I'll try to have a couple of these posts a week (at the rate I'm going I might have a couple a day, but the ideas just happen to fresh right now). I want to provide you with a list of off-limits food, as well as foods that might be okay, depending on the label.
First, let's start with the label ingredients. Everyone can figure out the obvious ones like soy, soybean oil, soy oil, soy lecithin, etc. But soy comes in many shapes, sizes, and names. Xanthan gum is one of those. I noticed xanthan gum on the label for some flavored nuts the other day.
Another super secret soy hiding place? Natural flavors. Yep, anytime you
see the words 'natural flavors' on an ingredients list, there's at
least a 90% chance it contains soy. Not because the food in question is
soy-flavored, but because soy is the carrying agent for all of those
'natural flavors'. This nixes most pre-packaged, processed foods, even
if it didn't already contain soy. Things like canned baked beans, canned
soup, potato chips (one exception being Lays Kettle Cooked with Sea
Salt, yum!).
And yet another place for soy to hide? Fresh fruit and vegetables. Yep, the only option that should be assumed safe. I read an article not too long ago about a new product that fruit and veggie producers are using. And guess what - it's organic! I can't escape this stuff! Anyway, this new organic soy-based product is sprayed on fruit and it's pretty magical. If the fruit isn't ripe yet, it speeds up the ripening process. BUT if the fruit is already ripe, it slows the senescence (layman's terms: rotting) of the fruit so that it has a longer shelf life. According the article, this stuff is called Xedabio, and is soy lecithin-based. Of course. I wash my produce before I eat it anyway, but who's to say that some of the soy isn't actually leaching into the edible parts? I don't want to have to peel half an inch off my apple before I eat it....
And just to re-iterate what should be obvious by now: All processed foods are off-limits. This includes bread, cookies, crackers, candy bars, frozen meals, and pretty much anything else you buy in the 'center' of the grocery store. Chocolate is on the list, too. I actually haven't looked at popsicles yet. I know ice cream has soy lecithin because it's used as an emulsifying agent, but surely an all-fruit popsicle would be acceptable. I'll just have to check it out next time I'm at my most favoritest place:
