Hi all, I've been lacto-vegetarian for about 2 years, and I'm trying to transition to vegan, and my nutritionist has been telling me to each protein every time I eat, so I've been trying to incorporate soy milk into my diet.

But everytime I have a glass, it makes my stomache really hurt--is this a normal, passing thing, or should I just give up on soy milk? I've eaten other soy products--tofu, tempah, veggie burgers, etc. for years and have never had a problem.

Thanks all.

what brand of soymilk are you drinking? some people are sensitive to the carageenan in soymilks like silk and sun soy.

One of my mottos is: If it hurts, don't do it. You can get protein with plenty of other foods.

Does it happen with all soy products, or just soy milk? If it's just the milk, it's likely the carageenan.

It might be the carageenan added to a lot of soymilks. Try a carageenan free soymilk.

It's hard to tell without more info, but yea, if you're stomache hurts with soy milk then either a) you're sensitive to something in it and a brand change might solve your problem or b)you might have an all-around sensitivity to soy milk and may well have to find your sources of protien elsewhere.

But without more information, it's pretty hard to tell.

sounds like its a carageenan thing to me.... she did say she has eaten "tofu, tempah, veggie burgers" for years with no problem, so i wouldn't think it would be the soy...

What is carageenan?

its from seaweed.

its from seaweed.
Learn a new term now.....

thanks for the advice, what a great site! I had tried 8th continent chocolate soy milk, someone had suggested it, and it does have carageenan in it, so I'll try another brand. I don't think it's the soy, because I've eaten lots of soy stuff since I was a kid, and I've never had this problem.

Maybe it is the 8th continent brand as it contains an animal product (their vitamin d is not plant based, it is animal based). They also are one of the very few soymilk companies that use GMO soybeans. If you try another brand, your problem may go away.

FR - Plus I tried the 8th Continent Light (vanilla) once - it was nazzzty.

Ha, FR! Let's not get extreme and suggest that the source of the vitamin could upset someone's stomach. :lol:

Yeah, it probably wasn't the vitamin d, could be the GMO soybeans though. Hopefully knowing that 8th Continent contains an animal product will be enough to keep vegetarians away from it.

Yeah, it probably wasn't the vitamin d, could be the GMO soybeans though. Hopefully knowing that 8th Continent contains an animal product will be enough to keep vegetarians away from it.

I can't imagine why a company would put animal stuff in soy milk, but thanks for the info. I'm working right now on phasing out dairy in general, I haven't started tracking down the smaller stuff yet.

If you can find it in your area, I recommend Silk brand soy milk. Especially the chocolate. It's vegan and it's very good stuff. :hungry:

I think that Silk contains carageenan, though...

I have the same problem with soy milk if I drink too much of it. My stomach hurts and then I fart like a wild beast :D I drink rice milk instead, and when I use soy milk (like Silk in my coffee) I use small enough amounts that it doesn't bother me. I like rice milk better, anyway.

I tried silk vanilla soy milk once and I thought it had a rather funky aftertaste... does rice milk have this? I know its not going to taste exactly like real milk that I have grown so used to, but I dont want it to have this funky bitter after taste either... but I dont want animal products in it either,,, what brands of rice milk dont have animal products?... is there anyway I can tell when reading the ingrediants?

I drink Rice Dream, the original enriched one. The non-enriched is good too. I'd say it's closer to the consistency of skim milk, and is definitely less cloying than soy milk. I don't think it has a funky aftertaste unless you think rice is funky... I definitely can tell it's from rice, by the flavor. (The vanilla and choc versions might be less ricey, I haven't tried them.)

I also tried a Trader Joe's brand rice milk, made from basmati rice, and wow! was it ricey. I liked it but I wouldn't want it all the time. :)

I've never seen animal ingredients in Rice Milk, but I haven't really perused the ingredients lists either. It sounds like what you need is a list of "hidden" animal ingredients... I think the PETA website has one, and probably a quick search around this forum would turn one up too. :)

i've never tried original rice dream but the vanilla (enriched, of course) doesn't taste rice-like to me. it definitely tastes closer to skim milk than silk does (altho i haven't had real milk in years and years so i could be wrong about this). i agree that it doesn't leave an aftertaste and doesn't make my throat all clotty like silk does.

I love Vanilla Rice Dream... :love:

So rice milk tastes like...rice? I was thinking of trying some instead of soy milk, but I don't realyl have that much money and I don't want to waste anything. Does rice and soy milk taste sort of the same?

If you can find it in your area, I recommend Silk brand soy milk. Especially the chocolate. It's vegan and it's very good stuff. :hungry:


yup, silk is delicious.... its my fave. :) but it also contains carageenan, which can cause stomach aches. most of the other brands that come in the aseptic packs don't contain carageenan, i think.