allergic to soy?

[supercheesegirl]

It turns out that Silk soymilk is delicious! I also seem to be mildly allergic to it!

I am mildly allergic to a few different foods, notably peaches, cherries, and avocados. They make my mouth itch, and in bad instances, they make my nose and throat and eyes itch. My doctor told me it's best to try to avoid these foods--in a really bad case, it's possible they could make my throat swell up so I couldn't breathe, but I've never had anything approaching that happen, or any gastro issues with these foods--they itch on the way in, but no problems on the way out. Avocados are the least bad, so I just deal with it because guacamole is wonderful, but I haven't had a peach or cherry in years.

Now soymilk is eliciting the same reaction. I got itchy in my mouth and throat both. I didn't have a reaction last night when I drank soymilk in my chai--only this morning, when I had it in my cereal. Hopefully having it in chai will be okay. I just bought two quarts of the shit, so it better be okay.

I don't know if it's just the Silk brand, or if Soy Dream would work. I was fine with Rice Dream when I tried it a few months ago, so I could always do that, but I found it kind of watery. The Silk stuff was lovely in my cereal, except for the, you know, allergic reaction. I may try the Soy Dream stuff, but it was quite a bit more expensive than the Silk brand. I may just end up buying organic cow milk from now on.

Comments

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... is it the plain kind, or the kind with vanilla?

(And soymilk is YUMMY in cereal - yay!)

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

The vanilla kind. It was definitely yummy. I am disappointed that it itches. Maybe the plain kind will be better, you think?

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Just a stab in the dark, but if you don't otherwise have reactions to soy, it could be the separate flavouring. Maybe you could get a very small container of the plain?

[lizabethanqueen]

Have you tried almond milk? The chocolate is awesome!

Soy is a common allergy according to wikipedia. Plus, allergies can develop and the more you come in contact with something your body doesn't like the worse it gets so this could be a completely new thing.

[myras-girls.livejournal.com]

I would be so sad if I were allergic to cherries, avocados and soy! Cherries and avocados are my favorite!

Silk is my favorite brand of soy milk. What a bummer that you are experiencing an allergic reaction. I would try Soy Dream next. I enjoy the Soy Dream chocolate milk but it's maybe thicker than the Silk. I haven't done a side by side taste test, though. Let me know how it goes trying other brands.

You know on this whole eating thing, someone told me about thedailyplate.com a few months ago and I thought it might be informational to track my eating for a time. But I got really weird and obsessive about eating while tracking it. I realized I had to stop tracking my food when I didn't eat for over 6 hours because I wasn't at home and had this idea in my head that the food offered to me wasn't low calorie enough. I have food issues and I can't track calories and such without getting icky about it. As much as I find it all interesting I also find it difficult to think about. I'm just weird that, and many other, way(s).

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been having some ish with the tracking. I'm carrying a notebook to write down what I eat, and it's strange nd hard to figure out the calories eaten at a restaurant. I haven't yet stopped eating because of this, which is good, but it's really frustrating.

[moonshadow.livejournal.com]

I don't do great with soymilk, either, even though other kinds of soy don't seem to be a problem. Happily, you can now get hemp milk in many health-food stores. I think hemp milk has a better texture than soy or almond milk. You might want to give it a try.

[tisana.livejournal.com]

Awww...soymilk is full of good things, and Silk in particular is my favorite, so it's sad it might be no good for you. There are other kinds of faux milk, though--I like WestSoy (in case it's a brand thing), and rice milk can be tasty.

This reminds me of DW's issues--he also can't have certain raw fruits (cherries, apples, peaches, plums...), and can't do un-fermented soy (like soymilk)...but soy sauce is fine. So you might want to do a bit of cautious experimentation, and have Benadryl on hand, just in case.

But...I'm wondering if there's a connection between the two? Some allergies are like that.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I've had soymilk cooked in things before--my mom puts it in her baked french toast, and it's awesome and not a problem. I've cooked with soy sauce, too, and it's fine. I also don't have a problem with peach or cherry pie, things like that where the fruit is cooked. Maybe it's something in the raw form?

[deadwinter.livejournal.com]

Those are precisely my symptoms. Do you get a reaction with raw apples too?

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

No, I'm fine with apples. I don't often eat them raw, though--I don't like getting the skin stuck in my teeth. Usually I cook them, or have granny smiths in a salad, and in a salad they'd just be little pieces.

[trouble4hire.livejournal.com]

I've heard that with that kind of food allergy, you can eat the foods without a problem if you take an anti-histamine beforehand. I don't have that particular issue, so I haven't tried it, but it might make your guacamole experience more pleasant.

[jennallen.livejournal.com]

Ick. I get that reaction with hard apple cider and blue cheese. No fun. You may want to ask yer doctor about giving you a prescription for an Epi-Pen if yer gonna experiment, just in case yer body goes on overdrive w/ the reaction. Benedryl (aka diphenhydramine, cheaper for generic and it is EXACTLY the same thing)is fabulous (usu 50mg to start for an allergic reaction)but if your body DOES worsen it's reaction, benedryl wouldn't help fast enough. I only say this cuz I've been through a worsening food allergy and last time I "experimented" I had to take a whole bunch of benedryl AND an albuterol inhaler to breathe. Next time, an epi-pen will likely be the only thing that helps enough.

Good luck with your tests on soy!

[x-hj-x.livejournal.com]

You never know, maybe try the plain Silk, and if that's okay, if you want vanilla, it's not hard to add a 1/2 tsp. of extract to the carton and shake it up. :)

You may well have a lesser reaction to other soy milks, because Silk uses different soy beans, which is why it tastes better than other brands. (It's my favorite by far, although sometimes I fall back on individual Vitasoy boxes when I'm nostalgic for being six years old.)

If you do manage to stick with Silk, note that Trader Joe's refrigerated soy milks (plain, vanilla, and unsweetened) are actually Silk rebranded, and usually quite a bit cheaper. Out here, Silk in the half-gallon size runs $3.49-$3.99 and the Trader Joe's rebrandings are $2.99. Unfortunately, they stopped selling the chocolate kind. Grrrrr.

[handmadedark.livejournal.com]

Any more reactions to the soy?

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

In my cereal, still. Today I had toast for breakfast to avoid the issue. There's a slight reaction to soymilk in my chai, but I could just be imagining it.