[JayEll]

I've been doing well on Medifast for the past week, but I've developed some burning and tingling in my mouth, especially the inside of my lips. I associate this with food allergy or food intolerance, and I'm thinking it might be the soy protein.

I'm going to try to use the meals that don't contain soy and see whether the symptoms improve.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Jay

[abluvion]

Hmm... That sounds uncomfortable! I have not experienced this particular side effect, so I'm no help. But there are a number of soy-free MF meals you could try for a while to see if the problem goes away. Have you ever had trouble with soy before? If the problem persists, you could try eliminating gluten, too. MF meals are all handily marked whether they are GF or not. Now, I don't know what the intersection of soy-free and gluten-free is, you might be stuck with one food at that point

Good luck, though. I hope you get this problem settled. Have to checked out the boards on the MyMedifast site to ask around for others with this issue?

[JayEll]

I've posted for the Registered Dietitian, who said to make sure I drink enough water, and maybe it's a food allergy, in which case I should stop eating the foods that seem to cause it. Well, that's pretty much all the meals at this point.

I'm so disappointed...

Jay

[abluvion]

Oh no! That is really too bad I wonder if there is some line you can stay under for your body, as in, cutting back on meals per day? Use MF as a supplement to another plan? Maybe you have a threshold of tolerance.

There are no *real* substitutes for MF, but as I am sure you know, the options out there for diets are endless Maybe a modified South Beach would work for you? Or Nutrisystem, if you valued the meal ease/delivery over the low-carb aspect... I dunno. I hope you find something that works for you. I'm really sorry you can't stay on MF

[JayEll]

Unfortunately I had kind of set this up as my "last hope"--the easy, no-nonsense, no preparation program where I could just do what I was told, eat what I was given, and lose weight. And that is how it was working.

So I guess I have to think again.

I wanted to try Medifast because I have burned out on tracking, counting, weighing, entering into database...

Time to regroup.

Jay

[Sequi 2008]

I suggest you see a doctor, who can test for specific food allergies. That way, you can be sure exactly what you're dealing with. It should also help you pick a different diet plan if that's what's called for.

[JayEll]

Really? See a doctor? Huh! Who would have thought?

Jay

[Sequi 2008]

I just discovered something that may be useful to you. Medifast posts official allergen information here

This document lists which of their products do not contain which common allergens. And yes, they do have products that do not contain soy. So if the problem is soy, it still may be possible to continue on Medifast (but with a much more limited menu.)

It's also possible the problem ISN'T soy, but is one of the other common allergens. In that case, this list may help you avoid those as well. That's why I was suggesting allergy testing.

Allergy testing is subject to a lot of false positives, but it's much more accurate if you're trying to confirm an allergy for a specific allergen. And while your regular doctor can conduct allergy tests, you get better results with a specialist (because of those false positives.) We recently had allergy testing experiences with one of my kids.

[Sequi 2008]

I'm reading their list more closely. Their foods without soy are very limited, to some soups (tomato), drinks (teas and punch), eggs, soft serves, and a couple of shakes.

That's pretty much a liquid diet. You might find a prepared food diet that is based on a whey protein isolate instead of soy. The Kashi bars use whey protein, not soy. South Beach bars use soy protein isolate.

Or maybe use Kashi bars/egg whites to supplement Medifast eggs, soups, drinks, soft serves, and shakes.

[JayEll]

Thanks for going to the trouble, Sequi 2008. I did all that, too, before I started, because I have had trouble with soy protein isolate before. I even sent an email to the company that makes the isolate for Medifast. They sent me something saying Oh no, no one has ever had a problem.

But, I developed a problem anyway, and I have let them all know about it. By the time I stopped, even the whey protein foods, like the cappucino, were giving me trouble.

It's a "food intolerance," not a "food allergy," and the main distinction there is that with an intolerance, a person can still have some small exposure to the food without a reaction.

I am an older person--I imagine a lot older than you--and I have had allergies all my life. I have found that you can go on a merry chase with allergist M.D.s and end up knowing exactly what you knew to start with.

I don't have any trouble with whole soy foods--just the protein isolate. It's something about the way they prepare the isolate. They break it into tiny pieces, and some of those tiny pieces are able to cross undigested into my bloodstream and cause a reaction. As long as it's not a lot, it's not a problem. But I can't be eating protein isolate five times a day...

Yeah, I have already checked out other protein bars. Anything that has soy protein isolate as the first ingredient is definitely off my list.

I'm working on trying to come up with substitutions. It's not nearly as convenient, but I think if I want to follow a low-carb, low-fat, high protein regimen, I'll have to put some effort into it given my situation.

Jay

[geoblewis]

I quit Medifast for a very strong soy intolerance. Didn't even realize I had it until I was on Medifast for a week and gained weight. I didn't get a skin reaction, but I felt really horrible. Extreeme lethargy and overall muscle aches. I too wrote to the people that produced the soy isolate and was told the same thing. But when I went on a two-day water fast and started testing foods, everything that had any form of soy in it affected me.

