Appropriately, I spent the entire first day of the (annual) Vegan Month of Food cooking. My pal Katie Jane came over this afternoon and drank hot toddies with me as I hurled myself around the kitchen, knocking out seven different Thanksgiving-ish dishes from my upcoming potluck zine. She then took photos of the food and then—finally!—we ate! I’m pretty sure that I could eat Thanksgiving foods every Thursday of the month and never get tired of them, although our plates were hurting for some green.
While Katie was here, I told her about the most recent revelation in my diet, which is that I’ve come to decide that I need to lay way off the soy.
I’ve had killer menstrual cramps every month for as long as I can remember, but it seems as if the pain intensified and the duration lengthened in my early 20s and hasn’t let off since. When I say killer cramps, I’m talking about: occasional vomiting from pain, having to take at least one day off of work every month to lay in bed with the heating pad, popping maximum strength ibuprofen like candy just to take the edge off. I’ve gone through childbirth, and I can tell you that I was in active labor for hours before the contractions were worse than my standard monthly cramps.
A few years ago, I saw multiple doctors about the situation, and after several hundreds of dollars in co-pays and prescriptions, the diagnosis was a universal: It might be endometriosis, but it would take a lot more tests (money) to find out for sure, and even then, there wasn’t a whole lot they could do about it. Most likely the cramps would ease off after I had my first child.
Well, I had my first child, followed by eleven blissful months of no period at all. Then, last October, the period came back, and the cramps came with it, strong as ever. And now I’m desperate, because I have a son, and I feel really guilty if I spend two days every month unable to be a mother to him because I can barely get out of bed.
I’ve been doing a lot of research in the last week or so, and I’ve noticed that soy keeps popping up in lists of foods to avoid if you have bad menstrual cramps, because of the phytoestrogens. My soy intake is currently higher than I would like for it to be, and while it would be nearly impossible to completely eliminate it from my diet, it’s worth it to me to reduce it drastically for a month or two and see if I notice a difference. The plan is to finish up what we have in the house and then try to switch over to beans, nuts, seeds, grains, and seitan as our protein options.
Dudes, I’m cringing at the very idea of being a soy-free vegan. Soy is in everything; it’s like corn or peanuts. Damn.
Let me know if you’ve reduced or cut soy out of your diet, especially if you did it for the same reasons. I need some commiseration here!
14 Responses to “Soy”
I’ve definitely reduced my intake of soy since I first went vegan, and you’re right, it’s in EVERYTHING. It feels like veganism is supposed to equal tofu and soymilk sometimes. I think the best approach is akin to what many people tell aspiring vegans to do: look for recipes that don’t use soy and try to make them a larger part of your diet. There are so many great dishes out there that don’t have soy in them! That’s awesome you are trying to figure stuff out on your own, I hope it helps you out, because vomit-inducing menstrual cramps sound like one of the most horrible things I can imagine.
I’m not vegan (yet) but there are options out there. Unfortunately most of them require you to make things from scratch which can be rather time consuming. I guess I was lucky that when I went vegetarian I already knew I couldn’t tolerate soy so have always had to work around it.
I know a couple of soy free vegan blogs though. If you’re interested you can email me (it’s on my blog profile link) and I can send them to you. Bryanna Clark Grogan if you email her will happily send you a big list of soy free dairy sub recipes which can come in handy when you need some sour cream for a potato salad or something.
I do empathize though, I have numerous things I can’t eat and it makes life kind of tough!
I hope you feel better soon though.
I don’t get cramps like that *every* month, and it only started about six years ago, but I do sometimes get killer cramps complete with fever and vomiting. Though I’ve always called them kill-me-now cramps. And I’ve never had ibuprofen or tylenol or motrin or anything else even remotely touch them, so I don’t bother with the pain meds.
I went almost entirely soy free one month after having had the kill-me-now cramps, and the next month had another episode. The only time that I had two months in a row like that, actually.
They’ve diminished in the past three years. They were at their worst for the three years I lived in Denver, and I have always blamed it on the altitude, to some degree. I don’t know if that is accurate, but it is true that we produce more blood at higher altitudes…could be a connection!
I haven’t had them much in the past few years, hardly at all in the past year, and in fact my normal awful cramps (as opposed to the ones that make me wish I would just die) have been less awful than before in the past year. I don’t know – maybe the 2 hrs of biking per day had an impact? I used to get frustrated with people saying “exercise helps” because I had horrible cramps even in the middle of training for a marathon. But it wasn’t until bike commuting that I got 2 hrs of exercise/day. Maybe it takes that much to make a difference.
