Vegan who can't eat soy? ):?

Question

I think I have a soy allergy. I've been on a vegan diet for only about two weeks now and I frequent recipes with tofu, soy milk, and soy meat replacers but I noticed I kept getting these cramps and I suddenly had congestion too. Not to mention I put on 3lbs which isn't normal since I've weighed 91lbs for all my life. Couple google searches basically told me I'm most likely allergic to soy but I don't want to quit being vegan! Are there any alternatives to soy milk, bocca/morning star burgers, and tofu? I'm terribly depressed as I love them all. ):

link:

http://vegkitchen.com/tips/when-soy-annoys.htm

Answer 1

Seitan, also known as "wheat meat," is a great meat sub for soy-allergic people.  You can buy it premade, but you can also make it yourself.

You may also see if you can tolerate fermented soy products like miso, tempeh and soy sauce.  You don't have to have any soy products in your diet, but if there's a few ingredients you can tolerate it just makes things easier.  You can make "bacon," "sausage," and "chicken" wingz with tempeh.

You can almost always substitute a different plant milk, like rice or almond, in recipes that call for soy milk.

"Veganomicon" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero has lots of soy-free recipes and they are all marked as such (plus there's an index that lists all the soy-free recipes.)

Oh, and if you're really ambitious, you can make Burmese tofu with chickpeas.  Here's a lengthy discussion on how: http://www.postpunkkitchen.com/forum/vie...

Answer 2

Sorry about your soy allergy. There are plenty of vegan options that are soy and animal free!

Instead of soy milk you can rice milk, hemp milk, almond milk, oat milk, etc.

Instead of Boca burgers, Morningstar and tofu you can try seitan and soy free burgers such as some of Amy's products, and homemade made with portobello mushrooms, chickpeas, vegetables, lentils, and black beans.

Soy-free foods: Some good foods that are soy and animal free are fruits, vegetables, beans (-soy), seeds (flax, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, hemp, etc), nuts, pulses, nutritional yeast, chickpea, seaweed, lentils, & vegetable and seed oils, plant milks (-soy), meat alternatives that do not contain soy. You can cook food as well just substitute or remove what you are allergic to. Amy’s Kitchen has good vegan soy free entrees. So Delicious and Rice Dream make frozen deserts that use rice and coconut milk instead of soy. Veganomicon is a great cookbook that includes meals that is soy-free. As you can veganize almost any recipe, you can also make any recipe soy free, just substitute for sf substations. (i.e chickpeas, potato or beans instead of tofu, hemp or rice milk instead of soy, etc.) And at the 'Magical Loaf Studio' you can make vegan sf burgers and loafs with your choice of ingredients:

http://www.veganlunchbox.com/loaf_studio...

Some sites to check out:

http://www.vegweb.com/ (many recipes that are soy free, just search)

http://veganpeace.blogspot.com/2008/03/v... (just -the soy foods)

http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/ (-soy products)

http://soyfreevegan.blogspot.com/

http://www.myvegancookbook.com/blog/ (has a lot of soy-free recipes)

http://www.vegfamily.com/health/vegan-fo...

Recipes: http://veganpeace.blogspot.com/2007/08/v... (-the soy recipes)

Nutrition: http://veganpeace.blogspot.com/2008/02/v... (just -the soy foods)

Answer 3

eh, why do you need soy?

legumes,  most fruits and many veggies have more than your daily requirement for protein.

simple.

you may not be allergic to soy,  you may be allergic to the compounds that are added..   additives are chemicals and most are from animal product in many, many cases, even in vegetarian/vegan foods that are processed.

Answer 4

You have only been a vegan for two weeks, so it's hard to tell if you have an allergy to soy, or if your body is just adjusting to a vegan diet. Try eating other veggie proteins like: beans, peas, nuts, seeds, rice milk, and whole grains. If you feel better after not eating soy for a few days you can try adding a little to your diet and see what happens.

Get a copy of the vegan food pyramid and make sure your not over doing it on protein. To much protein, even veggie protein isn't good for you.  http://www.veganfoodpyramid.com/

Answer 5

There are plenty of alternatives to soya!

You could try oat, rice or nut milk, and there are desserts, ice-creams etc. made of rice instead of soya.

Protein isn't a problem either, there are whole load of nuts, legumes, seeds, grains and beans that are chocked full of protein. Protein is overrated anyway. Most Westerner's have far too much and it can cause all sorts of problems, e.g. osteoporosis. There's no need to give up veganism if you can't eat soya. I hardly ever eat it and I'm healthy as a whistle.

Hope this helps,

Tim

Answer 6

yes i am a vegan and i dont eat soy (personal choice) you can use hemp milk, almond milk or rice milk and they all work just fine as a replacement. you can substitute rice,hemp or almond milk cup for cup with soy milk.

Answer 7

check with a doctor 1st, get an allergy checkup, confirm if you are allergic.  It may be your body getting used to a major change in your diet.  If you are illergic, there are other alternatives: rice milk, and non-soy beans  that can be used, but its much more work, so check 1st.

Answer 8

Drink Rice milk and eat lots of other beans for protein.