Alternatives to Soy: Substitutes for Soy Products

If you are like me and my husband and you are in the process of eliminating soy in your diet, this article from The Kitchn has some great suggestions for alternatives for tofu, miso, soy sauce and more.

Image from www.thekitchn.com

If you're allergic to soybeans or want to reduce your consumption of soy for other reasons, foods like tofu, miso, and soy sauce are out. A soy-free diet can be even harder if you're a vegetarian or vegan. Check out this list of soy alternatives and leave your own suggestions in the comments.

• Edamame Substitutes: Green peas and fresh fava and lima beans are good substitutes.

 

• Miso Substitutes: Miso is traditionally made from fermented soybeans, but chickpea versions can be found from South River Miso Company and Miso Master, and South River also makes an adzuki bean miso. If you have the patience to wait a year, you can also go the DIY fermentation route (Sandor Katz is a good resource).

 

• Tofu and Tempeh Substitutes: Unfortunately there's no true substitute for these products, but depending on the dish you may be able to use ingredients like mushrooms (puffballs are especially tofu-like), chickpeas and other beans, or seitan that has made without soy sauce. Ricotta cheese, sour cream, and yogurt can sometimes work in place of silken tofu.

 

• Soy Milk Substitutes: Other milk alternatives like rice and almond milk tend to be much lower in protein, although many of them do have other nutritional benefits. If it's protein you're after, consider goat's milk, hemp milk (which contains 10 essential amino acids), or homemade quinoa milk.

 

• Soy Sauce Substitutes: Soy sauce, shoyu, tamari, and Bragg Liquid Aminos are all made from soybeans. Instead, try coconut aminos made from coconut tree sap.

 

• Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) Substitutes: This soy protein is often used as a substitute for ground meats. Similar textures can be achieved by using hamburger, quinoa, or coarse bulgur.

Mock Soy Sauce - Recipe



Image from Taste of Home Magazine


Soy and corn crops are between 85% to 95% genetically modified (GMO).  The dangers of eating this modifed foods are becoming more apparent as scientist are putting the crops under closer scrutiny. 

As I am cleaning up my diet, I am eating organic or home grown produce (and meat) as much as possible.  I have made many substitutions to my diet to try to eliminate as many environmental pollutants as possible, but one of my staple cooking ingredients, soy sauce, was hard to replace until now.   

The test kitchens for Taste of Home Magazine  developed this alternative to store-bought soy sauce. Its color and flavor will make you think it’s the real thing. But it's lower in sodium than both regular soy sauce and the low-sodium variety.

32 Servings Prep/Total Time: 5 min.

Ingredients
•             3 tablespoons beef bouillon granules
•             1-1/2 cups boiling water
•             1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
•             2 tablespoons sesame oil
•             1 tablespoon dark molasses
•             Dash pepper

Directions

In a small bowl, dissolve bouillon in boiling water. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Pour into a jar with a tight-fitting lid.

Store in the refrigerator. Shake well before using. Yield: about 2 cups.

Nutrition Facts: 1 tablespoon equals 11 calories, 1 g fat (trace saturated fat), trace cholesterol, 222 mg sodium, 1 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, trace protein.

So You STILL Think Soy is a Health Food

Image from usc.edu

I have written several posts about the dangers of soy because it is a GMO produced crop.  In fact if you are still consuming soy in your morning shakes, drinks and meatless dishes, I can only think you are just not paying attention or you have a death wish.  Just kidding about the death wish thing, but soy is VERY detrimental to your health.

I read an article by Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist (http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/170-scientific-reasons-to-lose-the-soy-in-your-diet/) and I am going to share part of the article with you.

Sarah quotes from an article entitled “The Whole Soy Story” by Dr. Kaayla Daniel.

1.  A 1991 study found that eating only 2 TBL/day of roasted and pickled soybeans for 3 months to healthy adults who were receiving adequate iodine in their diet caused thyroid suppression with symptoms of malaise, constipation, sleepiness, and goiters (Nippon Naibunpi Gakkai Zasshi 1991, 767: 622-629)!

2.  Six premenopausal women with normal menstrual cycles were given 45 mg of soy isoflavones per day.  This is equivalent to only 1-2 cups of soy milk or 1/2 cup of soy flour!   After only one month, all of the women experienced delayed menstruation with the effects similar to tamoxifen, the anti-estrogen drug given to women with breast cancer (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1994 Sep;60(3):333-340).

3.  Dietary estrogens in the form of soy foods were found to have the potential to disrupt the endocrine system with the effects in women similar to taking the breast cancer drug tamoxifen (Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 1995 Jan;208(1):51-9).

4.  Estrogens consumed in the diet at low concentrations were found to stimulate breast cells much like DDT to increase enzymatic activity which leads to breast cancer (Environmental Health Perspectives 1997 Apr;105 (Suppl 3):633-636).

5.  The soy isoflavones genistein and daidzein appear to stimulate existing breast cancer growth indicating risk in consuming soy products if a woman has breast cancer. (Annals of Pharmacotherapy 2001 Sep;35(9):118-21).

6.  Direct evidence that soy isoflavones genistein and daidzein suppress the pituitary-thyroid axis in middle-aged rats fed 10 mg soy isoflavones per kilo after only 3 weeks as compared with rats eating regular rat chow (Experimental Biology and Medicine 2010 May;235(5):590-8).

7.  Don’t eat soy when you are pregnant ladies!  Scientific research has shown that the developing male fetus which is exposed to soy phytoestrogens may suffer from higher susceptibility to prostate cancer later in life (Prostate 1994;24(2):67-78).

8.  Keep that soy away from your daughters!   Dietary genistein (soy phytoestrogen) in developing female rats had the effect of significantly accelerated puberty (Toxicol Sci 1999 Oct;51(2):236-44).

9.  Hey guys! Soy protein powder strips your masculinity!  A study of 12 men aged 18 years and older experienced a 19% drop in serum testosterone in only 28 days when supplemented with 56 grams of soy protein powder over that same time period (Prev 2007;16:829–33).

10.  Do NOT feed soy formula to your babies!  Female newborns who are orally exposed to genisin, the glycosylated form of genistein (soy phytoestrogen) experienced harm to the reproductive system in the form of “delayed vaginal opening… abnormal estrous cycles, decreased fertility, and delayed parturition.” (Environmental Health Perspective 2009 Dec;117(12):1883-9).

This is only 10 of the reason you should totally eliminate soy from your diet.  If you are interested in more studies, google and read the article, “The Whole Soy Story.”