I have recently turned to a vegan diet , and have just found out that I many be allergic to soy products and whole wheat! Is it possible to maintain a healthy diet without these foods? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Help!!
I have recently turned to a vegan diet , and have just found out that I many be allergic to soy products and whole wheat! Is it possible to maintain a healthy diet without these foods? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
In answer to your question, absolutely!
I rarely ever have anything with soy, maybe like once a year when I make a chocolate cake with tofu. If a recipe calls for soy milk, you can easily substitute rice milk or oat milk.
As for whole wheat, there are a few people on this board with celiac disease and will probably have great suggestions for you. I think the jist of it is that you can eat brown rice pasta instead of whole wheat pasta, perhaps oatmeal and oat or rye bread instead of whole wheat bread, things like that.
The soy-based "meat substitutes" are definitely not necessary to maintain a healthy vegan diet. I haven't had one in a year.
Great sources of protein include (in case you're thinking soy is the only choice; I don't know):
Vegetables
Brown rice, oats, other whole grains, including whole wheat (but that doesn't count for you)
Nuts
Legumes (beans, lentils, split peas, etc.)
Seeds
You need an average of 50 g. of protein a day, and you can easily get that amount from the above sources.
Another common question is where to get calcium. Green leafy vegetables, broccoli, and legumes all have calcium. Fortified rice milk will contain calcium as well. You can also take a supplement.
The only real concern for vegans is Vitamin B12. Make sure you get enough of this vitamin by drinking fortified non-cow milks and/or taking a supplement. B12 is very important.
If you have any questions, please ask.
utopiankitchen.wordpress.com
1984, HERES a reply to the "Soy-Free Protein Sources? I don’t eat soy because I’m allergic to it. Is there another protein substitute I can eat?" question, by Virginia Messina.
1984, you might want to check www.foodallergysurvivalguide.com and or try and get hold of a copy of "The Food Allergy Survival Guide" by Vesanto Melina, MS, RD, Jo Stepaniak, MSEd, and Dina Aronson, MS, RD.
Well, I don't like soy either - (besides tempeh), so I get by without it. IF I use a milk substitute, I use rice dream enriched, because it is fortified with B12 and calcium - as Artichoke pointed out, B12 is crucial.
I have oatmeal for breakfast, which requires no milk - or I will have toast. You can also soak muesli in juice. There are many varieties of breads available now - not just wholewheat. Visit a good healthfood store, and I am sure you will find an abundance of wholegrain breads made from oats, rye, spelt, kamut or even rice or buckwheat. Spelt and rice pastas are available, and you can also get things like pizza bases.
For meals, make beany type things or stir-fries with added nuts/seeds instead of tofu/tempeh chunks. Check the 'what did you eat today thread' in the food section. You will get loads of soy-less ideas. In fact, I don't see many people in there who eat soy very often at all!!!!
Like Artichoke said, not meats are not necessary, but if you like them, you can get vegetable based burgers (well at least you can in Australia).
I cannot remember where you are located, but in America they have rice dream ice cream, instead of soy - which is vegan and soy-less.
Soy cheese is gross so you are not missing out on anything - and Artichoke has a recipe for melty pizza cheese, which might be soyless (I haven't seen the recipe yet)
Well, if it makes you feel any better - a lot of junky crap unhealthy food is made from wheat and soy, so you cannot consume these things!!!!
Banana I have noticed rice dream enriched has vitamin D in it as well do you know if this is Vegan?
1984, I'm confused here ... have you never eaten anything with soya or wholewheat in it before adopting a vegan diet?
Soya and soya flour are used in many processed foods. Soya flour is used in many bread and bakery products. Surely you've had at least one piece of wholewheat bread at some point in your life before becoming a vegan?
Anyway, there are plenty of alternatives to wholewheat and soya out there and plenty of other sources of protein as the other replies to your message have shown.
Don't worry, I'm not trying to gain my stripes in the vegan police, just curious about what you actually meant.
Along the same lines as silverbird, this is from the UK vegan society website.
Completely avoiding soya protein in the diet is difficult because an enormous range of manufactured foods contain it. There is now a widespread use of soya protein in flour and therefore in most bread. Any bread sold unwrapped would not declare soya in its ingredients and even some wrapped breads do not declare the soya protein used as they do not have to by law. Soya is one of the ingredients along with iron salts, thiamine and bleaching agents etc. that can be undeclared.
All allergic reactions to soya concern soya protein. It is unknown whether soya lecithin, soya margarine or soya oil contain sufficient protein to provoke allergic reactions. In some studies those with soya allergy could tolerate small amounts of soya oil, lecithin and margarine, but in other studies patients could not.
Only minute amounts of protein were found in soya oil in one study. However it depends on the source of soya used and can vary from one product to another. The implication is that these items must be excluded from the diet if protein needs to be completely avoided - again it depends on the level of allergic reaction.
MORE INFO.
Panda
Yes, it is. I believe I saw that on their website. The only known nonvegan vegetable-based milk sold in the US is 8th Continent.
It says Vitamin D2 right on the ingredients: http://www.imaginefoods.com/pages/pr...dream/rdoe.php
Lots of things which are Vegan have Vitamin D in them - such as margarine, but isn't it only Vitamin D3 that is always animal derived?
Re: Soy / wheat free vegan diet?
Vitamin D2 is definately vegan.
Re: Soy / wheat free vegan diet?
QUINOA!!!!
It's cheap, it has more protein than tofu pound for pound (and it's balanced protien, just like soy), it's easy to prepare, it's not soy!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa
Re: Soy / wheat free vegan diet?
8th continent did away w. D3 and now uses only D2 I believe and is finally vegan - at least thats the latest Ive heard or what Ive seen
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