Anyway, good luck with your few months of being soy free! It is easiest when you cook all your own food, which you are likely to do anyway. Not as hard to do as you’d think, actually! I hope it works for you, or that you find something else that does. I hate those damn cramps. My heartfelt sympathies for the suffering you endure every month!
Joanna, I am soy intolerant and can’t have soy protien at all, not even in Earth Balance. Check out my blog, I have a page of soy free (mostly, some have soy lechitan; which should be ok for you) products. The biggest thing missing is a vegan mayo, but you can easily whip that up at home.
And I understand about your cycle issues. I get that sick each month as well, and soy has nothing to do with it. The only thing that helped me was birth control, but I can’t afford that anymore.
Rosalie recently cut way back on soy for the same reasons. It’s hard!
Joanna, I’m so sorry to hear this – how miserable for you! Just a thought that I’m sure you’ve had to have had too… do you think you have to eliminate soy entirely, or would just eliminating the big things (soy milk, tofu, processed soy foods) be enough? Avoiding the biggest sources of soy might be easier than trying to cut it out entirely.
I really hope it goes well. Get better soon!
Dude! So with you on this. A few months ago, I was dealing with some crazy digestive issues. Like, the way my stomach felt before I went vegan (which was caused most likely to severe dairy intolerance). I remember the way I felt the week after cutting out dairy completely and how AWESOME I felt. So I was doing my research and decided that I consumed way more soy than gluten, so I decided to cut it out completely. No more soy milk and no more tofu, since they were the big culprits. I wasn’t as mindful about added soy in the form of soy sauce or soybean oil, but I did try to steer clear of them without being all crazy obsessive. That week, I felt AWESOME. I didn’t even notice that my cramps have lessened immensely until you posted this, so HECK YEAH! I will say that I started incorporating miso and tempeh back into my diet, since I am testing out fermented soy. I haven’t noticed any difficulties with those, so for now, I’ll keep them. I’ve consumed soy in my coffee if I’m out (since most cafes don’t offer other non-dairy milks, except for a few handful of awesome ones that are never where I’m near in Orlando), and haven’t noticed a problem but I have tried to not make a habit out of it. I’ve been getting intense tofu cravings, but I’m trying to weigh whether the pros of eating it outweigh the cons of what my stomach will do to me afterward. Good luck with it all!
(Do you take calcium for your cramps? I always noticed that helped me, but everyone’s different, I know.)
hi everyone! thanks so much for your comments. i probably should have said a few of these things in my entry but didn’t want to load it down with my personal history.
i do exercise — 3 times a week of cardio and i get moderate exercise every day walking and carrying & chasing milo around. i have noticed that if i don’t exercise at all, the cramps are worse, so the exercise is for sure helping.
i am planning on eliminating the processed soy entirely (as much as i can), but will be leaving in tempeh, miso, and edamame in moderation.
I noticed that you have a McDougall book in with your cookbooks, many of those recipes are soy-free.
Hang in there Joanna! Henry is mostly soy intolerant. For some reason he is fine with tofu, but not things made with tofu (like soy yogurt). It was a struggle in the beginning but it isn’t so bad. Especially since there are tons of non-soy non-dairy milks around for baking and drinking.
I am feeling very similarly at the moment. I went off wheat for two weeks and have been eating it again for one week. I came to the very painful realization yesterday that I have to (mostly) cut it out of my diet. I physically felt so much better without it, it isn’t worth it. Total Bummer.
I hope cutting out soy helps! Oddly enough, I have found doing crunches when my cramps are bad very helpful.
I’m sensitive to soy protein and have been a soy-free vegan for 3 years. It possible to do and isn’t as hard as you’d think. Cashew cream is a big help for creamy stuff. There is a mayonnaise recipe that I can share with you that is very easy and soy free. I don’t have painful periods, but I just wanted you to know that a soy free vegan diet is doable and not as hard as you might think.
Hey mama. I’m cutting back on soy too. A couple of things I’ve been really enjoying are Daiya, Ryza Brown Rice Milk, and Earth’s Own Almond Fresh Milk. It’s amazing how much better I feel by just making small changes.
Hi, new to your blog but just wanted to say being soy free vegan is irratating, and sometimes hard, but well worth a cramp free life. My son is allergic to soy, so we had to eliminate it from our diets. I was also a terrible cramp sufferer, and once I cut out the soy, I am now almost cramp-free. I frequent alot of good soy-free blogs (if you care to know any let me know) and I have my own. Good luck with your journey!
I’ve been doing martial arts for the past four years, which includes working on my core- lots of crunches, yoga, and other pilates- like work to strengthen it.
I’ve found that the more core exercises I do, the less my cramps hurt.
also, studies have shown that calcium intake helps too- and it certainly can’t hurt.
I take calcium pills most morning- the chewable type with vitamin D added.
good luck!