I have some first hand experience with the adverse effects of soy. I realized a couple of years ago that I was lactose intolerant. I also have to take thyroid supplements due to Graves disease, that required the removal of my thyroid. Well I had been on the same dose of thyroid medication for almost 2 years, finally had it requlated. And then at my next appointment, about 8 months after switching to soy, my levels were completly out of whack. This led my doctor to run other tests, which came back with upset blood levels. Primarily low platlettes, which function to make blood clot. This is often caused by an auto-immune disfunction, the body actually destroys the platelletes faster then you can make them. Well it just happened that we had the day before my appointment read a medical journal that published a report about soy preventing the absorbtion of thyroid hormones. So my doctor, who I am thrilled to have as she tends to not jump to conclusions and start writing prescriptions, decided to see if quiting the soy would help. In 3 months my thyroid levels regulated. However it took much longer for the autoimmune function to stabalize, almost the better part of a year, but with small improvements almost immediately. I will occasionally eat things with soy, primarily soy beans or fermented soy products (miso etc), but in very limited quantities. I think all things in moderation is generally a good rule. My problem came from drinking a couple servings of soy milk a day (one with cereal and one with coffee). I also tend to believe that each person will react differently to soy products. It is just good to be aware of possible issues, so that if something comes up medically you can look to solutions that are simpler then taking more medications that most doctors are quick to prescribe. The hardest thing for me to find an alternative to that doesn't have soy is a good mutli-vitamin. Read your labels, most multi-vitamins these days have the soy isoflavens.

Thanks gals, Marcia, I checked Sears, nothing, I'll have to keep my eye open at CT. tabardca, I fine it too complicated to make my own, exact right temps, too fussy for me;) I'm interested in an electric one. Yes, I have tried the yogurt cheese, its to die for! I buy Extra Foods PC 1% Plain-Naturel yogurt with 4 live bacterial cultures. Turn the tub upside down on top of a colander lined with a coffee filter for 24 hours in the fridge. I then add after its drained, either, SF Davinci syrups, all-natural crunchy peanut butter, flax meal, blueberries or sf jello mix and is it ever yummy! I've emailed the company of this machine, see link below, hopefully they sell them in Alberta, otherwise I might have to order one thru them. Here is a link that might be useful: The Yogourmet Multi

woodenzoo, I left out the soy instructions because I don't like soy and never use it. I'll post them here, and I'd start with the 3 1/2 cups of milk called for in the recipe, that would make a couple of pints. I make it a gallon at a time, we use it a lot. I bake with it, Amanda and the kids like it in smoothies and I eat it with fruit, granola and a drizzle of honey. Here are the soy instructions: Soy milk yogurt: I make soymilk yogurt all the time during the 4-5 months my goats have off from milking each year. I make my own soymilk, which entails cooling the soymilk, so I do not bother with the heating of the milk stage in the recipe above. If I were to make soymilk yogurt from store bought milk, I would probably skip the heating of the milk stage as well, since I make my yogurt using my raw milk method (below). Soymilk does not contain lactose and without lactose, or some type of carbohydrate sugar to ferment, the yogurt culture will not grow. If you make your own soymilk , you will need to to add some sugar, glucose or sucrose to your soymilk. Do not use honey, because honey will impede the yogurt bacteria. If you are using store-bought milk, it may already have enough sugar/sweetening in it. If you are making soymilk yogurt you may also have to add some other sort of thickening agent. You may not want to use gelatin, because that is made from animals. I use agar powder. You need to dissolve the agar in some water and then bring it to a boil before you use it. For 2 quarts of yogurt (3 1/2 cups of milk), I use 1 tsp. agar in 1/2 cup water. I bring to a boil in the microwave. Keep a close eye on it because it WILL boil over quite quickly and make a big mess. Please note soy milk yogurt is not exactly like animal milk yogurt. Annie

I Googled this topic a little over a week ago and there is a list of different places that took polls - like Better Homes and Gardens and several other polls. Fage got the best results on most polls. Since i can't drive any longer I have to wait for my DD to bring some home to me. So far she has only gone to Wal-Mart and they only had Dannon's Oikos. She got me Blueberry, Strawberry and Vanilla and I liked all of them! It's not chalky or too tart as some of the tasters said of different brands. One of the Wal-mart stores had a 4 pack of Wal-Mart brand but she was afraid to buy it. Now that I know someone likes it I'll try it. We have 2 Wal-Mart stores close to us. The closest one has Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt but the other one just has regular Yoplait. Dr. Oz talked about Greek Yogurt a couple weeks ago and said we should eat one before every meal. Very healthy and it fills you up [so you can't eat much else I would say.] LOL That's a good thing. I've already lost almost 5 lbs.