OMG... I'm so mad! Should I even respond to this??? (re: Soy debate)
I had 8 extra cans of soy formula that I was selling in the paper.
And I recieved this email from this woman below with ALL kinds of attached "info"
Should I even bother responding???? I feeling like telling her, "Look, I actually breastfed my son for 16 months.... and FYI ALL formula is bad becuz of the corn syrup and the fact that it isn't breast milk. SOY had nothing to do with it. Furthermore we drink soymilk every day. The book by Dr. Kaayla Daniels The Whole Soy Story was published by a publishing house which publishes pro-dairy industry books if you'd like to know... and do you know how bad MILK is for you???"
I'm just fuming.
It will eat me if if I don't say something
I WANT to email her back and advise HER to read things like the china study, eat to live, and diet for a new america.... all RE dairy!!!!!!!!! You know??? And why shouldn't I? I just can't articulate it all when I am so mad!!!! Can anyone help by laying it all out in a clear way for me?
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(
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Hello,
I saw in the , that you had your son on Soy formula. I wanted to contact you because I'm not sure if your aware of the side affects soy can cause. I will attach some information that you can read & below is the e-mail I wrote to Dr. Kaayla Daniels, author of, The Whole Soy Story, who along with many other doctors are trying to stop Soy formula from even being produced. In the e-mail you can get a brief history of what our family is going through. I'm also learning that other military families have had problems with side affects from soy formula and soy milk. I don't want to scare you if your not aware, but I do want to be of help and to provide you with as much information as possible because I don't want your son ending up like my nephew, soy is horrible for boys. Please feel free to contact me by e-mail or phone , we are stationed at Ramstein AFB in Germany if you are also in Germany.
Soy is not what people think it is and is being provided in WIC programs and now being distributed to 3rd world countrys as food for babies and infants.
Please e-mail me if you have any concerns or questions,
Amy Hesse
Dr. Daniels,
Thank you for investigating and sharing your knowledge of the effects of soy consumption on our children. I’m writing to you because my nephew has been severally harmed by consuming soy for many years. This situation has been stressful for my sister and that is why I’m writing instead. My sister has begun legal research into starting a class action lawsuit and we have come in contact with Johnson Lawrence Law offices in New Zealand, Mr. Roger Chapman, who you may know. We are looking to find other children who have been harmed by consuming soy. Not for money, though a high dollar suit could get the worlds attention, but for the soy industry to finally be truthful about the effects of feeding soy to our children.
My nephew, Carson, was breast feed until he was 10 months. Then we learned that he was lactose intolerant and that is when he began drinking soy formula then milk. He will be six years old this August. My sister and her husband are a military family and have had different doctors for every change of station, which was often. When Carson was 2 or 3, my sister started asking why his reproductive organs we so small, the doctors said that it’s normal for that age. Carson’s speech was extremely delayed and we blamed it on several ear infections, but I think that soy has played a role in his speech problems. I have only one article that mentions soy could affect speech and I’m searching for more information.
Later, and most recently, Carson has tested below average in school and labeled "delayed" by the state of Florida public school system. My sister was reluctant to give in to the idea of Carson being put into a special class and decided to fly to Colorado to seek the help of a doctor who was recommended by our aunt, who was cured from fibromyalgia. Dr. Smith examined Carson for several days. Carson’s liver was 5 times larger then normal and diagnosed Carson’s problems from the high consumption of soy. I believe the high levels of manganese in soy have caused Carson to have ADD/ADHD-cognitive learning difficulties and thus causing low testing.
Since, Carson’s examination in February, he has not been consuming soy and his family members and educators have seen a dramatic change in his learning, behavior and speech.
I’m helping my sister tackle this project not only because I love my nephew very much and I’m an eye witness to his conditions, but my daughter was on soy formula from six weeks to 14 months old. I’m terrified of the affects both my nephew and my daughter will endure in the future.
I want the soy industry to come clean and admit that there can be harmful affects and the FDA to recognize the industry’s reframing of soy being the “healthy alternative” to milk and warn consumers. They have successfully campaigned a harmful product to be safe and I want our family, with the help of others, to put a stop to the lies.
I’m writing to you for your help, some information and hopefully some guidance.
