Fork in the Road

I was recently told by my acupuncturist that I have to stop eating soy.  Um, OK.  You realize that I'm vegan and a good majority of my diet is soy, right?  It's like telling a lion not to eat meat.  Or a fireman not to use water to put out the fire.  What the hell??

Apparently, soy makes your spleen "cry".  And by cry I mean it produces too much mucus in the body and causes stuffiness and sinus problems, all of which I have had for as long as I can remember.  It also messes with your estrogen levels and is generally bad for you.  Which is why parents of little boys shouldn't let them drink more than 8oz. of soy milk a day, or their little boys will grow little boy boobs.  Never a pretty sight on a boy (or grown man for that matter!).

Another thing I found out about soy is that in Asian countries, soy is used as a condiment, like we use ketchup here in the States.  The Asian culture does not eat pounds of soy like we do here. Just like everything else in this country, we have take the use of soy and soy products to an extreme.  Molding soy into shapes resembling real meat products.  Case in point, Tofurkey!  I made one at Thanksgiving (and I have to say, it was good).

So here I stand at a fork in the road.  To the left is to remain on my current diet and just live with the congestion.  To my right is to add back in some other protein sources.  I mean look, there's only so many beans a person can eat.  And too many nuts will just make you fat.  So in the past two weeks I have been eating some shrimp and shellfish.  I've also decided that if I eat a piece of cheese every now and then, it probably won't kill me.  Though dairy has the same mucus producing properties as soy so it should be avoided anyway.

Why am I tell you all of this?  I think because now I wonder if I can even call myself a vegan anymore.  Probably not right??  I guess I'd say that I'm "vegan-ish".  And I'll just have to live with that.

Now instead of being stuffed up, I'll get the gout!

Peace and love.