Soy-Free Life

Soon after my new husband and I returned home from our incredible honeymoon, I started to notice something a bit odd about the love of my life.  After every single meal, he would without fail complain of excruciating stomach pain and nausea.  His discomfort came to a head after we celebrated my sister's birthday one night and had to rush home before he got sick.  The next morning, his physician called in an emergency prescription for Phenergan, an anti-nausea medication.  Although the medication worked to relieve his nausea, it laid him out.  He was worthless.  We soon realized that he could not live on anti-nausea medication designed to make patients sleep through the pain rather than to take the pain itself away.  He underwent a battery of tests over the next month, until finally we decided that his problem was lactose intolerance.  I asked him to please get an allergy panel run, and we were shocked by the results.  His was not a lactose intolerance, but a soy allergy.  Of course, knowing nothing about soy (and only assuming that we just would have to avoid Chinese food and tofu), I hit Google.  After crying over the number of names soy is referred to on food labels, we copied the names and went to the grocery store.  We were near tears again.  Everything, everything, has soy in it.  At least, that was our initial impression.  We went home dejected, disappointed, and distressed.  I had a talk with myself.  "A.Hab.," I said, "You are a wife now.  You do not depend upon soy to live.  You will cleanse your pantry and refrigerator of soy.  You will alter your recipes, and you will aim to feed your husband without fear of illness."  After a year, shopping is easier, and I approach new soy-free alternatives with a sense of excitement.

Consider this: gluten allergies have only just started to gain their own place on the shelves of bookstores.  Soy-free cookbooks are a little farther off, but in the meantime let's help each other.  I will add to this list as I find new and interesting tips for the soy-free home.  I invite you to leave comments as you discover websites, recipes, or ingredients that are not listed here.

Helpful Websites

--Canadian Food Inspection Agency
So, we don't live in Canada.  But this is the first website I found when I desperately Googled "what foods have soy." What I love about this website is that it lists every sneaky name that soy will be listed under on your food labels.  And, sure enough, I have seen every single one of these words on labels.  Most food labels are required to list which allergens they have used (wheat, soy, and peanuts are the most common), but they don't always list their allergens, especially if the food does not contain more than a particular amount.  So, we still have to read our labels, and carefully.

--MayoClinic.com
I love visiting MayoClinic.com.  Having grown up in a medical household, I am attracted by MayoClinic's no-nonsense approach to providing answers to health questions.  In fact, this is where I start when I have a medical question and am unable to call my own family for assistance.  MayoClinic's website will list for you clear symptoms a soy allergic individual will likely experience (ranging from itchiness to nausea to asphyxiation--of course, the latter is considered severe and requiring immediate medical attention).  Depending on where your allergy falls on the spectrum, you may or may not be given a epinephrine pen (commonly called "epi pen") for home dosages.  These are used only in the most extreme of circumstances--if you are experiencing allergy-related asphyxiation and have been instructed by your physician to do so, have someone give you a dose from your epi pen and call 911.*

Soy Substitutes

In case you're a one-stop kind of shopper (like I am), you may not want to browse through my blog and then have to seek out additional resources just to know what foods have soy in them and how to substitute them.  Here you'll find a list of soy's aliases from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency website above, as well as a list of common soy-infused ingredients in recipes and ways to replace them.

Soy: Also Known As...
Bean curd (dofu, kori-dofu, soybean curds, tofu)
Edamame
Kinako
Natto
Nimame
Okara
Soya, soja, soybean, and soyabeans
Soy protein (isolate and concentrate), vegetable protein
Textured soy flour (TSF), textured soy protein (TSP), and textured vegetable protein (TVP)
Yuba

Soy's Closest Friends: Foods Commonly Laced With Soy
Bean sprouts
Bread crumbs, cereals, crackers
Breaded foods
Hydrolyzed plant protein (HPP), hydrolyzed soy protein (HSP), hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP)
Imitation dairy foods
Infant formula, follow-up formula, nutrition supplements for toddlers and children
Meal replacements
Meat products with fillers, for example, burgers and prepared ground meat products
Mexican foods, for example, chili, taco fillings, and tamales
Miso
Nutrition supplements
Sauces, for example, soy, shoyu, tamari, teriyaki, Worcestershire
Simulated fish and meat products, for example surimi, imitation bacon bits, vegetarian burgers
Stews, for example, in gravies
Tempeh
Vegetarian dishes

The Anti-Grocery List List: Avoid Purchasing These
Baked goods and baking mixes
Beverage mixes, for example hot chocolate and lemonade
Canned tuna and minced hams, for example, seasoned or mixed with other ingredients or flavor
Chewing gum
Cooking spray, margarine, vegetable shortening, and vegetable oil
Dressings, gravies, and marinades
Frozen desserts
Lecithin (this is an emulsifier, and you will find it in most chocolate products, including chocolate chips)
Milled corn
Meat products with fillers, for example, prepared hamburger patties, hotdogs and cold cuts
Seafood-based products and fish
Seasoning and spices
Snack foods, for example, soy nuts
Soups, broths, soup mixes, and stocks
Soy pasta
Spreads, dips, mayonnaise, and peanut butter
Thickening agents
Mono-diglyceride
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) (may contain hydrolyzed protein)
Vitamins

Do Not Apply: Non-Ingestible Soy Sources
Cosmetics and soaps
Craft materials
Glycerine
Milk substitutes for young animals
Pet food

If Your Recipe Calls For...                Replace With...
Vegetable oil                                   Canola oil (especially with baking)
                                                -or- Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for most recipes)**

Margarine                                        Butter 
                                                      
Shortening (Crisco)                          Lard or butter***

Chocolate                                       Soy-free chocolate or carob

Bread crumbs                                 Soy-free Panko crumbs

Cooking spray                                 Butter

A Note for my Vegetarian/Vegan Friends

If you are opting out of food from animals in any form, you might find it extremely difficult to follow your culinary lifestyle with a soy allergy.  Just a cursory glance at the lists above can leave even the most dedicated soy-allergic vegetarian or vegan feeling helpless.  But do not fear!  No, you do not have to choose between giving up your lifestyle or sacrificing your health in order to just get some protein.

