Living Soy-Free (is the hardest thing to do...)

Went to the grocery store last night...I hate the grocery store. Lots of reasons for that--all those trips I was dragged on as a kid, not knowing what to plan to cook...and all that colorful, convenient stuff that simply boggles my mind. The most important thing, though is that I can't eat most of it...

I've been very scrupulous about avoiding soy, eggs and canola recently (don't have to worry about the strawberries just yet.) Soy and eggs are the hardest. Avoiding canola is usually a matter of not eating fried foods. You'd think it'd be harder, but canola isn't used in the processing of lots of foods. That's soy's job.

Soy is in just about everything. There's soy even in simple beef broth and Gatorade!

For some reason soy oils are used in just about everything. It may be that it's the cheapest and most plentiful oil to use--also that it extends the shelf life of whatever it's in. Soy lecithin is used as a thickener and stabilizer. Why something like broth needs a thickener, only the manufacturer knows...

Even the flour in industrial-produced baked goods (with the exception of breads) uses soy flour. I can't even buy a grocery store cupcake!

And let's not discuss the cookie and cracker isle. Every cracker is processed with soy oil and lecithin....

With the exception of melba tost and rye crisps.

But the effort to stay away from soy is worth it. When I watch the soy and don't eat it, I'm not battling intense stomach pain, nor am I as anxiety-riddled. I figure the anxiety comes from the constant pain. There's only so much pain one's body can take before it makes one short-tempered, anxiety-riddled, and major depressed.

I never realized how profoundly my food allergies effected my *entire* body until I stopped eating soy and eggs (eggs, though, if in baked goods are fine--the amounts are small. Just don't give me an omlette or an egg salad sandwich.) I find that I can't think and sometimes can't even move because I hurt so bad.

And I just dealt with it for years because no one thought/suggested food allergies. I never thought of them either, because they weren't there--or were missed--when I was a kid. I wouldn't be surprised if the soy allergy was missed, because back in the Stone Age, soy wasn't in most foods.

That's a different story today. Soy is in just about *every* food, and in moisturizers, and in candles, and in so many things that I have to be very, very careful with everything.

I don't know how it got to be (or more importantly why) that there's now more soy in our food than high fuctose corn syrup. Maybe it was the peanut and wheat allergies...

but has anyone ever thought that maybe, after awhile, there might end up being lots of folks who are soy-sensitive, too??

For the moment, we're all on our own though--standing in the grocery store isles reading every single box to make sure what I'm buying is safe.

I know there are other allergies too. I wait for itching and hives, or a sense of mental cloudiness or gas and bloating or my eyes watering like crazy. When those things happen, I know something's up Would be nice if the medical establishment would be more helpful with this, but they won't. Allergy tests are only for the rich--but even then only after a great deal of begging and pleading. They prefer the "elmination diet" --as a friend, whose son is also highly allergic, told me. It's difficult, however, to eliminate things when eating everything was okay for a long time....

Then again, maybe I had the allergies for a long time too, just a higher pain tolerance.

Which makes me wonder about the piece of pop culture folk wisdom that says we crave the things we're allergic to. I don't find myself craving soy milk, that's for sure...

There are times when I feel like my health's a giant gordian knot--so many things contributing to making me feel pretty bad for a really long time. Clearing away the chronic fatigue was the first. Stabilizing my thyroid has been the second, with my synthroid perscription going to a lower dose. Which can possibly be contributed to dealing with my food allergies. I know that soy adversely effects the absorbtion of thyroid hormone, and I imagine that my thyroid hormone fluctuated contingent on how much soy was in my diet on any particular day. So, without the soy (and who knows the effect of the eggs) my body needs less synthroid.

Amazing, really. Frustrating most definitely. Makes travelling and lots of other things a bit tougher. But I've thought about adopting some simple rules-of-thumb for when I travel so that I can keep the allergic reactions to a minimum (it's hard because that danish on the continental breakfast doesn't carry a lable.) But if I can keep all this health and allergy stuff stable, my life will, overall, be much, much better.

photo courtesy of gab's flickr photo set