Adding Soy To Diet - Osteoporosis Message Board

merryk · 07-24-2003, 09:08 PM

I am trying to change my diet to include more calcium rich foods that aren't dairy.
Tofu is one I am experimenting with. When I was making breakfast this morning, I diced up some tofu and added it to already cooked oatmeal with raisins. The tofu picked up the sweetness of the raisins and made the oatmeal creamier. I will be adding tofu to my oatmeal in the future.
It was not a "planned menu", I was trying to use up the tofu before it went bad.
I know there is controversy about soy and its benefits, but I think a varied diet and moderation is the way for me.

marciakeeney · 07-25-2003, 02:30 PM

Hey, I am glad you brought up the soy/tofu. I have been having at least one calcium fortified soy serving a day since I started menopause, mainly as a way to keep the hot flashes at bay (along with 3 T. per day of ground flax seed, also very good for this purpose). And that's been working great. But just recently I read at Susun Weed's website (she is a natural/herbal healer type, so granted this may be questionable) that soy products were not good for osteoporosis because of the phyto something or other!! Hope that's not true! Has anyone else heard anything negative about tofu/soy products for osteoporosis??

merryk · 07-26-2003, 06:54 AM

Thank you for the Susun Weed information. She has some very practical advice and I like her section on flexibility of bones and viewing ourselves as healthy whole individuals, not just a disease. It becomes easy to simply become a worry-wart and not pro-active.
One word of caution. She mentions comfrey and using it in a tea like drink. Most, even fairly recent herb books, that I have read caution against internal use of this herb because of liver damage.

marciakeeney · 07-26-2003, 09:51 AM

I just went back to susun weed's website and she says unfermented soy products like tofu and soy milk "leach calcium" from the bones. I am pretty sure I haven't heard that anywhere else and question its validity. Good tip on the comfrey, merryk, I have read that too. Makes me a little leary to use the other herbs she recommends too if she is so way of base on this one. She recommends stinging nettle, oatstraw, red clover dandelion, and horesetail as well. I found a good place, mountainrose, to purchase fresh organic herbs but am hesitating. Probably need to do some more research before embarking on this path. Any ideas or resources, anyone?

merryk · 07-28-2003, 08:38 PM

I like Rodale's Encyclopedia of Herbs. I check it out of the library. It's pretty complete and has warnings with all herbs that have side effects. I have yet to find a website that I consider the be all and end all of herbal information.
Horsetail is used, I think for the silica in it. My multi-vitamin which is Centrum Silver has silica in it in the form of silicon dioxide. Many of the good unprocessed foods have silica in them--wheat bran, soybeans, leafy veggies and brown rice.
Would love to hear from others who are using herbs for their bones.