Soy in Everything

Back in 2017, it became clear that it was time for me to cut soy out of my diet. I had already cut out dairy and gluten… how hard could it really be?

Little did I know that soy is in everything. Literally.

The more I learned about soy, the more I realized how hard it would be to completely remove this additive from my diet.

At a high-level, it’s pretty simple to look at soy in your every day diet and remove it there.

• Chocolate and candy products
• Most frozen meal products
• Asian cuisine (takeout, sushi, grocery)
• Mayo and peanut butter
• Canned sauces
• Most bread and bakery
• Vegetarian meat substitutes
• Soy milk
• Non-dairy butter

After cutting soy out of my general diet, I was still having a reaction. But, why?!

That’s when I realized that soy goes much deeper than standard dietary products. If anyone is highly sensitive to soy, they may also have a reaction to an additive known as “soy lechtin”.

• Cooking sprays
• Gum and mints
• Vitamins and supplements
• Some OTC medications

The deeper you dive into soy throughout our food system, the more alarming and daunting it can seem. Soy is also used in most farm feed, which means it is eaten by common farm animals like pigs, chickens, and cows. This is especially true for industrial farms. If a person is highly sensitive to soy, they MAY want to consider where they buy meat and eggs as well.

As a farmer, I do know of local farms that use soy-free feed for their animals. But, it’s an expense for the farmer, which is factored into the cost of their goods.

So what does that mean for the average consumer? It simply means that you would pay a premium price to eat soy-free meat and eggs. The trade-off is living well and eating well.

Five years later, I thought I had soy-free living under control. Nope!

Recently, I started to develop a strange “rash” on my lips. As a person with chronic illness, it’s not uncommon for me to have random hives, rashes, or sores (not contagious) because of an overwhelmed and debilitated immune system.

I had wondered if my lipstick had anything to do with the random “lip rash”, but that seemed silly. My favorite lip stick is Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer and they are supposed to be natural.

Instead of diving into makeup products, I tried to rejuvenate my immune system, calm the inflammation in my body, and not use any lipstick. My lips got better. But, why?

After 1 week of not using lip stick, I felt better and my lips looked great. So, I slid that Lip Shimmer right across my face without much thought. The next day, my lips were on fire.

I looked at the fine print on the Burt’s Bees tube and there it was… “Soybean oil”.

Major facepalm!

Here is a list of ingredients in the lip shimmer. They will advertise it as having “sunflower oil”, which sounds great on the surface. But when you really dig in, it’s just disappointing.

All of this to say… we are a nation built on soy and corn products. I find it incredibly important to be an educated consumer.

Consume at your own risk!

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