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In case anyone is interested, my name is Samantha and I'm a 23 year old graduate student in the department of Slavic Language and Literature at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
Hi! I just bought The Kind Diet about a week ago and I read it in one sitting. Everything that Alicia wrote resonated with me deeply. I've been a vegetarian on and off since I was about 12. I really identified with Alicia's stories of 'forgetting' that you were vegetarian or sneaking meat, etc etc... I definitely started out that way as a child and as I got older I just found excuses to justify returning to meat ("Its organic!" or "its grassfed!") - this doesn't make up for the fact that I would never, ever be able to watch an animal suffer and die for my gastronomic pleasures. Recently, my fiance and I both decided to stop eating meat, FOR GOOD! I'm also cutting out dairy and eggs. I'm excited to venture into a new world. I'm also looking forward to learning how to listen to my body. I am an impulsive eater (if I want a cookie... I WANT IT NOW!) and have recently gained quite a bit of weight (15lbs.) I'm really hoping to lose this weight and in the process learn what it means to truly nourish the body.
I have a question about not eating soy while trying to do the vegan thang. I have a suspicion that I may be sensitive to soy. Any tips for someone who has a soy intolerance and is vegan. I feel like its difficult to find food that doesn't have soy in it - but then again I suppose that sticking to a strictly plant-based diet should be the solution.
One complaint for Alicia Silverstone: I had no idea what a Rice Dream Mint Pie was before I read this book... I have eaten 3 in the past week. THIS MUST STOP! They are soooooooo good. : )
Welcome Samantha!!
I don't eat a lot of soy although this week, I did buy tofu and have been adding it to my miso soup.
Being soy free shouldn't be hard. Stick to legumes, whole grains, nuts, veggies and fruit for the most part. If you want 'convenience' foods, there are definitely soy free convenience foods and even coconut milk, rice milk and hemp milk ice creams. There are also some very good soy-free burgers on the market including Sunshine burgers but there are others as well, I'd recommend reading the labels to see what are in them if you want to go in that direction.
I also don't ever plan to find out what a rice dream mint pie tastes like, in that case, I think it may be better not to know, at least for me :)
Instead of soy milk drink rice,almond or hemp milk. Instead of tofu and tempeh eat seitan as a protein source and meat substitute. Beans and seeds are also good soy-free protein sources. You can also make soy-free bean burgers. They make rice based vegan cheeses as well. I personally don't like any of the cheese substitutes but lots of people do. If you stick to the grains,beans or seitan and vegetables with seeds at most meals you can get tons of variety without ever missing soy.
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