Tempeh

Hi Guys,


I was skimming through the revised edition of basic macrobiotics awhile back, and in one of the sections, I read something peculiar to me about tempeh. It said that tempeh is fermented soybeans that are fermented with a special type of Yeast from Thailand. And, according to my understanding yeast is not reccommended very regularly for yin conditions. Would Tempeh still be a good food for me to eat?


Thanks again Roy, and thanks Bill for your past advice.
Julian

[Bruce Paine]

There's a fungus, among us...,
At ease, disease!

Julian,

Not all microorganisms: including yeasts, molds, and fungi are harmful to the human organism.

Otherwise you would not be among the living as you are always breathing them in a natural environment and you also need them to help you digest foods prior to assimilation of the nutrients that foods contain.

If you have a weakened immune system, and you are eating badly, Candida albicans and other opportunistic microoganisms can wreak havoc on it

From "Yeast Free Bread...Real Food For Health" By Lynn Gordon
( http://www.cybermacro.com/pages/user...brucewalk.html ):

"John Willard Rippon, PH.D., said in his book Medical Mycology: 'Yeasts (including Candida albicans) are mild mannered creatures incapable of producing infection in a healthy individual. They only cause trouble in persons with weakened defenses.. ..the severity of the disease will depend on how weak a persons resistance is, rather than any disease-producing properties exhibited by the fungus....because of its rapid ability to make itself at home in mucous membranes (the medical term is colonize) and take advantage of many types of host alterations, the clinical manifestations of candida infection are exceedingly variable....Candida albicans accounts for the vast majority of diseases caused by the yeast.'

William . Crook, M.D., defines what yeast is in his book The Yeast Connection:
'Yeasts are single cell fungi which belong to the vegetable kingdom. And like their cousins the molds, they live all around you. And one family of yeasts, Candida albicans, normally lives in your body and more especially in your intestines and other parts of your digestive tract.'

Yeast germs normally lives on the mucous membranes, along with billions of friendly germs. The dark recesses of the digestive tract and the vaginas are the perfect environment for yeasts. Unfriendly bacteria, allergens, and viruses also find their way into these and other membrane-lined passageways, including the respiratory tract. However, when the immune system is strong, these unfriendly bacteria aren't able to penetrate into the deeper tissues or blood stream. When the system is weak and vulnerable, the opposite occurs thus creating illness.

When yeasts multiply in the body, they put out toxins which circulate through the system causing hundreds of symptoms which often times lead to serious illness. When the yeast multiplication occurs, this weakens the immune system. Other factors such as nutrition deficiencies caused by poor diet and/or inability of the body to absorb essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, complex carbohydrates, vitamin minerals also weaken the immune system.

Common symptoms of a weak immune system are fatigue, depression, headaches, and the development of yeast or fungus infections on the nails, skin, or vagina. Allergies and becoming more susceptible to infections such as those of nose, sinus, ear, throat, bronchial tubes, and bladder are also common symptoms.

Twentieth century diets which are rich in sugar, bakers yeast, and birth control pills encourage yeast growth."

Alex Jack in his "Let Food Be Thy Medicine"
( http://www.macrobiotics.org/kistorebooks.html )
and ( http://www.gomf.macrobiotic.net/Books_Health.htm )
says, "Fermented foods, especially tempeh, miso, shoyu, natto, and other soy products, but also traditionally made pickles and sauerkraut, offer many health benefits such as better food assimilation and the establishment of a beneficial intestinal flora".

He also reports that "tempeh kills cancer cells" and that "tempeh lowers cancer risk".

One of the reasons that so many people are interested in tempeh is that it has been written (as in William Shurtleff [and Akiko Aoyagi]'s "The Book of Tempeh" [four copies are now available through Bookfinder.com or check your library] ) that tempeh is the "world's richest known source of essential vitamin B-12".

Apparently this is only true when the tempeh allows the bacterium Klebsiella to enter the already rich Rhizophus (mold starter) environment . Most commercial (sterile) tempeh shops in the West do not allow this to happen, therefore most of these tempehs have much lower amounts of B-12.

Another reason so many people are attracted to tempeh is that it has a higher net-protein-utilization-factor (npuf) than tofu.

Persons leaving the high protein dietary lifestyle of the Standard American Diet (sad) are often scrambling to get enough protein in their diet, but as many macrobiotic teachers say, we who eat macrobiotically, usually don't need to eat that much protein, and as we learn to balance the whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, temperate climate vegetables, sea vegetables, fermented foods and condiments, etc, our body biologically transmutes these foods to find the nutrients that it needs and that we can intuitively make our food selections without having to consider whether we are getting enough vitamins, minerals, proteins and other scientifically measured nutrients.

Unless you are living under an extraordinary amount of stress or exerting yourself tremendously as a macro/vegatarian, you probably don't need that much protein as tempeh has to offer, and you can get most of what you need from beans, nuts, seeds, sea vegetables, miso soup, and whole grains.

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

Muchos Gracias, for that most detailed reply.

My only question after reading your reply would be: what is the difference between the brewers yeast used in typical breads and the yeast used in tempeh?

Thanks again,
Juls

[Bruce Paine]

Julian,

The word yeast is often used loosely to describe any microorganism used to ferment foods.

Yeasted bread is made with baker's yeast (Saccharamyces cerevisae) and tempeh is made with (Rhyzopus oligosporus) mold spores.

Very little of the phytin (associated with poor digestion, anemia, and nervous disorders) in wheat is broken down an neutralized in yeasted bread.

Many of the biochemical transformations that take place in the pre-fermentation process of tempeh contributes to the lack of gas-forming properties that causes flatuence as a result of the consumption of the other legumes (except when the legumes are soaked and/or cooked with sea vegetables like kombu), and also to the fully digestive qualities of this soyfood, as well.

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine