Meg linked to an article that has me a little upset. I’ve been drinking soymilk for the past 3 years pretty much exclusively and I thought I was doing my body good. Now I’m not only confused, I’m a little ticked off. I can only imagine what the soya has been doing to my hormone levels in regards to my PCOS issues. The article states that their research shows that babies drinking soy formula have the equivalent of 5 birth control pills worth of estrogen running around in their blood. Because I don’t want this to be true, as two of my kids drank soy formula for about 9 months a piece, and I don’t like the taste of cows milk and I also enjoy eating edamame at least 4 times a week, I sure hope someone can shed some light on this issue and tell me the article is a bunch of bunk.
Tom Coates recently wrote about ethical weblogging and it sure has me thinking lately about having ads on my sidebar. On the one hand, I like the $80 I average a month to help pay for hosting. On the other hand, I don’t really have any idea what the ads or the people who place the ads are about. I mean, I click on the submission and make sure it’s not pornographic or anything but beyond that, I’m blind. I think if I had to support my family and blogging was my job, it would be different. It would be the way I earned my money and since it was my job, I would accept that and be grateful for it and do everything I could to make the most money as integritously as I could. And I would make sure I knew about the person/company behind my ads and that I felt good about supporting them.
But its not my job. I blog for fun and for my mental health. And while I appreciate the ads I’ve received and the subsequent money deposited into my account, I don’t know if it’s enough. And when I say ‘enough’, it looks like I would have a price that would be ‘enough’ and that makes me wonder about my own integrity. Do any of you have any thoughts about this?
the article does have a sensationalistic tone, but I don’t think you can disregard the message. Soy products do contain hormones. It’s often touted as a natural remedy for menopausal symptoms. Add to that the fact that almost all soy in the US is genetically modified, and the appeal goes down even farther.
My son is allergic to soy and you wouldn’t believe how many foods contain it. It was hard to cut it out completely, but I’m glad to have made the change. We’re planning to make it permanant, even if he outgrows the allergy. He’s allergic to dairy, too. That made it doubley hard because most dairy free products use soy as a replacement.
Good post, and even gooder cos’ it got me ta thankin’…..
First of all, if it were me I would continue to accept the “awards” from having ads on the blog. You are talented and if you can benefit from that in a monetary gain, I can’t see what is wrong with that.
You have a very valid concern regarding your integrity. Is there a way to make your ads be something you support? I have met this same quandry whilst working for the Corporate world. It was important for me to remain true to myself, and at the same time meet the demands of the bullshit Corporate America. In addition, to further myself within the company. For me, it was a matter of changing my perspective on things.
As for the soy thing, I put my son on soy milk after I was done breastfeeding. I had not heard this before, but I hated the idea of him drinking cow’s milk.
Too many times, you see things like this. You know, one theory cancels out all the good a product does. I think if you haven’t had any major effects, or your kids it could very well be something that the Dairy Association planted to bring down the “Soy people”. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s done. I think as consumers, we are now at a place in which we have to make our own decisions about things of this nature, including medical treatments.
That’s my say.
Be well, Piglet
p.s. Rice milk isn’t so bad if you can adapt to the taste of that. Even my son used to like it.
I, too, have PCOS and I started drinking soy milk to see if it would combat the hot flashes and other lovely side effects. And you know what? It worked. I was planning on having my daughter drink soy milk as well but I don’t want that many hormones running around her little body. Yikes.
I definitely think that the kind of ads you have here are by far the most honourable, to the extent that I really don’t think you should worry particularly. While there are no doubt some limited limits that Google places on what you can write, they don’t strike me as any more restricting than one’s own personal morality and that’s my main concern – that advertising deforms your ability to speak freely. They’re not going to shut down your revenue stream because you don’t recommend one of their products or because you said something bad about their policies in Vietnam or whatever. In terms of what they’re advertising – I don’t think you need to worry about being seen to be recommending those products either, particularly, and I believe you’re able to ban some kinds of adverts from appearing on your site if you don’t like them.
I think the kind of advertising that’s a bit more troubling is the stuff where a company sponsors you directly. If it’s a commercial venture that you’re running I think people understand that you have to do it for cash and that this might involve compromises, but I don’t think that expectation is there for personal sites, and I’d rather have at least one site where I was free to say absolutely what I wanted and have everyone else know that I was prepared to do so as well. I think you can do that here. I don’t think Adsense represents a compromise.
