Tofu question

scoey

Hi, I'm currently in Japan for a year. I'm attempting to gain some more muscle, so I'm regularly lifting weights, etc. Anyway, I'm trying to eat a good amount of protein every day. This protein mostly comes from chicken fillets, eggs and milk. For the last couple of days I've been eating tofu each day in addition to this, since it's really cheap and I actually like the taste. Until now, I thought that it wasn't a great source of protein compared to something like chicken, but that it would still be good to eat in addition to that, for some extra protein during the day(I can't afford to get all my protein from chicken..). Anyway, I did a google search to check about the protein in tofu, and it seems I was about right. However, I also noticed some comments about tofu containing estrogen. I can't find anything really conclusive about that. So, can someone in the know help me out and let me know if eating a good bit of tofu each day is ok, or will it cause me to grow breasts/become moody/transform into a woman or akin to a male vegan stereotype etc... Maybe that seems like a stupid question, and I'm using silly examples, but should I eat it, or avoid it and find a different protein source?? Thanks.

g'em

scoey wrote: »

For the last couple of days I've been eating tofu each day ... will it cause me to grow breasts/become moody/transform into a woman or akin to a male vegan stereotype etc...

Yes :eek:




I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Well, actually I'm not totally kidding. The honest answer is: we don't know. There's research that suggests it'll do all the above and there's also evidence to say it's the best thing since someone left a bucket of milk in the freezer overnight and discovered ice-cream.

Tony Gentilcore wrote about it a few months back in his blog (I was training with him the weekend before he took the trip to Vegas he mentions - just thought I'd drop that in there ) and to counter that argument here's one refuting the anti-soy claims.

scoey

Thanks a lot for the answer. Well, I'm going to forget about eating tofu for protein. I guess I'll just drink more milk. I currently drink about a litre each day, I guess I'll bump that up to 2 litres. Would that be a prudent course of action? I'm not fat and have to do a lot of cycling to and from college(an hour each way) every day, so I reckon I can handle the extra calories, they might actually be beneficial. That said, I've read some stuff about not drinking a lot of milk for bodybuilding too... It's a shame whey protein and the like are ridiculously expensive over here.

I could throw back eggs all day, but I can't figure out if the "one a day" and such guidelines regarding cholestorol have been shown to be wrong or if the stuff saying "new studies show that you can eat as many as you want" are just egg company propaganda.

Chicken is a bit too expensive for me to increase the amount I eat, other types of meat are WAY too expensive, as is fish. I think tins of tuna and such are reasonable. They taste pretty bad and I've read you shouldn't eat too much tinned fish, due to mercury levels or something. Heh, there
really is a problem with everything. Still though, I might check out tuna. Something about mercury levels doesn't put me off as much as estrogen.

Japan is a bad country for a student to attempt to gain muscle. Protein is pretty overpriced and the Japanese diet seems to consist of an awful lot of carbs and a tiny amount of protein. Most guys here are thin/skinny, but nobody has anything resembling an impressive physique. I should have carried some whey over in my suitcase, it pains me that I left a big tub of pro x in my house in Ireland when I left...

pwd

Milk is an excellent food if you're trying to build muscle. One of the best things you can eat for that purpose, in my opinion. There's an argument for its use put forward in one of the stickies on this forum. You want lots of calories if you're trying to build muscle. If you're worried about the staurated fat content just get reduced fat milk.

I don't know how things are in Japan, but the price of protein varies hugely in my experience. It is generally far cheaper to buy it online.

Don't know about eggs. All the cholestorol is in the egg yolk (as well as most of the micronutrients). Some people just eat the white and discard the yolk because of this.

davyjose

pwd wrote: »

Milk is an excellent food if you're trying to build muscle. One of the best things you can eat for that purpose, in my opinion. There's an argument for its use put forward in one of the stickies on this forum. You want lots of calories if you're trying to build muscle. If you're worried about the staurated fat content just get reduced fat milk.

I don't know how things are in Japan, but the price of protein varies hugely in my experience. It is generally far cheaper to buy it online.

Don't know about eggs. All the cholestorol is in the egg yolk (as well as most of the micronutrients). Some people just eat the white and discard the yolk because of this.

I love eating Milk

I find making 3/4 egg omelettes with but only using the yolk of 1 or 2 of them doesn't really compromise the taste.