Soy? Why Would I Care?

I love soy! (Emphasis on the I and love and soy) I put soy sauce on my sushi, soy milk in my cereal, and soy beans, or edamame, are just simply delicious. Soy has many forms but Raj Patel comes to attention that soy beans may not be so great after all. When I think about eating “healthy,” soy would definitely be something that I would keep in mind. Unfortunately, I stand corrected as Patel says that soy is used as an additive in foods in order to make certain foods easy to manufacture, store, ship, and keep them on the shelves (165). In other words, they are used in certain foods as a type of preservative. Similar to high fructose corn syrup, soy became a cheap replacement as an additive in foods that are not meant to be there.
But soy is not completely horrible. The American Heart Association recommends eating 35-50 grams of soy protein every day (167). Similar to daily servings of fruits and vegetables, soy can help people lead healthy lifestyles. Along with help to the consumer, soy helps farmers since they can sell soy at reasonable prices. Since the rise of Mad Cow Disease, dairy farmers needed more non-meats to feed to the cows and they found soy to be the perfect plant to feed them (185). With good business, the suicide rates in farmers can decrease, lands will be kept, and their families would be fed.
However, I had to ask, why do I care? Why would anyone care about this? Other than my love for soy, I get interested in certain topics in this book because it’s everywhere. Everyone eats food but not everyone knows where the food comes from. My food cabinet had chocolate with soy lecithin and oreos with high fructose corn syrup. These food additives are everywhere and it’s something that we have to understand and take seriously. I feel like although this book can be a challenging read, the material is very important because we can’t avoid food. If we understand what we’re putting in our mouths then we can understand how to live healthy.