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Edamame is actually soy beans. There are many references to the issues with soy right here on this forum. You can start with this link: http://goneraw.com/forums/6/topics/973
If that is not enough for you, then here is an answer to your question: Soy beans contain very dangerous toxins which can harm you or even kill you if you eat them raw from the plant. They must be processed in some way to remove the toxins. You always see soy products either cooked or fermented. These two methods remove most of the toxins. Also all the claims about soy healing us, such as being a cancer preventer, a heart disease preventer, etc. were all claims that are backed only by the huge factory farms that grow tons and tons of soybeans (like AMD and the like). The studies are all biased studies that were initiated by these huge wealthy corporations to try to sell us their useless product. Most of the soy grown is used to feed farm animals and make industrial products.
More bad news on soy: http://www.mercola.com/article/soy/avoid_soy.htm
I tried growing my own edamame and eating it raw (before i found out about all the bad stuff about soy, obviously!). It tasted absolutely awful! I think you can taste the toxins – its like the plant itself is screaming don’t eat me! I certainly wouldnt recommend eating it raw to anyone. Learn from my mistake! :P
I’ve been reading Living Cuisine by Renee Underkoffler and in it she says that when Henry Ford designed the first automobile he intended it to run on soy oil. Diesel engines too were oringinally designed to run on soy. It definetley made me question how safe soy was for human consumption.
Just for the sake of discussion, Okinawans had soy almost every day, albeit a small amount. And they were some of the healthiest, longest living, disease free people in the world, at least until they started eating a more SAD diet.
I know they ate it cooked. And I know most soy now is genetically modified.
I never consumed much soy other than occasional tofu in a Chinese dish, so I never really looked into that much. So I'm not advocating it. Just wondering.
I don't buy into the many conspiracy theories spread about soy. For example, there is also 'soy = bad' propaganda out there courtesy of the meat and dairy industries who are threatened by the popularity of soy alternatives.
Soy is a great food with some awesome health benefits if you're not into getting cancer, heart disease or osteoporosis, or want to ease menopause symptoms. However it is a common allergen, and digestive intolerance isn't uncommon either. Also, people with thyroid conditions or immune disorders, or a family history of either, may want to avoid it because soy isoflavones can trigger symptoms like fatigue, weight gain, mood swings and depression.
There is also legitimate concern about the proportion of soy we get in our diets relative to other foods, namely our over-reliance on it as a crop, the massive amount of pesticides and herbicides used in its cultivation, and GMOs.
However, if you know your ingredients, avoid processed foods, don
I recently ate some fresh Edamame Soya beans. I read the cooking instructions which said stir fry for 3 minutes. I therefore assumed they didn't need much cooking or could be eaten raw. I put the in a ceramic dish with a little butter, covered them with foil and popped them into the oven, where I already had some potoes cooking, and left them for a few minutes.
A few hours later I became violently ill . I felt like an alien had taken over my body, I had abdominal cramps, extreme nausea and vomited uncontrollably for hours. I also had problems at the other end of digestive tract - I am sure you know what I mean. I wet myself twice and was truly terrified. Eventually I called 111 and after speaking to a number of people a doctor diagn gastro enteritis and told me to go to the local hospital. I couldn't do this as I was so unwell.
Once I started to recover I though about what I had eaten. When I researched Edamame Beans I was shocked to learn try were poison if not cooked.
I hope this serves as a cautionary tale and helps prevent this happening to anyone else
Please do not eat edamame beans raw. They are not safe to eat raw. They nearly killed me.