TVP

[Donna C]

I recently made a dish with TVP and elbow macaroni ( no cheese ) to see how well it would be on the trail. Within an hour I was in the bathroom and intestinally purging and my gut was grumbling. I know it is made from soy, and I don't really eat much soy at all. Is this an allergic reaction? Has anyone else reacted to TVP like this?

[Kate Moody]

I eat TVP a lot and have never had that reaction, so it sounds like either a soy allergy or posibly food poisoning (seems less likely). Food allergies can be pretty bad, and your doctor can administer a test to make sure. Hopefully it was a fluke, TVP is extremely useful and will be a major part of my personal backpacking food.

[Valerie E]

Sometimes, suddenly adding a new food (esp. in fairly high quantity) to one's diet can have some alarming results.

Maybe it's an allergy, or maybe your digestive system didn't like you "suddenly" adding TVP without prior digestive acclimatization.

Soy is such a common additive that I wonder if you would already have encountered adverse effects if the problem was just "soy".

[Gene C]

My wife is vegetarian and eats a lot of soy-based products. But she has a similar reaction to TVP. It goes right through her.

[Kimberley De Wolff]

I eat mostly vegan and definitely find TVP the hardest to digest of all the forms of soy. I do not have an allergy or anything, it's just tough on the system, especially in larger quantities (me and some friends learned this the hard way on the Rae Lakes loop). I've been considering dehydrating some seitan crumbles as an alternative (the upton's naturals brand is good stuff).

[Donna C]

It does seem very harsh. It may have just been way hard on me. I once tried some fresh miso paste and added it to hot water for soup and had the same reaction. I tried it again with less miso paste and I survived.It's good to know others have had this problem. It probably was way more than my body could handle in both instances. But I don't think I want to chance it out on the trail. Haven't tried seitan. Tofu is fine with me.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Totally normal reaction to TVP. I can only eat it in very, very small amounts (less than 1 Tablespoon dry). Oh lord…..worst night ever was Fantastic Foods burrito/taco filling. I swear childbirth felt better than the epic gas-a-thon it gave me and my friend after eating it. Lol……

So, eat little of it and drink a LOT of water.

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