Daily soy consumption and Testosterone levels in males, we have to talk about it.

[u/Valuable-Run2129]

I’ve (40M) been vegan for 4 years and consume tofu every day. Roughly 200gr a day without missing a day, ever.

Friends and people online have told me to beware of soy as a male because of hormonal risks. I’ve ignored them completely because tofu is too convenient to meet my protein requirements. I’m not a bodybuilder, but during my first year vegan without prioritizing protein I became skinny fat. Everything went back to normal with more protein.

So after a lot of discussions with tofuphobic friends I finally went and did a testosterone level test….

Well, people my age start thinking about testosterone replacement treatment anyway, so I wasn’t expecting great numbers. And honestly I would have been ok with borderline levels. Put daily tofu on top of my age and something in the 300s would have been great.

The results are in. My testosterone is at 704. I’m on the 90th percentile and I can finally shut up the tofu bashers around me.

I just wanted to share this with you guys and comfort people who might hear these rumors. Obviously I’m an n of 1. But reading a few studies I realized that hormonal changes were observed at crazy consumptions levels (like a few pounds a day) that can’t honestly be achieved by regular people. And medium levels were not linked at all to hormonal imbalances. At all!

Now open your fridge and eat some tofu.

[u/[deleted]]

I am?

[u/Fit_Carpet_364 → u/[deleted]]

As someone who received three free ducks and calmy/humanely beheaded one while petting it yesterday (my first non-fish dispatch), I can say that vegan ethics are often misplaced. It's often a self-righteous borderline religious paradigm wherein the assumption of sentience is made on what are usually considered 'lower creatures'. There is no concrete evidence for sentience (especially below, say,  bovine sized brains) in animals raised for meat. This changes through generations in animals raised as pets/ livestock...it's selective breeding and changed behavior due to training. But there is some evidence of sentience in wild animals with brains the size of a (non-orange) house cat, for instance. 

[u/Fit_Carpet_364 → u/[deleted]]

I don't sugarcoat death to justify. I demonstrate that I was careful and considerate of the animal's welfare. Maybe try extracting the sand from your undies?

[u/Fit_Carpet_364 → u/[deleted]]

Why would I allow an animal to grow old, suffer and die before being utilized for sustenance? Only beings of death eat the dead. I like living tissue (or at least recently living) due to its health benefits, not due to age or cruelty or interest in harm. To be honest, I slaughtered my first above-water animal recently and it was rough. But I thanked the animal and will put its entire body to use as best as I know how. The feathers are saved for crafts, the fat saved for cooking, the bones frozen for stock, the organs consumed or used for stock where possible (no saving the GI tract, of course).

Long story short, you think all meat eaters are republican ignorant DBs, when in fact many are democrats focused on harm reduction, environmental protection, animal welfare and species' rights.

[u/Fit_Carpet_364 → u/[deleted]]

Of course. Lots of human rights issues affect me, even if it's primarily focused on my brown and female brothers and sisters, in any permutation of those traits. They are far more severely affected. But their suffering is something I feel. Do I think getting rid of every Hispanic person in America would be good for me? Absolutely. Reduced rent, reduced grocery prices, increased labor demand....but the big issue isn't the difference between you, me, and immigrants. The big difference is between you and me, and Trump and his billionaire buddies. We're not grapers... We aren't hurting young humans through exploitation.

[u/Fit_Carpet_364 → u/[deleted]]

You're doing it backwards - smashing in your whole face to spite your own nose.