Oh Soy! The Soy Question for Peanut Allergy Sufferers

Avoiding Peanuts? I’ve got it! Keeping my son away from peanuts has become such a part of my life that even when my son is grown and moved out, I will still probably never eat a peanut, peanut product, or anything cross contaminated with peanuts!

We are diligent where we eat, carry both the Epi Pen and Benadryl with us everywhere we go (even if I am running in the bank with him to make a deposit!), let the restaurant know about his peanut allergy, eat most of the time at home, and I give training to anyone that will be watching him.

But, once I got everything squared away, feeling confident about our level of preparation and Emergency Action Plan with the peanut allergy, I read about the dangers of soy for people with peanut allergies (of course!). What? I had never, in my life, thought about avoiding soy. My son drank soy milk because he had a milk allergy. When he had his skin test, soy showed no reaction. But these stories I was reading really frightened me. A few children with peanut allergies and no previous reaction to soy were having violent reactions to it without warning. I was really torn on what to.

So, I simply decided to eliminate as much soy as possible without losing concentration on his peanut allergy. The risk seems to be very small with the soy. But so is the risk of getting in a car accident driving down the street, and we use our seatbelts and car seats when we do that!

I threw away anything in my house that contained soy. Yet, I did not throw away anything that was simply processed in a facility with soy (on the other hand, I do not buy or serve anything that may be contaminated with peanuts. See Cross Contamination).

Pre packaged Rice Krispie treats had soy in them. But, the cereal didn’t (or at least the generic didn’t). So, I whipped up my own. Honestly, I didn’t even measure the margarine and marshmallows so it was a breeze! I ditched the Hamburger Helper with soy and instead mixed hamburger meat with macaroni to make my own version of Cheeseburger Helper. I made my own spaghetti. The thing that hurt was the Nutri Grain Bars. I have been buying them at Sam’s b/c my son loves them. Thankfully, Enjoy Life makes an allergy free one. They are double the price and I can’t buy them in bulk. But it’s a small sacrifice for his extra safety and my peace of mind!

When I threw away my soy products, I saw it actually wasn’t that much and I could find a replacement for most things I did throw away. So, at this point, it doesn’t’ seem we will be missing out on any of our favorite foods.

I have decided to continue only informing the waiter about my son’s peanut allergy when we go out to eat. I am not going to talk about soy because I know peanuts can kill my son within minutes. The chances of him turning anaphylactic towards soy are slim. I want the waiter and chef to concentrate on the peanut allergy and risk of cross contamination with them. The Epi Pen and Benadryl and cell phone will still always be attached to our side in case something does happen so I feel confident doing this.

At this point, the changes haven’t that hard so we will continue with this plan until more information comes out on this.