Should I Eliminate Soy Too?

[jessicalw28]

I have been gluten free for about a week now. My main symptoms are hives and diarrhea. I have not been officially diagnosed, but believe I am gluten intolerant or celiac. I was wondering if I should also try to eliminate other common allergens. I have heard that a lot of celiacs are soy intolerant. I already know I am lactose intolerant and have been avoiding lactose and casein for the most part for several months. Should I eliminate all major intolerances and add them back in gradually? Or just start with dairy and gluten and see how I feel after several weeks? I have had allergy testing and am not allergic to anything that I know of.

[ravenwoodglass]

This is only my opinion but I would go ahead and eliminate soy until you have healed. Once you have been feeling good for a month or so then eat something with soy in it about 3 times a day for a week. If your still feeling good after that week then you can likely tolerate soy. You don't want to overwhelm yourself so I wouldn't eliminate anything else other than the soy and dairy unless you still are not feeling better after a couple of months. If your still having issues after that then maybe think about seeing an allergist who will guide you in an elimination diet that will have a nutrition and calorie sound starting point.

Make sure you are checking any meds or supplements you are taking also. You do not want supplements with barley or wheat grass so do read the label even if it says gluten free.

[eatmeat4good]

  On 12/11/2010 at 2:55 PM, jessicalw28 said:

I have been gluten free for about a week now. My main symptoms are hives and diarrhea. I have not been officially diagnosed, but believe I am gluten intolerant or celiac. I was wondering if I should also try to eliminate other common allergens. I have heard that a lot of celiacs are soy intolerant. I already know I am lactose intolerant and have been avoiding lactose and casein for the most part for several months. Should I eliminate all major intolerances and add them back in gradually? Or just start with dairy and gluten and see how I feel after several weeks? I have had allergy testing and am not allergic to anything that I know of.

Hi Jessica,

I hope you feel better soon. I will share that I have been gluten free for two months but I did not eliminate soy. I figured it was hard enough to eliminate gluten. But here I am two months in and wishing I had listened to the words of wisdom from Ravenwood as I am sure I would feeling much better by now if I had. So NOW I am eliminating soy. I thought I would be able to tolerate cheese and soy but I cannot. It is true what they say about secondary intolerances. I don't know why I had to learn the hard way but I did. I also got a kiss from someone who had eaten gluten and thought, "Oh, it will be ok" But it wasn't-took a whole week of migraines, skin sores reactivating and feeling lousy sick in bed. I'm calling it the kiss of death. I should have known better. I am not sure if we have to eliminate legumes too when eliminating soy? I've read that. I also wonder about soy lecithin...as I was allowing myself to eat a bit of chocolate with it...but I'm not feeling really great right now. Maybe someone will elaborate on the soy elimination for us. I know I am confused.

[ravenwoodglass]

  On 12/12/2010 at 12:39 AM, eatmeat4good said:

I am not sure if we have to eliminate legumes too when eliminating soy? I've read that. I also wonder about soy lecithin...as I was allowing myself to eat a bit of chocolate with it...but I'm not feeling really great right now. Maybe someone will elaborate on the soy elimination for us. I know I am confused.

I would just eliminate soy for now and not worry about the other legumes. Some of us will tolerate soy lecithin, I know I do, but soy protein or flour and the oil gives me severe stomach pain and C along with joint and muscle pain. Different people will have different issues with it of course. For some they will get D instead of C for example. You might want to consider avoiding the lecithin for now and then challenge it by eating stuff that has it, like your chocolate. You could challenge it seperately from the flour, protein and oil so you can tell best if you are sensitive.

Meanwhile I think Enjoy Life makes a soy, gluten and dairy free chocolate chip that may help your chocolate cravings. I make a mix of raisens, Wylde pretzels (SFGFDF), chocolate chips and for sure gluten-free nuts to snack on. Great to keep in the car or purse for a quick munch.

[eatmeat4good]

Thank you Ravenwood! You are a wealth of information! I do need some chocolate now and then so thanks for that suggestion too!

