What I Look Like After A Soy Reaction

Food. We all need it. Some of us ever have a love affair with it. I have a love-hate relationship with it. I mean I love to cook and create new dishes and absolutely love eating out at restaurants. Well, at least I used to. When you have a severe food allergy eating out becomes stressful. You never know if a kitchen really has taken the precautions to keep you safe. Many times, especially with a soy allergy, many – and I mean MANY chefs and people in the restaurant industry have absolutely NO idea what contains soy.

I do though. I have learned the hard way. My body recently has started to send me signals to stop eating if something has soy in it. But not always. Everyone asks what happens to me when I have a reaction. I have one of three symptoms:

1. My throat closes up and I need Benadryl and an Epi Pen
2. My stomach is upset for 2 hours up to 4 days. The kind where I can’t stand up because it hurts so much.
3. I gain 1-3 pounds per episode as my cells retain water to try and protect themselves from the allergen.

Here is a pic of me just a bit ago. Look at how puffy I am! Seriously! Then compare it to just a couple days later. Crazy, right? I often have people ask me if I am making it up… um no. I also saw someone I admire last week tweet out after I posted a running pic, about how some runners look like they are lying and aren’t running at all because they are still overweight. Hmmm… I wonder why it is ok to judge people when you have no idea what is going on in their bodies or in their lives? I run AND I am still overweight. I’m a work in progress, but I am still trying. I think trying is the operative word here.

I started to research how was I ingesting soy when I was living a pretty soy-free life. Well, soybeans are one of the main foods fed to cattle and chickens. I have eaten way more fish while in Alaska, but I still eat beef and chicken weekly. Now I am trying to only eating organic meat and see if that will make a difference. I just ordered some outstanding grass-fed organic steaks from American Farmer’s Network. Will let you know how they are!

Do you eat only organic beef or do you just pick up whatever is on special? Do you have a food allergy too?

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