*Dont eat foods from a packet.
*Mix your own ingredients.
*Make your own salad dressing/condiments.
*Choose the fresher products.
*Lyndt 85% - no soy.

Other than that its a mine field out there. Soy is in every-bloody-thing!

Yup, just like everyone else said. Don't eat anything with ingredients, only eat food that are ingredients. That means no packaged or processed food. It's more work for you, but healthier and worth it.

The easy answer would be to not eat anything with a label. It will change the way you think, look and feel about food.

Savvy label readers who eat all organic and pay attention to what they are reading and eating should have not problem. I agree with everything above -- don't buy foods in packets unless they are from Paleo guys like Steve's Original, Paleo Treats and others who won't eat soy either.

I make my own salad dressing at home or use Tessa Mae's (buy at Whole Foods) or just use olive oil and vinegar at a restaurant. I also go out a lot less than I used to. I'm a lot healthier and happier (and thinner) for it.

Isn't amazing how craptastic almost ALL "food" (or food like products) are? Soy, gluten, HFCS, partially hydrogenated oils, are in EVERYTHING.

The simple answer is to make most of your own foods, whenever possible-- as much as I love going out for dinner, I find myself going out less and less.. but when I do go out, I often will call or email the restaurant ahead of time to ask what on their menu is both gluten-free and soy-free.

If I haven't called/emailed ahead, I interrogate, um, I mean ask the server what on the menu is both gluten and soy-free-- I almost always opt for a salad (and I bring my own dressing-- or ask for lemon and olive oil) as those are almost universally the best option-- whenever possible, I opt for sushi restaurants and get sushi wrapped in cucumber or handrolls with no rice (I ask them to add avocado in lieu of rice)-- and I bring coconut aminos.

I'm mildly/moderately allergic to soy. The allergy manifests as scaly, itchy, red rashes on my chest and the backs of my upper arms.

I can eat small amounts, infrequently, without trouble. So having soy sauce with sushi every couple of months is fine. But regular exposure to even small amounts of soy brings on the rashes again. So, long before I even heard of paleo, I was reading ingredient lists in order to avoid soy.

And soy? It's in EVERYTHING. And it's under a lot of different names (hydrolyzed vegetable/plant protein is a big one). So I've ended up doing most of my own cooking and making a lot of things from scratch for a long time now.

Soybean oil never bothered me, because it's straight fat--there are no soy proteins to cause a reaction. But soybean oil is among the industrial seed oils that I no longer eat. So things like mayo and salad dressings? I make my own. It's not hard, it's so much cheaper than buying pre-made it's just ridiculous, and after a lot of playing around with spices and fresh herbs I've discovered a whole new world beyond Italian and Ranch.

When I go out to eat, I generally stick to salads and grilled meat. I've found that the better restaurants--the ones that use fresh ingredients, rather than getting 3/4 of the menu off a Sysco truck--pose the fewest problems, and I can enjoy a lot more options. But cheap "family style" restaurants and all of the chains? I'll stick to the salad, with lemon wedges, salt, and pepper instead of dressing.

I don't eat out very often, to be honest. Between the expense, and my dislike of having to ask about what's in the food, I find it's easier to cook at home with whole ingredients.

As for defining a minimal amount of soy one can safely consume, I think that's up to each individual. You may be perfectly fine consuming trace amounts--especially if you're not snacking on edamame, drinking soymilk, eating processed foods bulked out with soy-derived fillers, or eating lots of soy-based fake cheese or meat.

Eliminating all soy in all forms can be stressful and anxiety-producing. And that's more unhealthy, IMO, than ingesting occasional small or trace amounts of soy. So I think that, for someone who is not allergic, cutting out the big sources of soy, then gradually chipping away at some of the lesser ones, is a perfectly reasonable option.

What's your definition of insane? I read all the labels and don't buy it if there is any soy in it. Sometimes they sneak it in on me, and I'll get a pimple or something. Aggravating. The worst is when you find a brand that doesn't have it, and then they decide to go and put it in. Can't trust the bastards.

Go insane. It doesn't hurt much. Chocolate cravings are sometimes harder to deal with, but it pays off in the end. No pimples and higher quality chocolate.