Simply follow this one basic rule: avoid processed foods!  When you read your labels, you will find that many vegetarian- and vegan-friendly products "conveniently" come prepared with soy (tofu, tempeh, etc.).  In order to get your protein (because, let's face it, we all have to have it to live--our muscles and immune system depend upon it!), rely on beans (just not soybeans or edamame) and grains.  The more you experiment with beans and grains, the more you will see that they are extremely filling (and delicious!).

Also, just as a side note, please take your vitamins as recommended by your physician.  If you're not sure if your vitamins could contain soy (as an emulsifier or even as a candy-coating for the pills), don't hesitate to ask your pharmacist for advice and alternatives.

And as another side note, for your sake do the research on the products you use (either as food or hygiene).  Just because you are devoted to your animal-free lifestyle does not mean that you should sacrifice yourself to your soy allergy.  Rather than live with any kind of discomfort, find out what products are animal-friendly while also soy-free.  Not only will be you be kind to this beautiful planet and all its creatures, you will also be kind to yourself.  And I would suggest that the latter is just as important (if not just a little more) as the former!

Soy-Free Friendly Companies

Most of the boxed mixes by Dr. Oetker are both gluten-free and soy-free.  The cake mixes taste like Betty Crocker, which is a relief, especially for picky eaters who love their desserts.  Please do not assume that just because the label says Dr. Oetker that it will automatically be soy-free.  Read the label carefully!  Our favorite cake mix is the chocolate.

We have only tried the dark chocolate icing mix and the white sandwich bread mix.  But we adore Pamela's Products because they taste just like every other soy- and gluten-laden product out there.  Actually, they might be a bit better since they're homemade.  In fact, icing Dr. Oetker's chocolate cake with Pamela's dark chocolate icing makes an absolutely ridiculous and decadent birthday cake.

The only EnjoyLife product we have tried are their chocolate chips.  Do you love Nestle TollHouse cookies, but are sad because you can't use their chocolate chips?  Well, fret no more!  Now, you can use the exact same TollHouse cookie recipe, but substitute these little beauties for the chips.  We can't taste the difference!  Also, a brief note: you might also like the chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of the bag.  It's quite good, but don't be alarmed if your cookies don't rise--they're more like drop cookies than anything else.

God bless, Nathan's!  My husband is a sucker for a delicious hotdog, and we were really bummed when we found out that most of our favorite brands used soy or soy byproducts.  As far as we can tell, Nathan's is the only mainstream hotdog company that does not use soy or soy byproducts in their food.

Are you a soy-allergic vegetarian or vegan?  Don't want to be left out at the backyard cookout?  Bring your own frozen burger patties without the fear of an allergic reaction!  I found these in the freezer section at Publix one day after remembering that one of my cookout guests, who is vegan, is soy-allergic.  Panicked, I read labels for fifteen minutes before I finally glanced out of my periphery and saw this bright blue box with bright yellow lettering: Soy Free!  According to my guest, they are delicious!

We rely on Rudi's to provide our hamburger buns, hotdog buns, and sandwich bread.  Sometimes I just can't bake a fresh loaf of sandwich bread for my darling husband (although I would love to).  Rudi's has saved my skin on many a busy week!  We also put out Rudi's buns (both hamburger and hotdog) for our guests at our cookout.  We normally find these products either at Earth Fare or Whole Foods.

So far, we've only found their tapioca rice hotdog buns in our grocery store freezer section, but I hear they carry quite a selection.  My husband says that the hotdog buns have a different consistency than the run-of-the-mill soy-laden hotdog buns, but he loves them.

Soy-Free Cookbooks

(Now, to be perfectly honest, I own these cookbooks but have not tried them just yet.  Although I really want to, I just haven't devoted the time to learn--I'm a bit insecure in the kitchen.  The recipes look delicious, though!)

Terry Walters, ISBN 978-1-4027-6814-9

Aside from the section devoted to Soy (on page 17), and a few recipes that call for soy or tofu, Walters offers her organic-conscious cooks delicious options to common recipes.  I myself am eager to try Sweet Dumpling Squash with Orange-Scented Quinoa Stuffing.  Yum!

Elizabeth Gordon, ISBN 978-0-4704-4846-5

I literally received this cookbook just the day before writing this page.  So, suffice to say, I definitely haven't had the time to try out any of the recipes.  The photographs are gorgeous and enticing.  I can't wait to test out the Mint Patties recipe--they look like York Peppermint Patties!  I am in love with the idea that someone has written a cookbook whose goal is teach people how to make alterations to their favorite family desserts in order to feed their food-allergic loved ones.  Gordon also includes an extremely important chapter that explains which allergen-free ingredients to replace in common recipes, so you can make the recipes you love with better-for-you ingredients!




*I am not a medical professional.  I have no medical training.  The knowledge of medicine I have has been attained by asking physicians and nurses endless questions, as well as doing my own exhaustive research.  The information I provide here is in no way meant to replace or contradict physicians' orders.  Please consult your personal physician before administering any care to an individual suffering from an allergic reaction.

**I would not recommend baking with Extra Virgin Olive Oil unless you want your baked goods to taste like pizza.

***Some recipes will require shortening to be used as an ingredient rather than just as a non-stick substitute for pans.  In this case, you will need to convert the amount of required shortening to the amount of butter or lard you plan to use.

No comments: