Safe protein sources for muscle gain

Hi,

I'm new to this forum, I actually joined today, so if this is in the wrong forum, I am really sorry. This seemed like the closest forum to the topic that I could find.

I am trying to gain muscle. I have been following basic bodybuilding guidelines including workout routines and nutrition with an average degree of success. But I just looked up some of the soy scares and that got me concerned about my own diet. I eat a ton of lentils and split peas, probably 10lb per week and quite a bit of wheat gluten maybe 5 lb. Is anyone aware of health risks with these protien sources? And are whole cooked organic soy beans a concern or just the various soy products? I would really like to switch to eating a lot of soybeans because of all of the vitamins, minerals, and complete protein, but I have been reading about some really horrible things about them.

If you do a search for the word "protein", there's loads of threads on the forum that you can have a read through. Hopefully that'll help answer your questions. :)

Hello. You could also try Googling "vegan bodybuilders" as there are at least a couple of organisations that have websites on the subject, one in the USA and one in the UK.

To pick up one part of your question, I think I have read a theory that fermented soya products, which are a "traditional" way of ingesting soya in the far east, may be better for you than unprocessed beans, which aren't, and certainly than soy isolates etc which aren't natural or traditional foods. I don't think anyone knows for sure though. http://www.foodrevolution.org/what_about_soy.htm

I would guess that it's safest to eat a variety of protein foods rather than focus on a single one - that way you get to hedge your bets.

What are the problems with soya you're talking about?

... (waits for response involving the name Mercola)

BTW organic ≠ better

I don't really see an issue with Soy personally, like many other plant based foods it contains a level of toxins. To date I haven't seen a direct link to soy and health issues, just silly correlations with no scientific evidence.

The best thing to do is eat a healthy and varied diet :thumbsup:

Like Risker, I would like to know what your issues with soy are though (or what you've heard) :confused:

Hi,

I really don't know anything about the issue myself, but I saw something about soy not being a "safe" food source. This led me to do a search on it and several sources said that:

-Soy contains phytates that block the absorption of minerals and vitamins
-may cause certain cancers
-contains something similar to estrogen
-has near toxic levels of certain vitamins and minerals
and more.

I don't necessarily believe this stuff, but I am hesitant to buy a 50lb bag of soy beans. Check it out for yourself. See what you think.

Oh yeah, thank you for your replies, you have been very helpful.

:) You're welcome.

I understand Hemp protein isolates can be very effective. There's a couple of good companies to get it from in the UK, I get mine from Yaoh but then I get practically everything from them anyway so haven't investigated much further!

Check out Robbie Hazeley (vegan bodybuilder) and his associates for tips.

www.robbiehazeley.blogspot.com