This Soy Thing...

Since I've found out that I have problems with soy (it causes breast pain) I've been trying to eliminate it from my diet. It's a real challenge! I am gaining a new respect for people with food allergies. I can't compare my issues with soy with life threatening allergies by any means, but I am finding that trying to avoid a product that seems to be in EVERYTHING is a huge job. Since I’m new at this, I am just starting to read labels looking for soy. Things you would never think of have soy or soy bean oil listed as an ingredient.

I started reading labels more closely because I was reacting when I didn’t think I had eaten anything with soy in it. Now I’m figuring out where I was messing up. Pizza dough. Tortillas. Bagels. The whole wheat bread from the grocery store bakery. The jambalaya mix that was a go-to quick dinner for the family. Something I put on my salad at the salad bar, probably several items, actually. It seems like even the least little bit of soy is causing problems, too. I’m like a walking soy detector.

I have a girl in one of my Girl Scout troops with severe food allergies. Peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, and eggs in even the smallest amounts could kill her. I worked with a woman once who had celiac disease.

I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for them. (For the mom, in the case of my Girl Scout, since she’s still a child.) You have to question every bite of food that goes in your mouth. Eating out must be a nightmare. Waiters don’t take food allergies seriously since people will say they have allergies when they really don’t, so the waiters don’t bother and nothing happens. Then when someone really is allergic, they can die. Then there’s the woman I heard about when I took a first aid class a few years ago. She had no idea she had a food allergy and went out to eat in a seafood restaurant. A waiter walked by with a plate of steaming shrimp and the SMELL of it sent her into anaphylactic shock and killed her. Just the smell! It’s scary.

But for me, I don’t have an allergy, I just have some minor pain and discomfort I’d rather avoid. I’m counting my blessings.