This one is kind of sexy.

I'm not exactly sure where this post is going but I do know that I will be discussing sex hormones and I also know that a few of my readers are youngish (which I am very proud of you for taking an interest in your health at a young age) but if your mom and dad still buy and pay for your well EVERYTHING then I would appreciate it if you would stop reading right here and go get one of them to read this first to be sure the content is appropriate for your sweet little innocent mind...not that this is going to get raunchy or anything but it is not my place to teach anyone else's kiddo about the birds and the bees. Watching Doogie Howser was my introduction into sex education and I fully believe that everyone should have the same experience. :)

Because I grew up in the weird environment of drinking cod liver oil, liquid garlic, and chlorophyll it was not at all strange to eat tofu. In fact, I always considered tofu really healthy because it was gross and a funky texture so it obviously was some fantastic metabolic healer. Plus the Chinese eat soy and they are so stinkin thin so Ta Da...soy=health. And really I didn't start to question my stupid logic until I had my son.

Jack had to have emergency surgery when he was not quite 3 weeks old and therefore we had to supplement some with formula because he needed more than my exhausted, stressed out body could give him through breast milk alone. So we just used what the pediatrician gave us in the hospital which was a soy formula. But after a bit we noticed our little trooper was still having some pooping issues and lo and behold after taking my child's health into my own hands and researching the snot out of every book and website I could find I was shocked by what the studies were linking to soy.

• reproductive problems including infertility and decreased testosterone
• hypothyroidism
• weakened immune system
• decline in cognitive skills
• malnutrition
• digestive issues
• heart disease
• cancer

Now let's be honest...the conclusions drawn from studies are often biased and don't actually prove causation. But as always I think it is important to draw my own conclusions based on my experiences and observations as well as research. I have experienced my son having major digestive issues when taking soy formula and I have witnessed a growth in testosterone increasing supplements being sold over the last 10 years.

So why would either of these things point to soy? Well let me just tell you. The soybean contains antinutrients, two of which are phytates and phytoestrogens.

Phytates or phytic acid disrupts the enzymes pepsin and amylase used for breaking down protein and starches in the stomach and trypsin that is needed to digest protein in the small intestine. Phytates also bond to minerals our bodies need and therefore decreases absorption. So no good news there...but it get worse.

Phytoestrogens are a plant compound that resembles estrogen. Estrogen is good. We need estrogen...both men and women, BUT God made us in such a way that our bodies already take care of that. We don't need to be ingesting more estrogen. All that does is confuse that very sensitive hormone balance in our bodies. Think of hormones as a seesaw. When one hormone goes up the other goes down. Now of course it is a bit more complicated than that but this is a cutesy health blog that is fun and breezy so I'm totally not going to bore you with the specifics. But here is the problem...estrogen is up there on the top of that seesaw having a grand ole time but testosterone is just chilling down way at the bottom. And let me tell you we want testosterone because that hormone is fun and makes us skinny and have muscle. It is what gives us our sex drive and well I personally think that is pretty stinkin important for us married people. And for those of you that aren't married just CALM DOWN. Yes abstinence sucks, I don't know what else to tell you...go eat some tofu.

I used to have men in their 60s and 70s come into the shop asking for a natural testosterone supplement. Today men in their 20s are telling me they have low testosterone and no sex drive! This is not natural or normal but it is happening more and more. I always ask about diet and what are they supplementing with. I kid you not, most of the young guys are supplementing with a soy based protein formula! And for those of you who just let out a sigh of relief because your protein powder is whey, double check your protein powder's ingredients. A lot of time the front of the label will scream WHEY PROTEIN but it will actually be a blend of whey and soy.

But the scariest part is that even if you are not pounding back 120 grams of soy protein you are most likely getting it in small doses all day long. Really start paying attention to the ingredients in your foods, especially those "healthy" snack bars. These companies are crazy smart and they know we look at nutrition labels. They know we want to see that little number next to PROTEIN to be more than 10 grams so that we feel like we are eating good. Got my protein...check! But if you check the ingredients I can pretty much guarantee that it will most likely be from soy. And the reason for that is because soy is cheap and we have so much of it. And usually it is from Soy Protein Isolate which is fancy for soy oil waste. And on top of that 90% of all soybeans grown in the US are those GMO boogers!!! We are a freakin science experiment when we put those scientist created foods into our bodies. But just not our adult bodies but also those sweet little monsters God has entrusted to us.

A Swiss study showed that two cups of soy milk or 1 cup of cooked soybeans provided the estrogenic equivalent of one contraceptive pill!! Yikes! And we give this stuff to kids! No wonder we have little girls starting their periods in grade school. And we also give this to our teeny little babies. It is believed by some that babies on soy formula get the equivalent of 4 or 5 birth control pills a day! Geez Louise.

So I'm pretty sure any male that reads this is going to be reading those labels from now because we all know how you feel about testosterone. But women need testosterone too! Obviously not as much but still some. Because my influence reaches all of about 6 people I have had the experience of hearing several testimonies of how going paleo has increased sex drive a ton. I truly believe it comes from taking the soy out of the equation and letting our bodies balance our hormones naturally...the way God intended. Happy sex life ya'll! :)