Amy Hesse
That's Horrible! Ridiculous! Maybe her nephew has an allergy to soy. I've never heard of that happening before. It's not like soy was just invented. The lady also seems pretty ignorant, bearing in mind she has several typos in her letter to the writer. Not the brightest apple, I'd say.
I don't have much knowledge about the diary industry in terms of what you're looking for...but I do have to say...Milk is gross. It has pus and hormones in it. Not to mention that it has be to fortified with Vitamin D so that our bodies can even absorb the calcium properly.
Good luck!
IF you reply at all (and you might consider not, you don't want to have this person hassling you nonstop), you might just say something like, "Thank you for your unsolicited input. I have a great deal of information on nutrition at my disposal and do not require anymore. It was kind of you to take the trouble but unnecessary."
When I was a baby I was lactose intolerant and my pediatrician PUT me on soy formula. I was a premature baby and weighed about 2 lbs at birth. I am now 5 ft 7 in and weigh rather more than I should, and am disgustingly healthy. Don't let this weirdo get to you.
I wouldn't bother. From the tone of her letter, she was trying to be helpful. From the words of her letter, she's already made up her mind. I think it's one of those cases where you agree to disagree.
I agree with the above comments. If you choose to respond at all, yabbitgirl's message is perfect. It gets your point across in a concise, polite way. I'm afraid any additional information you try to give her is going to fall on deaf ears...
it just sounds like she was just a concerned parent who fears all her son's problems is due to soy. it seems like she needed an explanation for her son's problems and info/ridicule of soy seemed like a good enough excuse. i'd calm down before i return her email. try not to be too condescending. it doesn't seem like she had that sort of tone with you. but yeah, say something like yabbit suggested.
If it were me, I'd just go back to my email inbox....and hit "delete"...and forget about it. ;)
'My one kid is allergic to X/did poorly on X therefore X is bad' debates are useless and ridiculous.
This lady wants a fight. If you want to be infuriating, try responding,'Thank you for your letter. I assume, therefore, you are not interested in the formula. Sincerely, Jennifer.' Or, just ignore it.
I don't know, I got the impression from her letter that she was genuinely concerned for you and your son. Whether you agree with her or not, I don't think it was malicious in any way. The fact that she took the time to write to you shows concern, IMHO. I would just reply and say thank you for taking the time to write, but I have all the info I need about soy and nutrition and do not require any more. If she writes back, just ask her to "respectfully not contact me anymore." I don't think she wants a fight.
Be true to yourself. Say something if that is going to make YOU feel better because I don't think you are going to have an impact on HER (poor, ignorant soul that she is).
You know, soy formula has SAVED the lives of children who are deathly allergic to cow's milk formulas and whose mothers either would not or could not breast feed them. My brother is case in point. While I was this super duper milk producer who could, literally, make a gallon a day, my mom was not. She tried with both of us, drying up after 3 months with me and about 3 weeks with my brother. They tried that poor kid on every formula around, even homemade from canned milk. Finally, there was one soy sort on the market, hard to get and pricey, but he thrived on it. Everything else, including mother's milk, made him projectile vomit and he was losing weight.
Of course, that was 40+ yrs ago and we knew a lot less about the mechanics of breast feeding than we do now. I know that knowledge about the process is what gave me my abundant success. I also know that many women anymore can't sit still long enough to feed a baby from her body and it is easier to prop a bottle and carry on with her life. I am not dissing bottle feeding exactly. I know several women who tried and tried and did a lot of crying on my shoulder about their frustration with breastfeeding. But then there are those who refuse to even try it, consider it to be "peasant" or disgusting. Well guys, being preggers is fairly peasant and as a woman you end up exposing a lot more of your body than your "mighty milk machines" (this is what my younger boy called my breasts when he was a kid).