[mushroom]

And Enjoy Life also makes gluten free chocolate chips for cookies I took out the soy lecithin to start with too, but have been able to tolerate that lately, although not soy itself. I only stopped eating legumes this year - that was a separate issue that cropped up for me, it is not usually for celiacs.

[ravenwoodglass]

  On 12/12/2010 at 1:37 AM, eatmeat4good said:

Thank you Ravenwood! You are a wealth of information! I do need some chocolate now and then so thanks for that suggestion too!

Yea life without gluten is one thing but life without chocolate ....

[mushroom]

Oh, and by the way, Lindt makes a 70% dark chocolate that has no soy lecithin.

[jessicalw28]

Thanks everyone for your input. Looks like I'll be going soy free too, at least for a little while. And thanks Ravenwood for the trailmix recipe. Sounds delicious!

[Skylark]

I had to go gluten-free, casein-free, soy-free at first too. I hope it helps you out.

[jessicalw28]

If I'm having lots of trouble with smelly gas, would you recommend eliminating legumes? I've given up carbonated drinks, but still drinking coffee (about 2-3 cups per day). Could that cause gas too?

[Marilyn R]

I've been gluten-free for about 8 months, soy and dairy free for about 6 months. I went corn free about two weeks ago after a particularly horrid reaction to corn.

I just had skin prick testing at an allergist's and it turns out that I'm allergic to pecans, egg yolks, wheat and rye. None of of environmental allergins popped up positive. I've never had a problem with eggs or nuts earlier in my life, and I'm in my 50's, so I was really surprised about the egg and tree nut allergy.

I checked out an older book on food allergies from the library that suggests a rotation diet. I'm giving that a whirl. There's plenty of info on the forum and on on internet..."The Allergy Self-Help Book" by Marjorie Hurt Jones, R.N. is the one I'm reading, and so far it's been very helpful.

I was shocked that the skin prick test didn't register soy as an allergy, and I fully understand the differences between intolerances and allergies. Maybe if you're careful about limiting the amounts of soy and allow a few days in between you will be okay.

I'm going to try a small amount of dairy again on Thursday or Friday, so that if I get sick I won't have to miss work. Then I'll wait a few days to try it again.

Regarding the smelly gas, Jessica, I get that with cabbage and certain green veggies. I switched from coffee to green tea because I can drink green tea without cream and sugar.

[mushroom]

I don't know the answer to your coffee question, Jessica. For some people I believe it is the caffeine and I have been caffeine free for more than 35 years.

[jessicalw28]

Thanks Marilyn. I am limiting soy and trying to completely eliminate (I do have a carton of soymilk in the refrigerator that I don't want to throw away). I'll have to check out that book. I have had allergy testing and did not test positive for anything. It was done with blood though. The Dr. said the skin prick would not work properly because I was already on antihistamines for my hives.

I do eat a lot of green vegetables and hate to give them up. I will try this elimination diet for a while longer. I've only been off gluten about a week and I'm not completely off soy yet. I'm lactose intolerant, so I've never been a big dairy consumer to begin with.

And Mushroom, I have reduced my caffeine intake, but not cut it out completely. I still drink 2-3 cups of coffee per day and usually have iced tea with dinner. I was drinking diet sodas, but decided to give up carbonated drinks and artificial sweeteners. I also try to get my 64 oz of water each day too. Haven't been eating much chocolate, since there is a such a limited selection of gluten-free/CF/SF.

My plan was to eliminate soy and dairy from my diet and if I felt better, gradually add them back. We'll see in a couple of weeks I guess.

[GFinDC]

Well, you have got started at least! :-) Really the simpler your diet is to start out with the better off you will be. You can always add foods into your diet later, but to start you need to keep things very simple. After a while of eating just whole foods and simple spices and safe vitamins you will learn what bothers your body. Then you can slowly try new foods and see if they are a problem. Simplicity in your diet will help you figure out what is a problem for "your" body, which can totally differ from what bothers anyone else's body.

I can drink Coke or Pepsi but I can't drink coffee or tea. Go figure. Not that I drink sodas very dang often anyway though. Really eating is just a habit we get into, like any other habit. Once you change your habit you will find it easy. That may take a while but it does happen after a while.