Eating soy while pregnant....

[frenchie]

I keep hearing people say pregnant women shouldn't consume soy.......it's driving me crazy!! Am I missing something? I've been consuming soy for years, and of course though my pregnancy as well. Has anybody read anything regarding this subject? Thanks!

[Erin Pavlina]

Soy while pregnant is fine, as long as it's in moderation. Avoid the overprocessed soy products like veggie burgers, meat analogues, etc. Instead of soy milk, we started drinking rice milk around here.

Don't let it worry you too much. Just try to eat beans, legumes, and nuts for protein and just some of the soy products.

[Janine]

What are the dangers, though? I don't know what harm too much soy specifically does. Is it the hormones in soy? I've been eating what is probably too much soy this whole pregnancy; soy milk in cereal, soy yoghurt every day, often tofu at night or a meat analog. Hmmm.
Janine

[Erin Pavlina]

That's a great question. The answer escapse me at the moment. I hope someone else knows. My guess is that it's either hormones or lack of digestibility, or genetic modification.

Definitely don't stress about what you've eaten so far. But maybe add some different things to your diet from here on out.

I love my soy yogurt! Look for soy products that are in their natural state, like soy beans, and look for soy products that are not genetically modified.

[sophie]

I'm not specifically sure of the dangers either, but I agree with what Erin said. I would definitely steer clear of any soy that could possibly be GE ( I do that anyway, but when you're pregnant it's even more impt to be careful as we don't knoe what the risks are). Too much soy is not supposed to be good for children because of the hormone thing. I am 8 months preg and have hardly had any soy this pregnancy, my main reason being that in my last pregnancy I ate it as part of my regular diet and my daughter was born intolerant to soy. However, she is also intolerant to dairy and has never had it before!
I think when you're preg the main thing is not to OD on any one thing, just eat a balanced diet with as much whole , fresh food as possible.
I know two women who OD'd on cows milk when preg, as they believed the hype that you need a million gallons of milk to get enough calcium for your baby. Both babies were born with serious dairy allergies. Hmmmm...