How To Be a Soy Free Vegan
So, soy in the vegan community is a hot topic. It is often the root of some serious health debates. Personally I have linked soy back to acne, digestive issues, and eczema flairs.
To be honest when I was struggling with the acne and digestive issues I was drinking venti soy lattes, drinking soy protein shakes, and lots of tempeh and tofu. So I started to eliminate MOST of the soy in my diet and would occasionally consume tempeh. Fermented soy is much healthier and there are some gut benefits, but even without the other soy products my body was rejecting the small amount I was feeding it. I started to notice that my eczema would flair and my eyelid (where my eczema is) would swell.
I’m not here to tell you whether you should eat soy or not. I don’t know that - only you and your doctor do know that, but I’m telling my story because if you are struggling with health or skin issues it might be worth looking at and monitoring how you react to soy.
Soy is in almost all packaged food
So if you have decided that soy is not for you, the first thing you have to do is look at all of the packaged foods you buy for two soy substances that you might not know of.
The first is Soy Protein Isolates, is a highly processed product that undergoes a chemical process to strip the soybeans of all nutrients and pulls out the protein. After the chemical process isolates out the protein you are left with aluminum and hexane. In addition Soy is one of the most common genetically modified crop ( due to the fact that it is so widely used in our food system) and it is estimated that about 90% of all soy is genetically modified. This on top of the chemical process of isolating the proteins creates a very toxic substance to be feeding your body.
The second is soy lecithin, a highly processed oil substance used as an emulsifier. To make lecithin soybeans oil is extracted from soybeans using a chemical solvent (generally hexane), that oil is than put through a degumming process using water to separate the oil from the lecithin. Finally the lecithin is dried and than bleached.
Where is Soy Protein Isolate and Soy Lecithin Hiding?
Both of these ingredients are often found in majority of packaged foods including veggie burgers, chocolate bars, hummus, protein powders, and baking mixes. Make sure to thoroughly read the labels of all packaged foods you are buying.
Protein Rich Plant Based Foods
A big draw of soy for vegans and vegetarians is the amount of protein and the amino acid profile. Here is a list of comparable foods that are soy free and rich in protein.
So as a guide:
1 cup of cooked soy beans has 29g of protein
1 cup of soy milk has 7g of protein
1 Cup Tempeh has 31g of protein
1 Cup of Tofu has 20g of protein
Hemp - 1/4 Cup = 15g
Lentils - 1 Cup = 18g
Black Beans - 1 Cup = 15.2g
Chickpeas - 1 Cup = 14.9g
Split Peas - 1 Cup = 16g
Quinoa - 1 Cup = 8g of complete protein
While soy is higher in protein cup for cup it is not difficult to achieve a similar protein profile by mixing different sources throughout the day.
Soy Free Swaps
Here is a list of soy free swaps to get you started on your journey. As we come across brands and products that fit into the HH clean standards we will update this list!
Chocolate is often made with soy lecithin. Some brands that I love that are SOY FREE can be found in this post.
Protein Powders are a easier to find soy free now, but my favorite is the Four Sigmatic Mushroom Protein Powder - you can save 10% with code kaleismykarma
Tempeh was one of my favorite soy products, and it was the hardest one for me to have to give up. Luckily I found Hempe which is a fermented chickpea and hemp product that mimics the texture and flavor or tempeh.
Tofu is another staple in most vegan diets a great substitute is Pumfu a pumpkin seeds based tofu sub.
TVP is a a go to for many for meat substitute in things like Bolognese and Chili- a great substitute for this would be lentils
Cream Cheese is one of my staple condiments and often times has soy in it, the most real tasting plant based cream cheese I have found is Treeline Cream Cheese and Spreads