Hey Leah,
I also have PCOS and just spoke to my Dr. about this issue. She said that while the high estrogen levels are not always ideal for many women, those of us with PCOS have such high testosterone levels, that soy IS good for us. helps level things out. She is quite famous, DR. Tori Hudson. She has written the Encyclopedia of Women’s Natural Health and has a line of herbal supplements you may have used or heard of, Vitanica. She is really great and a brilliant diagnostician. Go ahead, Google her 🙂
Glad to share more if you are interested, but no worries my dear.
That article has me totally freaked out, adding up every serving of edamame and soya sauce or every glass os soy milk! So now that I am afraid to eat ads don’t seem like such an important issue.
I’ve personally never even noticed the ads and if the help pay for the hosting that brings your insights to all of us then I say go for it (of course as someone in marketing I’m not really against advertizing).
I had some adsense ads on my blog when I first started 3 or so months ago. While I sometimes got a kick out of the content of the daily ads as they related to my posts (“Calf Nut Car Decorations” “Cowboy Boot Warehouse” “Cranky Baby Spray”) I decided to take them down not long after. I just didn’t like the “I don’t care what the ads are, as long as people click them” type of feeling that came with that. I’m not against ads on blogs at all, and I don’t judge anyone who decides to have adsense-type ads.
But for me, I decided I didn’t want to have ads that weren’t for a product or service I used or believed in.
Leah, please don’t take any article from The Guardian too seriously. Really. Here in the UK it’s definitely not a paper we consider to be the font of all scientific knowledge. It’s rather ‘campaigny’ and whiney, and while doubtless there’s a nubbin of truth in there, I certainly wouldn’t let it upset you. There was a piece on a consumer programme at lunchtime today on BBC radio4 (called You and Yours) all about soya, where and how its grown, its medicinal properties and the fact and fiction surrouding them. You can listen here http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/
tom – my site at the moment is not really a fair representation of the norm. it just so happens that the ‘other’ ads aren’t showing right now. i’ve actually been with an ad network called blog ads, who do a very nice job setting you up and sending ads your way. the ad sense ads are usually pushed way to the bottom of the page and underneath the ads with flashy graphics, some of them changing from time to time during the duration of the commitment.
i’m the person that turns the channel or mutes the tv when the commercial comes on. i will ask the store manager to turn off the monitor as i’m waiting in line to buy my groceries because i don’t want to be bombarded with advertisement while i stand there for 10 minutes. and i never click on anyone else’s ads on their websites. i don’t mind them there – i just don’t click on them. but all that anti-ad behavior begs the question – why am i putting them up?
Hey Leah,
I’ve been reading your blog for a short time and this is the first time I’ve made a comment. Just wanted to chime in on this issue.
A couple of years ago I made the switch to soy milk. I thought I would be doing something good for me. I didn’t overdo it…just soy lattes instead of regular milk, soy milk on cereal etc.. WELL…..as my husband will attest….I became a raving maniac. It was like I had Super PMS 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I was emotional, irritable, angry, depressed… It was awful. It took me a while to link it to the soy. When I did and went back to milk things got better.
I talked to my Naturopath about it and she said some people have an intolerance to soy. It can be an allergen just like lactose. My reaction wasn’t entirely uncommon. Imagine my surprise!
I think we, as women especially, really need to be careful with the use of soy. Different things effect different people in different ways. My sister swears by it and feels it has helped her through menopause. Me? I stay away from it. I even got a rash on my face from a moisturizer that had soy in it.
So, there you go… my 2 cents.
I have heard lots of things about soy on both sides. My son drank a ton of it when he was little to help deal with eczema, and it worked like a charm. I guess looking at the source of the information says a lot. Somebody who has an interest in the result of the research being positive or negative can manipulate variables to get the result they want. Trust university findings who should have an unbiased opinion.
As for web ads, I’d never really thought about it. I thought it was GREAT when dooce was able to support her family with her site. I was applauding all the way. I guess I haven’t spent any time thinking about the bloggers responsibility regarding the ads. Not sure I have an opinion unless there’s some product or something you feel an ethical opposition against. Good issue to ponder today….
Hey Leahpeah:
I don’t know if this will help or just make you more upset, but here is a link to mercola.com where he talks about soy. His isn’t the only site where I’ve read a lot of the stuff that he talks about … but it’s the only one I can remember right now. When I started reading this stuff about soy, my daughter had just been off formula for about 6 months, and I realized that just by pure luck, I hadn’t picked a soy-based formula. But I could have because I didn’t know any of this then. Anyway, I’ve been trying to eliminate soy from our family’s diet, and it’s harder than you might think because soy is often in things that you wouldn’t expect it to be in, and you only find out if you read the ingredients list.
