i have a question regarding TVP and gas
Posted by secondbase on Apr 14, 2007 · Member since Dec 2005 · 5540 posts
so i made tvp veggie burgers for the first time, but i had really bad gas issues. did i do something wrong, or is it always this ruthless? how can i avoid this in the future? the burgers i made were SO good and i don't want to have to avoid them due to the issues the tvp caused me
It's hard to know what the problem might be. What recipe did you use for the tvp burgers? I think I remember reading that if you boil it in water that it can get gassy. I've re-hydrated tvp with unbeef bouillion but I try to not let it boil. Fixed that way, I haven't noticed any "extra" gas. I don't think it's possible to be totally fart-free, though, and eat a vegetarian diet. Actually, I don't think carnivores are totally fart-free, either! To be alive is to fart sometimes. :-[
Actually, I don't think carnivores are totally fart-free, either! To be alive is to fart sometimes. :-[
Well I don't know any humans who are strict carnivores... but I know some serious meat eaters with some serious farts. ;D
I really haven't eaten a lot of TVP in my life... but we used to always take a dehydrated veggie chili mix with us when we went backpacking - it was super easy to cook up in the woods. Just add boiling water. I used to fart like crazy after that - I assumed it was the beans and spices but I wonder if it was the TVP?
This made it a bad food when we were tent camping, not so bad when we were staying in lean-tos/shelters. :)
I've got no advice, this just made me wonder. Maybe there is a fart/TVP connection.
oh well. i guess i'll have to suffer the consenquences! i'll try the non-boiling water technique and hope (for other people's sake mostly) that it works. haha
OMG!!! Sorry. No offence to secondbase, but I had to laugh at the fart talk LOL. Tintexas post was sooo funny ;D
Anyways, I never really had a problem with tvp. Until tonight. I realized, like someone else said on another thread, it tastes like dog food, if I don't soak it in hot water for a while. I don't boil it, but I just set in hot tap water for a bit. It usually works for me.
Try TSP instead.
no they are different products made by different processes and have different nutritional profiles. TVP has more protein but TSP is high enough and doesn't give my family cramps the way TVP does. I buy Bob's Red Mill TSP. It looks identical to TVP in the bag so you need to look for the S instead of the V!
Sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and keep eating the way you want to eat until your body adjusts- the first few weeks that I introduced soy into my diet, I started to question whether or not the story about the guy who suffocated in his sleep due to his own farts really was an urban legend, because it started to seem plausible to me ::)
After a while, though, your body will get used to the different foods and the gas will subside. Mine did, and now that I am used to soy products I fart a whole lot less than I did when I ate milk. It works the opposite way, too: if I were to eat milk now, I'm sure the results would be catastrophic.
Keep your chin up and keep your house well-ventilated!
It is so difficult to be socially acceptable when you are a veggie! When you are out in public and someone is sharing your aisle you feel the need to squeeze your cheeks and walk slowly...
TinTexas is right, to live is to fart. Beans, beans the musical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot! Yup, it is Cowboy Bubble Bath all right.
Seriously though, the others are right about not boiling and switching to TSP as well. I think TVP tastes and smells like cheap dog food. I use a lot of TSP however and I don't find that I am especially gassy after we have that. Your body will adjust I promise. Having said that, I am pretty well adjusted with regard to farts, but refried beans will send me into spasms every time. Some beans are gassier than others. Onions with beans seems to be absolutely the cardinal fart sin of all time, so if you had onions in your burgers I am sure that didn't help.
