So many Americans are turning to what they believe to be a "health food", but are actually hurting their immune systems. Soy is NOT a health food. If you have an autoimmune disease or are pregnant, you should be especially careful to avoid foods made from soy.

Just 4 tablespoons of soy per day is enough to cause estrogen dominance and hypothyroidism. Estrogen dominance is BAD news for the autoimmune sufferer. This hormone is proinflammatory and will make your autoimmune symptoms worse! Additionally, hypothyroidism suppresses immune function.

Hypothyroidism can also make you cold and fat. Who wants that?!?! I noticed after I switched from cow's milk to soy milk that I suddenly no longer needed my air conditioning, even when it was over 100 degrees outside.

Note: I am not saying to drink cows milk either. A good substitute for soy milk is the delicious almond milk.

A study of babies born to vegetarian mothers, published in January 2000, found that mothers who ate a vegetarian diet during pregnancy had five times the risk of delivering a boy with a birth defect of the penis. The authors of the study suggested that the cause was greater exposure to plant estrogens in soy foods popular with vegetarians.

Soy is also naturally high in MSG. I have seen soy food companies who label their foods MSG free. They are lying and unfortunately, they can legally do it!

Learn more at:
http://www.mercola.com/article/soy/
http://www.thewholesoystory.com/index.php
http://www.soyinfo.com/dangers.shtml
http://www.dldewey.com/columns/soyupdf.htm

Heidi Whitaker is an author and popular speaker on the topic of nutritional support of autoimmune disease. An advocate for alternative health solutions, she co-founded http://www.healthydivas.com, a resource center for those autoimmune sufferers looking for real answers outside of what conventional medicine can provide.

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