I've been aggressively avoiding soy for over a year now and am feeling so much better. Apparently I've had this intolerance to soy for a very long time. And I've lost weight because I have cut out all processed foods (nearly everything processed has soy in it, even tuna!) and protein sources that have been fed soy. I even get reactions from eating eggs or chicken that has been fed soy. There are sciency people who tell me that's not possible, and yet, my body is telling me otherwise. Just yesterday I tried food at Chipotle and felt a reaction, then later learned they used soybean oil to cook everything. And their literature says how soybean oil is not listed as an allergen. Again, my body tells me otherwise!

It's been a long, hard year, but I have started to lose weight by avoiding all forms of soy, eating grass-fed meats, or wild-caught fish (even farmed fish is fed soy), and eating all organic vegetables and fruit. I had to quit bread and chocolates that uses soy lecithin in it. I'm also very carb sensitive, so nothing with milled flours or any form of added sugar. It all sounds very restrictive, but I really feel so good now! Full of energy! Going back to any processed foods puts a huge restriction on my life, on my natural flow of energy. I stick to a Paleolithic diet about 90% of the time, plus I have drastically cut my calories, which is what going on the Medifast would have meant for me, and I am finally losing weight again.

I look at the whole Medifast experience as a good thing. It illuminated something in my life that was really hurting me and got me on the right path. I have gotten notes from people who sell the product and try to refute my experience. Whatever! It works for some people, but not for me! And not for some others too! Don't hang all your hopes on the one product. You will find your way. Keep trying, because giving up on yourself is not where you want to go!

[JayEll]

Thanks for posting, geoblewis. I have heard that fatigue can be a symptom, but not about the muscle aches. More often it's gastro symptoms, skin rashes, hives, and respiratory symptoms. Mine are both gastro and skin.

And I have to say I'm a little skeptical about the reaction to chicken or fish when the chickens or fish have been fed soy--that makes no sense to me as a biologist. But, that doesn't mean it's impossible. And your experience is what it is.

How did you test the foods to find out it was soy?

No one at Medifast tried to refute what I was saying, and I'm sure that's because people like you have already paved the way.

Jay

[geoblewis]

Jay, I went on an elimination diet. First started with a two-day water fast. After one day of fasting, I felt a surge in energy, and by the second day, a lot of my fuzzy mental issues were starting to go away. I had been struggling with lethargy for such a long time. I was put on CPAP for sleep apnea, so I assumed my device wasn't putting out enough air for me to breathe at night, but tests in the sleep lab said otherwise.

Anyway, after that I started eating some basic organic fruits and vegetables. I avoided all the most common foods to which people reported reactions. I ate only grass-fed meat or wild caught fish. When I didn't get reactions to any of that stuff, I slowly started adding other unprocessed foods. Some things caused a reaction, like turkey patties. I went back to the package and found that there was soy in the meat, added as filler. This was a Jenni-O product that looked like fresh ground turkey that was merely formed into patties.

So then I started looking at all processed meats and learned to avoid hot dogs, sausages, ground meats, cold cuts, etc. There were poultry products from some producers that bothered me, and others that didn't. All the chicken from big poultry producers bothers me. Most eggs bother me too. A lot of dairy bothers me. But I found that dairy from grass-fed organic milk doesn't bother me (except that I'm also lactose-intolerant!), which led me to finding soy-free cage-free organic egg producers. And those eggs didn't bother me!

Then I went on to testing myself on processed foods. I confirmed that I'm insulin-resistant and carb-sensitive. Used my blood glucose monitor to confirm that. I'm also sensitive to carbs in legumes. Any food with soy made me lethargic, sleepy and achy within 20 minutes of ingesting it.

I then ventured to other products that used soy. Like cosmetics. So, that explained why all the "natural" make-up products that were soy-based still bothered me. Can't use anything with an SPF factor in it either. Don't know if that's soy-related, but something in there irritates my eyes and I still feel the achiness and lethargy. Have found some plastics have soy, candles and other scented items.

Eventually I came to accept that I must adhere to a Paleolithic diet, with an occasional dip into cheeses from organic, grass-fed milk sources. Most of my carbs come from vegetable sources. I avoid all milled grains and most sweeteners. No reduced-calorie diet foods either. I also discovered I get a reaction to anything with nitrates/nitrites in it, so even most wines are avoided. And that's the rough one!

Eating clean like this, plus following an intermittent fasting plan has helped me the most with losing weight and feeling better. And feeling as good as I do is so much more important to me than having to say good-bye to all the processed foods and beverages I used to eat/drink. I used to feel sorry for myself, but I'm happy to say I finally grew up!

Best of luck to you!

[prog]

Many folks are also allergic to all that soy. It is too much soy to eat everyday consistently. Medifast needs to create Whey based products for all their foods. Right now they have just a few items that are Whey based. Not nearly enough to sustain someone who is allergic. I am using a Whey based rtd shake that is a fraction of the cost of Medifast. I've also found a Whey based protein bar that tastes great. I'm using my Whey substitutes and am getting the same results as with using all that soy--yuch. That being said, I enjoy the fast motivating results I get with 5 in 1 that keep me on the program. Ive done other programs and I get frustrated with all that counting and tracking---only to lose 1/2 pound in a week. You keep on trying!

[Nana4OSU]

What whey protein bar did you find to replace the Medifast soy based bars?