Howard,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts; yes, I mentioned soy. I also mentioned SMALL quantites as large amounts of soy in the diet can cause impairment with the thyroid gland.

As for whey protein isloates, I will disagree with you. I lost my father-in-law and mother-in-law to cancer and both of my parents have managed to survive cancer. They all were health-concious eaters.

I personally cannot eat a lot of meat - I ate tons when I first started Atkins. This is MY choice and MY opinion about whey protein isolates.

Will I die of cancer before I'm 60? My genetics say YES, very likely; however, I have to male choices that work for me. I want to enjoy my life and be as healthy as possible. I'm losing weight, feel great and can see 178 lbs as an attainable goal for the first time in my life.

I'm willing to take my chances with "processed junk" for now. I will read your links; I think having information is very useful in making good decisions.

I ate free-range as a child as I was raised on a farm. My parents eat free-range and have for ALL of their 76 years - they still got cancer.

My Dad is a type II diabetic because he likes sweets; my Mom does not like sweets so there were very few in the house.

There are no GUARANTEES - you have to make choices in life.

BTW, we have free range meats and eggs available -I will agree that TASTE ALONE is a huge motivator - if the kids and family will eat them then I'm happy!

Our plan is to move away from commercially processed meats - see, we can agree on something!

Tom.