The holidays are always a time when people indulge in food that may not be the healthiest. This is true of omnivores and vegans alike. The difference between the two is that vegans often like to pretend their alternatives to meat-based rich holiday foods are actually healthy. Here's where I need to call out my fellow vegans who believe this. Here's where I need to make a plea to demand more, because only then will food manufacturers do better in providing truly healthy alternatives.
I've got news for you, vegans: Soy is NOT a health food. I've got more news for you: You probably ate too much soy even *before* going vegan. And even more news: Seitan is only the lesser of the evils, as we become more aware of the prevalence of gluten sensitivities.
We've been led astray, vegans. In our fervor to find a healthier diet style, we have embraced other foods that, in some ways, aren't much better than the foods they replaced. Soy is implicated in numerous health problems from breast cancer to thyroid function to hormone imbalance to nutritional deficiencies due to the negative impacts of phytic acids. You can find countless scientific journal articles of study results on some of these issues. Meanwhile we are told soy is healthy for us, a complete protein, but when you dig deeper, those painting the picture of soy as a health food tend to fall into two categories: those involved with marketing soy for financial gain or those who would love to think soy is healthy for them (mainly vegans, vegetarians, and menopausal women wanting a natural alternative to treat the symptoms of menopause). We need to ask ourselves who is likely to be more impartial. We need to face the hard truth that our beloved tofu may not be so beloved for our bodies, instead of believing the convenient lie.
Furthermore, we need to start reading labels. Soy derivatives are in practically every bread, cereal, cracker, margarine, soup, and chocolate bar on the market. Add up all the soybean oil, soy lecithin, textured vegetable protein, and soy sauce that even omnivores eat, it's likely to add up to more soy than in the touted healthful Asian diets. It then becomes clear why replacing cow's milk with soy milk, cheese with soy cheese, and meats with soy-based meat alternatives sends us to soy overboard very fast!
Those of us who have begun to realize the dangers of soy may turn to nut or rice milks and seitan-based meat substitutes. But it is becoming increasingly clear that gluten is not as easily digested by humans as we once thought. Elusive gluten sensitivites are often difficult to track down; often the only way to diagnose gluten sensitivity is to eliminate it in the diet and note if this causes the disappearance of symptoms. Sometimes it does; sometimes it's inconclusive. But one thing that is clear is that we don't fully understand all the ramifications of consuming the vast amounts of gluten in the typical Western diet. Not to mention that seitan products often contain soy in the form of tamari or soy sauce added to give a saltier flavor.
So if soy is unacceptable and seitan is not the greatest either, what's left? Simply put: nothing for anyone without time to make homemade veggie burgers, homemade veggie sausages, and other such meat substitutes. For this mother of a busy family of 5, I do not have that kind of time. We need to demand more. Time has shown us that food manufacturers have eagerly tapped into the faux meat market and more and more convenience foods have become available to vegans, vegetarians, and those seeking to reduce their meat consumption. It is "easier" now to be vegan than ever, except that you must be willing to accept high levels of soy, sodium, and wheat in your diet for the sake of convenience. That makes your Thanksgiving tofurky not much more healthy than the real deal. But if we stop buying these poor excuses for "healthy" alternatives, companies will be forced to re-think their tired go-to's of soy and seitan when devising meat alternatives.
There are a few such products on the market--Sunshine Burgers, So-Delicious coconut ice cream and yogurt, and Daiya nondairy nonsoy cheese come to mind, as a prime examples. But there is a decided paucity of soy-free, wheat-free wholesome vegan prepared foods to choose from. And yet there are plenty of viable alternatives that could be pursued. Take Hemp-Fu for example, an alternative to soy-based tofu made from hemp and sold in Italy: http://www.armoniaebonta.it/vediProdotto_EN.aspx?id=7 A quick google search will turn up tons of *recipes* for non-soy tofu and tempeh and veggie burgers and roasts, but very few commercially sold products premade, demonstrating both that soy-free, wheat-free meat alternatives *can* be made and that despite this, they are *not* being made commercially. There's no reason there couldn't be more to choose from except that vegans are just as happy to gobble up soy and stick their heads in the sand, so that there's no need for food manufacturers to be innovative or come up with alternatives. Now is the time to demand more.
Once there's demand, supply will follow. In the meantime, this Thanksgiving, I'll be cooking up a Celebration Field Roast, which is at least soy-free albeit high in sodium and gluten. In addition, I'll be making my gravy with Coconut Aminos instead of Braggs or soy sauce, my mashed potatoes will be made with almond or hemp milk, and my veggies will be smothered in soy-free Earth Balance margarine. I'll do my best to minimize the amount of soy and gluten in our feast, while optimizing for how much I do not need to make from scratch. This is my compromise for the time being, but of course at no point will I delude myself into believing it to be the healthiest meal possible--it will be healthier than most people's feast, and some day maybe with a little more progress in the faux meat and faux dairy market, it will be what I'd consider a healthy enough meal to be truly thankful for.
