu.
But I am suspicious against anything that is soy milk based.

Anyone else feels the same way about Soy and how do you handle it in the Zone?

You sound as if you're allergic to soy.

I like certain soy products that don't have a high number of whachacallit ... isoflavoones? I can't remember! Anyway, and I do eat them. But if you have spots in response, that sounds like your body is telling you it can't tolerate too much soy.

Sarah/Alexy/the carb-sensitve

I avoid soy, just because there is so much controversey about it, so I choose to avoid it for the most part. On occasion, I will have some tofu, but this is rare and not a staple on my grocery list.

If I were vegetarian, I suppose I would have to put more time into studying the isoflavone issue more, which products are safe, which are not, etc. But, since I am not, I just ignore the whole thing and enjoy my other protein sources.

The general consensus I've read is that fermented soy is good.
and non-fermented soy is not.

After reading the Soy Zone, I've been eating a lot of it. I try to eat mostly soy foods that are low in omega 6 and low in isoflavones such as non fat or low fat hotdogs, ground beef, sausage, tofurkey, etc. Luckily I enjoy the taste of these products. I can only get full fat tofu so I don't eat much of that. I feel great on soy as my main protein. I usually have it for two of my meals each day. Breakfast is always egg whites and I'll have a yogurt snack frequently. I have fish about 2 -3 times a week.

I LOVE me my soy crumbles! YUMMY.

I create tacoes out of them ... just soy "hamburger crumbles", some taco seasonings, tomatoes, onions. Very simple.

I toss the frozen crumbles with salt and olive oil--all one tablespoon of it or nearly one tablespoon actually--and toss it into the microwave for 1.5 minutes so the crumbles firm up to be a little more chewy. I like 'em that way. Then add the seasonings, etc. Yummy! And low in whachacallit ... isoflavoones, right. LOL.

But, for me, because I'm so carb-sensitive, I can't handle the amount of refined carbs in both the crumbles and the seasonings, which adds up to 6 grams of refined carbs. I can only have 2 blocks of carbs per meal so 6 grams is too much.

What I do is, I halve my full soy meal and only eat half of it. The other half of the meal is usually pollock and favourable veggies, usually spaggetti squash. Reason for the spaggetti squash: it's smaller in volume as compared to cabbage and brocilli but still stable for me, e.g., it's not like an orange or apple, neither of which I eat (except tiny pieces), because they make me SO HUNGRY.

Anyway. Halving my meal like that cuts the refined carbs to only 3 grams for the whole meal, which falls under the 25% unfavourable carb rule. (We, in the zone diet, do not eat more than 25% refined or unfavourable carbs because it spikes our insulin levels too much.)

So I eat 18 grams of carbs in my whole meal, in other words, so the refined carbs at 3 grams is only 1/5 of the carb count or 20%.

I just realized, though, that the taco seasonings is likely from bad fat. Omega-6s! Yikes.

Hmm ... does anyone know how to mimic Old El Paso Taco seasonings? I've tried on my own before, after looking at the ingredients, but, it didn't work out too well the one time I tried ... LOL.

ALexy/Sarah

Hi Sarah - that's what I had for lunch today. Smart Ground has a Mexican flavored product that is very good. I add 1.5 oz black beans, 2 oz avocado, tomato, lettuce and fat free mozzarella. That gives me most of my fat blocks, all of my protein blocks and 1.5 carb blocks. Then all I have to do is eat the remaining carb blocks.

I guess I'm lucky about carbs. No sensitivity. I even have to have an extra block of carbs to my meals.

Sounds yummy Larry. I'll look for Smart Ground.

Yes, you *are* lucky ...

But I'm fine with my diet now that I've gotten it down to where it's working for me ... thus far that is ...

But I think I had a lot more trouble with the zone diet because I was so carb-sensitive and didn't know it. I honestly had absolutely no idea for a long time!

Alexy