Four Good Reasons to Embrace Soy (Not Just for Hippie Vegans).

Soy is a win for your taste buds, your body, your planet, and your wallet.

Glory bowl from WhiteWater Cooks.
The many faces of soy. Source: Harvard Health.

Yum Factor

Fun fact: You are likely eating more soy than you realize, especially if you eat animal products.

The vast majority of soy is used as animal feed. Of the 284 million tonnes of soy produced globally in 2013-14, 75% was used as animal feed. Soy content per kilogram is highest for broiler chicken, farmed fish, pork, and beef.[Source]

Nutrition

Source: Verified entries from MyFitnessPal.com

As an aside, this perfect amino acid profile is overkill. Even for vegans, it’s harder than you think FAIL to meet all your amino acid needs. Anyone that eats a varied diet spanning multiple food groups, and get enough total protein, should be golden [See Busting the Myth of Incomplete Plant-Based Proteins].

Shunning soy (and other legumes) because of their phytates and lectin content is like throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Tip for overcoming antinutrients:

Soaking, rinsing, sprouting, fermenting, boiling soy and other beans can dramatically reduce their lectin content.

Environment

Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash
Impossible’s soy-based burger vs beef burger Source

Eco tip:

Ironically, choosing soy products over animal products actually reduces habitat losses due to soy — because eating it directly requires so much less than fueling animals.

Cost

Conclusions

Eco Tip: The World Wildlife Foundation has concerns about habitat loss from soy crops, and are asking companies to source products based on soy that has been responsibly produced, such as soy that has been certified by the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) or ProTerra. They suggest contacting your favourite retailer, manufacturer or restaurant chain and asking them to source responsible soy. [Learn more]

Appendix

Beef burger savings calculations

Cost per gram of protein

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Scientist (PhD Genetics @Stanford) * Mother * Passionate about science-based healthy choices * Lifelong learner * Founder: Fueled by Science

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Chana Davis, PhD

Scientist (PhD Genetics @Stanford) * Mother * Passionate about science-based healthy choices * Lifelong learner * Founder: Fueled by Science