Sick From Soy

[BeFree]

So it seems that I am having reactions to soy also. I bought some soy milk in an attempt to avoid dairy, and ended up running to the bathroom with D. It seems to have messed me up pretty good. How long does a soy reaction usually last? And why is soy in everything anyway? I don't remember any recipe that says to add a tablespoon of "soy lecithin". What is that stuff and why is it in all of our foods????

[Marilyn R]

Hi BeFree,

Sorry you had a reaction to soy. Quite a few of us on the forum have problems with it.

My reactions to soy were fairly similar to the reactions to gluten and dairy. Your autoimmune system found a new enemy. Soy does seem to be in almost everything! It's cheap and easy to grow and refine. Check your vitamins, supplements, toothpaste ... along with the obvious stuff in your refrigerator or pantry.

If you like stir-fries, a reasonable substitute for Soy Sauce is coconut aminos, or a Tbsp. of Thai fish sauce, the juice of a lime (or about 1 1/2 T. of rice vinegar) and some honey, agave or sugar. Mix that up in a little bowl and let it sit while you prepare the stir fry.

As for milk, I had a problem finding an alernative milk that worked, because most of them contain soy derivitives. I went without cereal for quite awhile and ended up using canned coconut milk from the Indian grocer for my coffee (no additives, it was like a cream). I like it for soups or mashed potatos, and people eating my cooking didn't seem to notice a difference.

Good luck to you, hope you feel better soon.

[mushroom]

Many of us react to soy, particularly because in the processed gluten free products soy is substituted pretty freely for gluten. After avoiding all soy for three years I find I am now able to tolerate some soy lecithin,so that I can eat chocolate quite freely again and don't have to worry about those pesky emulsifiers that seem to need to be in processed foods. But I know what you mean - you will never find a regular cookbook recipe that calls for a tablespoon of soy lecithin In fact, I think we never heard of it until we stopped eating gluten and started reading labels. Who knows how much of it we have eaten over the years? It is good to be aware of what is in your "foods".

[BeFree]

Is all Udi's bread soy-free? The cinnamon raisin loaf I have in the freezer right now says soy-free and I hope the rest of them are too.

It seems looking back that I have reacted to soy milk and soy butter, and also a gluten-free pizza I ate where I THOUGHT I was reacting to the dairy, but on further thought it was probably the soybean oil in the crust. Ugh this is all so confusing to pin down!

I did react badly once to tofu several years ago and have avoided it ever since, so I guess this would make sense. Maybe I have had an allergy that has just gotten worse over time.

[Bubba's Mom]

I've found that I can't tolerate soy either. I never knew I had a problem until going gluten-free and started keeping a food log. Soy oil and soy lethicin get me whereas some people can consume them with no problem, and just react to the soy protein.

My soy symptoms are more like joint pain, migraines, dizziness,pain in my lower right quadrant, D. They're different from my gluten symptoms.

I'm wondering if "leaky gut syndrome" is what is letting the soy give me neuro issues? Once I'm more healed I'm going to see if I can have a bit of the soy lethicin..it would give me back my cholate.

I hear ya..on soy being in everything! It has taken away a lot more foods from my diet than gluten has. Restaurants love to use it too.

[Apache]

It's weird, but sometimes I can handle soy and sometimes I can't. I've actually decided to stop eating all together, though. I also get bad headaches, dizziness, and general weakness from soy, but no digestive problems.

I think soy lecithin is used as an extender. I was watching something on television about all of the different uses for soy. It was actually interesting what all can be done with this bean. There isn't one particle that can't be used for something. Everything from "milk" to plastics. With so many people having bad reactions to soy, the growing consensus is that it isn't meant for human consumption. I think you can add every other legume and grain to that list, especially if you're trying to heal your gut.

[BeFree]

Has anyone found that probiotics helped them tolerate soy?

[Apache]

Has anyone found that probiotics helped them tolerate soy?

Don't consume soy if you're trying to heal leaky gut, even if probiotics help you tolerate it. There are too many gut irritants in it. If you tolerate the protein there is still the lectins that can be problematic. It's best just to avoid it, at least until you get better.

[BeFree]

My 5th official day of being soy-free and feeling GREAT

The past few mornings I have woken up with that "anxiety" feeling. I wake up and immediately there's this feeling of dread in my stomach, like I'm about to face a stressful day except, there's nothing stressful coming up in my day. It won't go away even though I'm not really nervous about anything. Anyone else experience this?

It seems that when I am gluten-free and soy-free, that weird feeling is not there. This morning I woke up from good dreams, feeling very peaceful and relaxed.

[cahill]

Is all Udi's bread soy-free? The cinnamon raisin loaf I have in the freezer right now says soy-free and I hope the rest of them are too.

Udi's white bread and bagels (in addition to the cinnamon loaf) are gluten and soy free.They do however contain eggs.

I am actually going to try to make stuffing from Udi's bread this year for Thanksgiving

[BeFree]

"Check your vitamins, supplements, toothpaste"

How will I know if those things have soy? Will it say "soy" in the ingredients, or is it hidden?

[Marilyn R]

Most Health & Beauty items don't list the allergins, so they can be hidden. A dietician printed me a list from the ADA cite, but I can't locate it. Here's a link that might be helpful. Open Original Shared Link

I can tolerate soy lecethin now too!

You don't have to give up chocolate, though. Enjoy Life chocolate chips and chocolate chunks (check local health food store or gluten-free Mall) are gluten-free, SF and DF. Hershey's cocoa just contains cocoa, so you can make s simple chocolate sauce (search Allrecipes.com) and have chocolate dipped bananans (freeze them or not) or poached pears with chocolate sauce. I think any fruit dipped in chocolate tastes great. Fresh pineapple and chocolate sauce is over the top! If you want to be wicked, you can roll skewers of your favorite fruit dipped in chocolate into crushed gluten-free SF nuts. (Peanuts, cashews...) Nutsonline.com is a source I like for dedicated gluten-free nuts.

Good luck to you on your food journey.

[Charli61]

Udi's white bread and bagels (in addition to the cinnamon loaf) are gluten and soy free.They do however contain eggs.

I am actually going to try to make stuffing from Udi's bread this year for Thanksgiving

I have made my stuffing from Udi's white and whole grain breads twice now, and it works wonderfully!

[AVR1962]

I'm not doubting that it could be soy but check the other ingredients also. In some of the nondairy milk they have carrageenan and xanthan gum that really do a number on my system. Sorry you're feeling bad, hopefully it will pass soon!

[BeFree]

"I'm not doubting that it could be soy but check the other ingredients also"

I'm keeping all ingredients in mind in my continuing "investigation" that has become a daily thing for all of us LOL, but in adding things up it seems fairly likely to be soy...I have been getting D after eating soy butter and soy milk, and severe dizziness after eating tofu. After I get everything cleared out of my system, I'll try a small amount of straight soy and see what happens.

For now I'm sticking to a whole foods diet: fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs and nuts. No soy, no weird things like carageenan, no nothin!

[BeFree]

What about all the Bob's Red Mill products that say "manufactured in a facility that uses soy"? Should I be concerned about that?

[Mary Lou 2]

So it seems that I am having reactions to soy also. I bought some soy milk in an attempt to avoid dairy, and ended up running to the bathroom with D. It seems to have messed me up pretty good. How long does a soy reaction usually last? And why is soy in everything anyway? I don't remember any recipe that says to add a tablespoon of "soy lecithin". What is that stuff and why is it in all of our foods????

I am allergic to soy and soy lecithin also. I drink Almond milk with pretty good luck. You have to read the label though, because the stuff that doesn't need refrigeration contains soy lecithin. Good luck!