Braggs and soy reaction

[ShantiDass]

One of the reasons I decided to go raw was to see how I felt off of soy. I am (was) a big tofu and soy eater and finally realized that I feel very exhausted after eating soy. So much so that I would often need a nap after having soy and have had to leave work because I am so wiped out.

I've been raw for 10 days today and things have been going fairly well. I had more energy in the beginning and the last couple of days, I come home from work and go to bed. Well, that's about the time I made a salad dressing with Bragg's. My mom is out shopping right now and was picking up some more Bragg's and called and asked if I knew that Bragg's contained soy?? I did not. The time frame fits and now I am not happy with myself. I wish I would have checked the label.

I still have so much to learn. At least I haven't had anything else except ff and veggies, oil and ACV and some nuts. Now I need to find a recipe that doesn't contain Braggs that I like. I want to scream!

[Lay-Lay]

Replace Braggs with Raw Namo shoyu. I personally love it and it does not contain soy. I have always been allergic to soy and I have no problems with Namu Shoyo (spelling???). Anyway, so sorry you are feeling bad, don't beat yourself up about not checking labels. Many raw foodist use Braggs, although I have never figured out why with what is in it.

[ShantiDass]

Thank you, thank you. I have heard of that but didn't really know what it was. Is it something I can find at a regular health food store like Whole Foods and if so, what dept. is it in?

I'm craving a salad with some dressing and my goal today is to track it down.

I am also confused as to why it is in so many raw recipes. I guess I really need to find out what is raw and what isn't.

[juliebove]

Replace Braggs with Raw Namo shoyu. I personally love it and it does not contain soy. I have always been allergic to soy and I have no problems with Namu Shoyo (spelling???). Anyway, so sorry you are feeling bad, don't beat yourself up about not checking labels. Many raw foodist use Braggs, although I have never figured out why with what is in it.

Are you sure Namo Shoyu doesn't contain soy? I thought it was raw soy sauce. And a quick Internet search indicates that it is soy.

[ShantiDass]

I looked up the ingredients on Alissa's site and it has OG whole soybeans as the first ingredient.

I guess it's time to find completely different salad dressing recipes. I was so craving something that tasted like Bragg's.

[Lay-Lay]

lol, well maybe I am mistaken them and that does make since. I am allergic to soy though and I have no problem with Namo Shoyu. I think the difference my be that most soy is tampered with and in the Namo shoyu it may not be. You may want to test it one day when you are feeling up for a possible nap. Soy have a similar reaction to me, I get really sleepy, I also break out, and I get moody and sad. I have no reaction with Namo Shoyu

Sorry if I made a mistake on my earlier post.

[Rawkinlocs]

From what I've read, Bragg's is made with wheat and not soy...BUT it's been said to 1.) not be raw and 2.) have naturally occuring MSG

Now the thing is, while Nama Shoyu is raw as in unpasturized, the soybeans used are not raw AND...it's been discovered that it also has a naturally occuring MSG - seemingly ALL soy sauce-type products have it.

----
hmmm...just checked and Bragg's has soy too and is wheat-free; Nama Shoyu has both soy and wheat...sorry, got my info. mixed up! :rolleyes:

[Lay-Lay]

well I guess it is just one of those things you have to test out on yourself if you want to use it....for me N.S. works and Braggs doesn't (P.S., the brand of N.S. I have saids on the front of the bottle no MSG's). I buy it at Life Grocery.

[ShantiDass]

Yikes! Thanks everyone for your responses. There's so much to learn.

iloverawfoods - it's interesting to read that soy makes you sad. I am starting to put this all together. Tofu was my comfort food yet it took me forever to realize what it did to me. I hadn't had any for over a week and then had the Bragg's for 2 nights in a row and again this morning and have been sleeping a lot and today am all weepy. (which is not great since I'm a counselor!) This would be when I would go have some garlic tofu and start the process all over again but now I know better.

I have been eating lightly recently and now I am starving and trying to figure out what to have and of course I want something that tastes like Bragg's. I think I shall sneak out of my office and head over to Whole Foods before I am a bad girl.

[Sharon in Colorado]

Bragg's says it is made with soybeans, water and nothing else. Except some folks have a reaction to it and have discussed that it's been hydrolized creating MSG.

Bragg's ingredients: Formulated soy protein from non-GMO soy and purified water only. No added salt, but it's salty. It says it is not fermented. Soy protein is an isolate as I understand it, so it is not a whole food.

Nama Shoyu is soy sauce with wheat. The soy was pre-cooked to make the sauce but then it wasn't post-cooked, so it is considered "living".

Nama Shoyu's ingredients: Organic whole soybeans, mountain spring water, organic whole wheat, sea salt. Contains wheat

Tamari sauce is supposed to be wheat-free, but I just noticed on my San-J bottle that there is wheat added to it. Here I thought it was wheat free. This is the first time I bought the non-organic variety though. They do have a wheat-free organic variety which is the one I usually get.

San-J Organic Wheat Free Tamari Soy Sauce's
Ingredients: Water, Whole Soybeans (OCIA certified), Salt, Alcohol (to preserve freshness)

If you look at all the ingredients, you'll see that there is not one perfect raw brand, so if you use soy sauce, you'll have to decide which one works best for your needs.

Note - I have seen on certain MSG awareness site that ANY type of soy sauce will contain naturally occuring MSG due to the processing. If it is naturally occuring and not added, they do not have to disclose it as an ingredient. Bragg's use to say "no MSG" on the label but they had to remove that as there is naturally occuring MSG even though it wasn't added.

It is important to understand that all these sauces are not fresh, whole foods, they are processed and may or may not cause a reaction. So use at your own discretion.