From soy to hemp

As I eat my breakfast today I thought I'd write a quick note about hemp milk. You can't be conscious in America and be unaware of the rise of soy milk (or soy generally). Many people think that soy milk is a healthy alternative to milk (for intolerance issues, fat, etc.). Others think that soy actually provides health benefits over alternatives. Soy milk has been pushed big time and Americans have drank it up. Soy milk had sales of about $2 million in 1980, and currently posts sales over $300 million a year. The truth is that soy milk is not healthy (nor is any fermented soy). And like anything dangerous to eat, it is far worse for growing children. Plus, soy eaten as part of a omnivorous diet is not great, but eaten on a vegetarian diet it is particularly unhealthy and damaging, as people count on it to provide what they miss from meat, and yet it often fails to provide those nutrients and hurts the bodies ability to get them elsewhere, as is shown below.

The list of what's wrong with unfermented soy is pretty long. Here's a few: it blocks protein digestion (what you eat isn't necessarily digested) that also can cause problems with amino acid uptake and other nutrient deficiencies including calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc in the intestines, it promotes clotting that causes the clumping of red blood cells, it acts as a growth inhibitor, it depresses thyroid function, and contains isoflavones that are estrogen-like compounds that are widely believed to increase cancer risks, particularly amongst women and even more particularly for post-menopausal women (many people actually take these isoflavones in pill form as a supplement). Further, any health benefit of soy is really unclear. Some studies show that soy reduces certain types of cancer, while others show that it most likely increases the risks of other types. Some women look to soy to help reduce their chances of breast cancer, but as Marian Burros of the New York Times has discussed, some studies show that soy reduces breast cancer risks and others show that it increases it. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, for instance, reported over 10 years ago that soy increases breast cell proliferation in women -- and the greater the cell proliferation the greater the chance of breast cancer cells developing.

To me, the message here is fairly clear when you look past Silk's health claims: avoid it. Unfermented soy at most has unproven health benefits, and at worst is a cause of significant diet related problems and even cancer. Yes, the Japanese consume soy. But they consume it primarily in FERMENTED form. Fermentation largely reduces or eliminates every health concern listed above. Further, the Japanese on average consume small amounts of soy with meals. Americans think there is no such thing as too much of a good thing. Well there just might be. (I'll also add that there are particular types of cancer that the Japanese have higher rates of, and some attribute this to soy intake.)

So what should you do about your cereal and your coffee and your smoothie? While Starbucks may only offer milk or soy milk, even regular grocery stores now often offer numerous alternatives. The most popular are almond milk and rice milk (and some people will also drink oat milk). However, both offer almost no health benefits. So you're better off using either to soy milk, but I want to suggest a better alternative: hempmilk. Hempmilk is taking on in the health food community. I have been drinking it for years now and recently realized on a trip to a primarily organic grocery store that the soy milk consumed a tiny amount of shelf space, while hempmilk was offered in three different flavors from multiple brands. This has clearly become the preferred alternative to those who have become well informed on soy. Hempmilk has more calcium that cows milk, and is packed with Omega 3s and 6s. It contains a good amount of digestible protein, amino acids, and numerous minerals. Hempmilk is pretty darn good for you. Give it a try -- I personally love Living Harvest Hempmilk's vanilla flavor. You can certainly get it at Whole Foods, health food stores, Green Grocer in Chicago, or online here. (Oh, and for those of you who may think this also gets you high, it doesn't. Hemp food products are all THC-free. Though unfortunately the wise government of the United States does not allow the growing of hemp seeds, so these are usually imported from Canada or other more progressive countries.)

What's my reward for an "A"?

It is very common to give rewards and punishments for jobs well done or to discourage undesirable behavior. While the news keeps talking about Hillary Clinton offering North Korea the stick or the carrot, but most kids, it's the cupcake, cookie, ice cream, Coke or trip to McDonalds instead of a carrot. And while we frown on sticks these days in child-rearing, and don't tend to use food as punishment, so to speak, things like eating your vegetables are often attributed to something you do against your will -- like work, if you will. The scientist and author, Brian Wansink discusses the deep roots this all leaves in us for life in his book: Mindless Eating (Why We Eat More Than We Think). (First, I will say I totally disagree with his views on fast food, etc. -- basically that they give us what we want and if everyone wanted to buy fresh fruit McDonalds would be lining up to sell it. What we're forgetting is that they prey on our natural taste for certain things (salt, etc.), hook us in through arguably unethical advertising and product placement to children so young they cannot differentiate ads from non-ads, and god could I go on.)

But more on point, Wansink shows us that a food used as a reward -- let's take ice cream -- is always going to have a special place in our hearts. Foods that we felt forced to eat -- let's take broccoli -- is always going to be dreaded and resented. We may not realize it, but his studies are pretty overwhelming. This is something that should be in our parenting books and in our teacher's training sessions. It seems to make sense then that if you need your kid to eat his greens, give him less food and then tell him he can't have more until he finishes his plate, and if you want to give rewards, make them unrelated to food. The sensitivities we have to food growing up go on and on. Deprive someone of something and they crave it. The theory being that those of us who are always raiding (or wanting to raid) the cookie jar were kept pretty locked down on sweets growing up.

I think we're far from the answers to how to perfectly integrate food into the lives of our children, but we should at least be aware that we need to be very careful -- that everything we do to make a food seem good or bad is absorbed and retained, whether we know it or not, for the rest of our lives.

PS. I have nothing against ice cream -- so long as it's all natural (go on, eat the full fat stuff). If it's made from the milk of grass fed cows then you're really going to heaven. Check out Nice Cream from Green Grocer, Black Dog Gelato at the Logan Square Farmers Market or served at a number of restaurants in the Chicago area (they have an amazing spicy Mexican chocolate), or an artisan producer near you.