Anyway, I hope this doesn’t upset you, but I think you’d like to know this stuff; I know I would. Here is the link: http://www.mercola.com/2006/aug/10/more_evidence_soy_is_not_as_healthy_as_originally_believed.htm
well, just to add more to the soy no soy debate… my sister who nwo has metastic Stage 4 breast cancer (under control at the moment thank god) was advised that because the genetic makeup of her cancer cells are estrogen responsive that she should avoid soy.
and regarding ads on Blogs, as a Google Adwords advertiser in my real life, I have to say that my click thru rates on organic search are far better than anything I pay for, and my returns on site specifc ad placement are abysmal, although I just did some tweaks, so we’ll see. I get lots of impressions and no clicks.
As a blog reader, internet surfer, I do sometimes click on ads, sometimes out of curiosity for the product or for the ad itself, and when its on a a blog I definitely think “oh, this will support so and so.”
well, to combine the two-
i’m sorry, but i just couldn’t get past the ad that showed up a 1/4 way through the soy article! i checked back and it [unfortunately] changes but it was for the ‘polynesian cultural center’ and had a tribal man with a tounge photoshopped on to his mouth that wiggled at you incessantly! aaaaaa!!! did anyone else see that? it was somewhat amusing, bizarre, and offensive all rolled into one.
as for soy, i won’t go near that stuff so you’re on your own. i give all my edamame beans to my boyfriend. they look good, and i try to eat them…but they are just so dry and weird and pasty and then there is the salt on them and [shudder] anyways. my feeling is, we’re all going to die from something, and these days if you google enough you will find out everything is terrible for you as well as life threatening. eat what you want if you love it, life is too short, seriously! now, when it concerns your kids that don’t have a choice in the matter [babies, i guess] that would be a time to ask your doctor, obviously.
and i can’t recall if i started reading dooce right before or right after the ads went up but i remember heather and others referencing the controversy over it and as usual, i was stunned. who cares! i would love to be a blogger as my full time job! most of the people who are against ads are those annoying poseur types yelling “sell out!” and they’re just mad that they can’t say they’re the only ones that read that site anymore or something dumb. i have never once clicked on an ad on a blog [like you] but i don’t mind them. they sit there quietly mostly text based on the sidelines. now, if you had anything animated or god help you those ones llike bees flying all over your screen or something then, well, then you’d be in big trouble missy.
I’ve been considering switching to Soy milk for awhile because I’ve become mildly lactose intolerant. Now I’m a bit concerned…hmmm…
Re: ads. I havent put them on my main site b/c I want to be able to approve them. BlogAds isnt accepting applicants anymore, so I’m just holding off. I dont really want ads on my site for something I can’t at least try to approve. That’s why I liked BlogAds…I think that just making sure it’s not something you wholeheartedly disagree with, is enough at this level. I dont know thought – definitely food for thought.
Well, shoot. I switched to soy milk a couple of years ago and love it. My stomach had decided to become lactose intolerant, so this has allowed me to eat cereal when I feel like it without becoming a bloated mess. I don’t ingest loads of it, just maybe a bowl of cereal a week. How darest anyone sayeth the bad things about my soy!
My take on the article and on the Mercola piece is that they have a somewhat alarmist tone that makes me cautious to accept the content. That said, it seems worth bringing up to a doctor at one’s next appointment and maybe keeping a log of whether your body acts funny after eating soy stuff.
As far as I can tell, pretty much everything in this world can kill us, so I continue to drink my diet soda and use my cell phone and breathe the polluted air and hope that some combination of genetics and luck will save me.
I DON”T like idea of the manipulation of the soya chemically, and I feel like an ignorant ass, b/c I thought soy was so healthy? and now no veggie burgers? But i must say I have unfortunately experienced the digestive problems outlined. so, I will continue to eat the “old world” variations of fermented and lay off the processed stuff as much. Wah. Damn. Next they’re gonna telly my my egg beaters are bad for me.
Leahpeah, you are a neat lady. Thanks.
oh boy. oh boy oh boy.
my daughter has always been intolerant to milk protein. When I breastfed her, I had to cut milk entirely out of my diet, so when breastfeeding stopped, soy was obvious the next step. My son was the same way, but he outgrew the dairy intolerance and was drinking dairy by about 18 months. My daughter is 2 years and 4 months and is still drinking soy every day.
And now I’m really really nervous!! YIKES!
I’ll be following news on this VERY closely.
Huh. I have PCOS too!! I knew nothing of this soy milk school of thought. How interesting. I’ll have to look into this a little more. Thanks!!
My wife had breast cancer, and she immediately stopped using any more soy products because of the way soy acts like the estrogen. Asian women typically use soy products from an early age, so they supposedly have a little more immunity to the side effects.