I dunno...this whole crap of hers struck me wrong. I felt like yelling SO JUST BITE ME!!!! She probably eats HFCS, transfats, tons of eggs, and steals the milk intended for sweet baby cows!
some people!
i thought she was just trying to be helpful. it was definitely unwelcome, but she probably felt that she was trying to help someone.
i guess if it were me, i would try to consider that the "advice" came from a "good place", and not just trying to make someone feel guilty.
if i were to respond, i would probably say something like, "i was sorry to read about your nephew, but i am very well-read with regards to nutrition and i was not looking for any health advice"
fiona
I'm with Dave- I think I would just delete and not dignify it with a response
Heh... we were at a bookstore once and my son had a bottle of chocolate soy milk. I was with a friend and her daughter. I don't even know how it came up what was in the bottle but there was this woman who overheard and she went off on this whole long diatribe on how soy is GMO and modified and contaminated and can cause allergies and so on and so forth... my friend and I were just like :o :o :o I wasn't angry so much as dumbfounded that someone would go off on a complete stranger like that.
Sometimes the best thing to do is say "That's an interesting opinion" and walk away. (Which is pretty much what we did... although that lady has become the brunt of one of many long running inside jokes between us concerning kooky parents we have encountered... any time one of us mentions soy now, the other pipes in "Oh my god don't you know that causes ALLERGIES?")
I do think she was being respectful and *trying* to be helpful. Maybe you should offer the same kindness and send her some information and recommendations and links to PCRM. It can't hurt to try and educate her! My son had soy formula after being breast fed, drinks soymilk, eats soy, and it extremely gifted ;) He is at the top of his Kindergarten class!!! I give partial credit to the soy (and good maternal genes-ha ha).
.... and FYI ALL formula is bad becuz of the corn syrup and the fact that it isn't breast milk. ...
I'm guessing she didn't intend to upset you, just as you did not intend to upset me (and all other moms, who choose or are forced to use formula) with the above statement... Formula is not "bad", soy or otherwise, it's a necessity for many babies... sorry have I mentioned before that this is a touch subject for me!! (I wish I could just let it go, but I can't)
As for the extra cans of formula... why not donate them to a local food bank!
K
My initial reaction is no--don't respond.
If I did, I'd probably say something along the lines of
"so I'm guessing by your email you aren't interested in purchasing the soy formula?"
or
Dear Mrs. ---
You failed to indicate an address to where I can mail your purchase. Please send me a check for $X to the following address:
if i were to respond, i would probably say something like, "i was sorry to read about your nephew, but i am very well-read with regards to nutrition and i was not looking for any health advice"
This is a great way to respond. That's what I would do. Plus a little "thank you" at the end just for formality's sake. ;)
wow, where do you get this notion? nothing in her email suggests this.
i completely agree.
rebecca
Simply because she went to all the trouble to email someone about something she was SELLING- not buying- in the newspaper. The email, no, wasn't super argumentative, but a little condescending, and I just find it almost creepy that anyone would do that without hoping to elicit some sort of argument. I mean, it made Jennifer mad, and it would make me mad, just because it exists. What kind of answer could she be expecting? “I see your profound wisdom of empirical evidence that you are right, and I shall never sell soy again?” I don’t see how anyone in the real world would expect anything other than argument if they write something like her email, ‘nice’ tone or not.
But, maybe she is genuinely concerned. Personally, I think we give way, WAY too much leeway for ‘concerned parents’ to tell us all exactly what we should and should not do, and guilt us to death when we don’t do exactly what they saw on Oprah. I also hate the incredible self-centeredness of thinking if one thing happens to your kid, it is what MUST happen to ALL kids. People tell me what I should do/not do with my kids (‘my kids never eat vegetables, you will not be able to raise kids vegan’ ‘it isn’t safe to give children uncooked fruit’ etc) when I have them, and I’m not even close to that stage of my life yet.
I think we also give too much leeway to non-doctors/dieticians to tell us what to do with our health.
But then, I’m not a parent, so what do I know? Maybe she was trying to be helpful, but in the end, I just don’t think it’s any of her business.
I do think she was being respectful and *trying* to be helpful. Maybe you should offer the same kindness and send her some information and recommendations and links to PCRM. It can't hurt to try and educate her!
Yes.
Perhaps it would help to write out something on paper to get all the 'rant' out of you, then sit down and write the real letter coming from a place of compassion, realizing she probably just does'nt know the realities of milk and such. Providing her with info about the other side may be helpful to her if she is truly interested in health. If not, at least you did something.
i completely agree.
rebecca
I totally agree with this as well.
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