Hello all!

I am pretty new to this Zone thing, and I am also a semi-vegetarian (mostly because of the factory farming issue, no offense meant to anyone else!, but, I don't see how it can be healthy to eat something that lived a miserable life, which manifests chemically in their little animal bodies, not to mention the ethical issues...)

Really, I hope this doesn't sound stuck-up or something. Lots of us are just trying to survive these days, and I am too.

Here's my issue though -- I also feel a little weird about eating protein powder. It doesn't seem like it's real food. If I am eating in a way where I have to add something like that, maybe the way I eat doesn't make sense. It seems unnatural. (Same with vegetarianism in general, even though I do feel a bit bad about eating meat.) I ought to be able to get what I need from food, period.

I am going to check out some of these new powders people talk about - spirulina, hemp, and whey - but I am not sure I will be able to get around my issues with them.

I sure do wish someone would nail down the safety issues with soy!!! That would be extremely helpful, because I really like it. But I don't feel it's safe to be too reliant on it now. (And I get awfully sick of low-fat dairy.)

Well, I hope I don't sound *too* whiny.

It is incredibly complicated to try to figure out what the bleep to eat!

Have a good one!

I use a good whey protein. Pure whey is processed from milk, not the animal.
So you are not eating slaughtered animals. Maybe I am simplifying your position, no problem.
I use Plain Jarrow Whey (unflavored) Protein Powder.
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I think the findings and studies are starting to support that unprocessed Soy is OK, Like edamame and tofu,
while Soy processed foods like Soy protein powder, etc are not and are possibly harmful.
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Hope that helps.

tempeh is probably even better, and is a zone balanced food, which makes it a great snack. I take a package of it and cut it into approx. 1 blk pieces then saute in almond oil and tamari with a little water.....don't pay attention to how long but should be well cooked to stop fermenting. It is not precooked. So cover it and keep it cooking low till done.

About 18 years ago when I first attempted to become a vegan I did it the wrong way without any guidance and went from 185lbs of muscle, I worked out every day sometimes twice a day, to 135lbs of what was left after the muscle <img src='desktopmodules/ntforums/images/emoticons/smile.gif' height='20' width='20' border='0' title='Smile' align='absmiddle'> I am 5'9 so this is a radical amount of weight loss in the course of 2 months. I am telling this story because the key thing I was doing wrong was not getting enough protein. Most vegeterians and vegans hurt themselves because they do not get an adequate amount of protein in their diets. To address this if you decide to become a vegeterian or vegan you need to ensure that you are getting adequate amounts of protein and one of the ways to do this is with Protein Powder. You may think that its kind of un-natural because it has to be processed, but look at it this way, wheat, butter, ice cream and oils which we are very accustomed to eating where also mechanically or geneticall processed by man. Bottom line here is that with a vegan or vegeterian life style you need to suppliment your diet with protein to ensure you are getting enough protein, and/or plan and prepare all of your meals to ensure your daily protein requirements are always adequate. Following the Zone Diet helps to make sure that you plan out your meals correctly.

On a side note, be on the look out there is alot of bad press out about Soy products which I think is an attempt to discredit a viable food stuff that has the potential to negatively impact the consumption and sale meat products like beef and chicken. Just for the record beef and chicken is a muti billion dollar business with so much power that the beef business alone made Oprah Winfrey do her show in a court house, because of comments she made about the negative implications of eating beef. Soy has been heavily used in Asian diets for hundreds, if not thousands of years without issue. On that same note don't go over board with soy because too much of anything can be bad for you, and you need to have a variety of food that provide you with your macro/and micro nutritional requirements.

Can you please point me to these studies on the negative impacts of processed soy?

Here is a link to a great article on the "FUD" fear, uncertainty and doubt that is in the market about soy

http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/soymessina

I, for one, don't have any specific resource, other than the fact that my body just seems to work better on whole foods, as opposed to processed foods. So, I keep the processed foods, including processed soy products, to a minimum. I have nothing against soy, but I think eating it in a more natural form is better for our bodies.

Perhaps soy gets a lot of bad press, but I think we are going to find that a lot of other processed foods are harmful to us, as well.

I just received mu Nutrition Action (CSPI) in the mail a couple of days ago.
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And while it does not point to any specific study, it does summarize that from the current research it is not completely definitive; however, highly suggested that one chooses whole soy foods and not processed soy foods.
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To err on the side of caution, I will not copy the article here for any possible copyright infringement.

thanks, Donnie, for the warnings of low protein! I was an unhealthy vegetarian for 25 yrs. (how did I survive?? well, I was very sick! but it couldn't have been my "healthy" diet??? Noooo!) (I am very stubborn)
Howver, I finally found the zone diet, which I did very successfully as a vegetarian! My health improved greatly. I ate soy products, cheese, etc. in zone proportions and lost rapidly. (I now eat meat which has improved my health immensely....grassfed beef, organic chicken, turkey, wildcaught fish,etc.) However, I am not as successful at zoning now for some reason......(perhaps my zeal isn't what it used to be?) And I thought this would all be much easier eating meat.......not so, for me. The veggie zone works great! (but I now feel that all that soy cannot be good...that's just me!) You see how I am!! lol.
Best of luck to you!

Even though with dairy products you may not be eating slaughterd animals,there is still, in my opinion, an ethical problem as well as a health one. Apart from the fact that it is completely unnatural for us as adult humans to drink cows milk, most dairy products come from factory farming, from cows whose udders are probably infected and/or treated with antibiotics etc etc. Most dairy products unfortunately are neither healthy nor ethical.

Hi everyone! The ethics and health issues also extend to most all foods in the market place today, even those from some organic growers. You can read more about in the book "Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan.