Vegetarian foods / meat substitutes

General Discussion
#1

We know that Soy can affect people here poorly, sometimes without warning- someone can eat it regularly without issue and then have a problem later.

I wondered how many people here eat meat substitutes, and if they’ve had a problem with them.

Personally, I’d like to reduce my meat consumption for a number of reasons, but I would appreciate it if those who have opinions on whether eating more or less meat is a good/bad thing would keep their opinions out of this topic.

I’m only interested to hear about people’s experiences of meat substitutes. I’d like it if people were able to name brands and products produced by that brand and their experiences of them.

Thanks.

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#2

Hello @Greek up to a few years ago I was still eating all foods as normal inclusive of 5ars without issue. Once the food reactions started meat substitutes inevitably joined the list, one of the last do so. Previously I’d get my protein siurces from fish, chicken Linds McCartney products and occasional red meat… I now eat a lot of red meat as a forced alternative to manage symptoms. I used to eat LM mozeralla burgers and mince a few times per week. They were delicious. Maybe give them a try who knows. Hope you find this of some use.

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#3

Cheers mate. I’m quite keen to try the new pea protein stuff, but I’ve been warned off them because of some of the other ingredients (coconut oil could be an issue).

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#4

Coconut effects me too but generally with food it’s not as bad if you stop it upon issue so worth a shot/trying.

Again I used to drink a glass of carrot juice daily and coconut juice on gym days but cant touch a drop and only drink water now. I can still have peas in small amounts.

For me I ate certain food types almost daily which I think exaggerated the issue once that particular switch flicked on. If Id been aware rotating these may have helped and lessened my bodies changes. So you could even consider introducing them on an occasional basis with a slow build. Sorry if stating the obvious.

Good luck mate and keep me/us posted.

#5

It’s a real minefield with food appearing to be a 5-AR … did we compile a definitive list of them at one point? Can’t recall where it’s located.

Personally I found that making stuff from scratch works best. Takes a bit more time but you have control over everything. I eat meat-based meals some nights, vegetarian on others. This is a good book… the ingredients are all obtainable and the recipes are often fast…

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#6

Out of interest what’s the situation with peas? Did you find they are identified as 5-AR or are you having some other bad reaction? I was considering using pea protein powder. The other option is rice protein powder.

#7

I’m unsure Pete Im sensitive to almost everything I don’t know if my Pfs has gone to a new level or maybe my gut is damaged or my immune system attacks everything it’s so complex. Jacket potatoes, butter, red meat seem to be my only friends. I’m at a loss however peas contain magnesium, Vit D b6 none of which I can take as a supp which is possibly why I can only tolerate them in small amounts occasionally.

#8

In the beginning of my PFS, I ate mainly meat because I was unable to tolerate grains or meatless alternatives. For several years I have not eaten meat at all, but now I tolerate lentils, chickpeas, mung beans, string beans and gluten-free grains (sorghum, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, brown rice) well or very well. PFS is a very strange disease, because it seems that most people here tolerate meat much better than its substitutes. Note, however, that I did about 10 fasts (water or juice) lasting from 7 to 21 days, which probably helped me heal my gut a lot and something changed my microbiome. Currently, even if I eat very good quality meat (stewed, boiled or baked), I have very serious digestive problems (gas, constipation, flatulence, liver pain, stomach pain, kidney pain, etc.), and it additionally increases my fatigue, brain fog, gynecomastia and gives a headache. Almost all these problems disappear when I stop eating meat (but the hardest thing is to get rid of flatulence and speed up the metabolic rate). Vegan protein or eggs are not problematic for me (possibly there are much less of these problems than due to eating meat).

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#9

In my early months of PFS, I was still dedicated to a fully vegan diet that I had already done for about 3 years prior. I ate lots of soy-based meat replacements. (Tempeh was wonderful in my spicy curry instead of chicken!) I never had any nutritional or health problems in those years. Certainly not sexual ones.

Given that PFS is induced by an anti-androgenic endocrine disruptor, I didn’t want to risk skewing my hormones one way or the other. Soy has been shown to behave as both estrogenic and anti-estrogenic according to studies, which are quite conflicting conclusions and it makes it a complex issue where there are differences involved between different soy-based products and their various methods of processing.
Then there’s couple of reports from people who had adverse effects that they personally attributed to soy food consumption, so I got scared off of it. I don’t really know whether I have given in to fearmongering or whether there is truth to it, but I didn’t want to take a potentially big risk out of pride.

So I went back to a more regular / varied omnivore diet, in hopes my body would ‘heal better’ if it had a slightly different nutrient intake. I never really consciously avoided 5-ari foods or anything like that (it would help to have a comprehensive list of 5ari foods and their potency/risk factor per weight) and I would say that my personal condition has been overall very stable, with some mild fluctuations.
I did see minor improvements over time in my condition, but these could very well be due to time and there was no notable ‘sudden-ish’ change in symptoms for me that I can definitely attribute to the diet shift.

I have also tried alternatives for soy-protein, like chickpea-based protein. I seemed to have no problems with eating those, but a non-soy vegan diet was a bit too shake-dependent and unsatisfactory for my tastebuds to remain fully enjoyable. I don’t like quinoa, lol.

I also consume(d) coconut-based products like coconut oil and coconut milk on the regular (still do) and I do not feel these have any adverse effects on me personally. Oat / almond milk are also fine.

Most brands of those products that I consumed back then are Dutch (vegetarian butcher, etc.) but there are a couple of brands that I believe are more international, Vivera and Quorn for example.
Alpro and Oatly for drinks. I have never had problems with any of their stuff.
That said, I have not consumed much soy-heavy foods after I got PFS and switched diets, so I’m not sure if I can really promote it all as safe.

Hope it helps

#10

That does help, thanks. I’ve slowly reintroduced some things that I used to eat, I don’t worry about tomatoes, nuts, etc now. I don’t eat much coconut, but I have just remembered that I ate a few Thai green curries, which will definitely have had coconut milk in.

I might cautiously try a few small pieces of pea protein things and see how I get on.

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#11

Not sure if you saw this one but there is a recent report of someone with bad experiences with coconut stuff. Who knows, maybe cutting it from my diet might be beneficial. Please be careful