I agree avoiding the really processed stuff like boca burgers is good, but that goes for all processed foods soy or not.

I really don’t see any of the downsides people claim soy has, as long as you avoid the heavily processed stuff, you should be fine

While it does seem to me from what I’ve read that a vegan diet is ideal, for some people with very active lifestyles, I think it is very difficult. And I’m not convinced yet that meat is totally bad. Alaskan natives, for example, lived on a meat-based diet of wild game and fish and didn’t have problems with heart disease or diabetes until they were introduced to Western processed foods.

Not to say that I don’t think the Standard American Diet is completely unhealthy and imbalanced. I definitely think most people should eat way less meat, especially industrially farmed meat and processed meat. I think the way animals are raised and killed and processed on industrial factory “farms” is wrong in so many ways and very unhealthy. But it seems to me that having some local or wild meat in one’s diet is not all bad. I have vegan friends that disagree with me and I’m still looking into it, but that’s where I’m at right now. But since you said you’re happy to have given up meat, then maybe this totally doesn’t apply to you in which case please ignore this comment!

Also, real quick, I have read and heard from people’s experience a lot of bad things about soy, but I have also heard that when it is fermented (as in tempeh) it is actually good for you. (But I don’t think it changes the phytoestrogens, so it probably should still not be consumed in excess!) Fermented foods in general have many health benefits! Though my sister-in-law who eats anti-fungal would disagree. Ah! Sometimes nutrition can be so confusing and contradictory!

I just found this site and it looks really great. I look forward to taking a closer look and learning more about the raw food diet!

This is a fair criticism. I’ve finessed the language of that statement to read: So even if you’re eating a local, organic brand of tofu, it is not a raw food. Most commercial soymilks have been processed at even higher temperatures than this, and they’ve often got added sodium and sugar.

I believe firmly in taking criticism, so I thank you for what I believe was a well argued piece of commentary. I disagree that “processed” must mean fast food or pre-packaged food, but I do agree that it isn’t an apt way to describe homemade soy milks.

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I think this is an unfair use of the word ‘processed’. I soak, boil, and then blend my dried beans, for example in a food processer. They’re still nowhere near what I – or most others – would call a ‘processed’ food. While you may be technically correct, ‘processed’, today, almost exclusively refers to foods that are prepackaged, fast foods, etc. Your use of it is misleading and disappointing.