If you have seen the movie "The Road to Wellville" Kellogg claims that his insides are so pure his movements smell faintly of fresh biscuits. This is the one line that sends me laughing every time because I think that as vegans we are pretty close to "clean" inside because we don't eat bacteria laden flesh, but I would not describe my panty flappers as smelling of biscuits.
i've always (like... for 20 years, lol) had issues with tvp and tsp, but i've recently discovered that how i cook it does affect it.
a couple of weeks ago i bought some imported indian tvp called 'nutrella'- cos it looked exactly the same as every other boxed tvp, but cost about half the price, and had cool indian recipe suggestions on the box - and i noticed that the preparation stuff on the packet suggested reconstituting/cooking it in hot water, then rinsing it in cool water and squeezing it out, before adding it to 'whatever'.
i discovered that the rinsing and squeezing step made a HUGE difference to me. i tried it with another brand of tvp- and got the same result. Yey! so simple, so obvious. i can't eat unrinsed cooked dried beans... so why didn't i think of it sooner?
for the first time ever, i can now eat tvp spag-bol' without feeling like a gurgling weeble for the next 8 hours. ;D
sorry if this is wayyy TMI but i find i'm gassier in the days leading up to that special time of the month. i try to limit my soy intake on those days and it seems to help. I would suggest everything everyone else has suggested though and you will get used to it. i mean your body will adapt not you'll get used to being gassey:)
I don't like TVP, but I'll eat it a occassionally. Once I made a TVP dish with sauteed garlic and onion and spent the rest of the day wtih industrial strength gas. Luckily it was my day off and I was home alone. I don't eat TVP because of the gas issues. Since that time I also don't saute garlic and onion together.
I'm in the same boat as you secondbase. Once when I ate TVP, I had gas. So, I just stay away from it and try to look for recipes that use tempeh instead. Raisins also give me really bad gas for some reason.....
I think TVP/TSP is just like that. I can only eat it occasionally and in small quantities - otherwise I don't feel good at all - not only gas, but abdominal cramps.
BTW- there is only one manufacturer of the stuff - Archer Daniels Midland. They hold the patent (unless it has gone off patent since I researched it) and they make it and wholesale it to everyone else. I cannot imagine how there would be any real differences in brand other than the added flavours or different sizes. I have spoken to ADM about their product(s) on the phone (not about the gas issue specifically, tho). I have read in numerous sources that TVP/TSP are the same - just different packaging -and the ADM folks didn't give me any reason to think otherwise. TVP means Texturized Vegetable Protein and TSP means Texturized Soy Protein. Some people don't like the word "Soy" so hence the TVP label - its a marketing thing. But, they're both made of cooked, extruded soy flour (a highly processed food).
Well, I'm coming in kinda late, and probably a dollar short (or at least a Euro ;D) but--a soybean is a BEAN, right? I mean, it is a legume...so it probably isn't immune to the effects of other types of "musical fruit", it seems to me. I don't know what all is involved in the processing, or whether it is different here in Europe than what you can get in the States.
I remember being fed TVP in school lunches in the 70's "meat shortage", but since Iowa is a soy producer they acted like it was a very patriotic sort of thing to do...
I have to say I've given up on the TVP we get here. It smells like cheap dogfood when dry and is uninspiring when reconstituted. I've never been much on meat replacements anyway; I'd rather have beans that look and taste like beans, but that's just me.
For a burger I'd much rather do something with the ubiquitous black bean!
I don't think that TVP affects me any worse than any other bean. Although, I don't use it all that often. Like Yabbit, I tend to prefer "real" beans.
Like Yabbit, I tend to prefer "real" beans.
dang....I LOVE BEANS!
anna,
I don't think they are the same thing, although there isn't anything I could immediately find on the web that explains the difference. But the description of the process on the labels for the two products is different (I mean, when you're holding them in your hand, not what's on the web) and the nutritional profile is definitely different, and I think one is made with defatted soy flour and the other from cracked soybeans. TVP definitely has more protein (24 grams has 12 grams of protein versus 7 grams for tsp)
I emailed bob's red mill to ask them what exactly the difference is between the two and if they send me a helpful reply I will post it here.
Jennifer
I'd be happy to learn more about it, Jennifer when you hear from them. I had read numerous places that they were the same, but it is quite possible that everyone (which is to say various authors) was just quoting each other and no one had really checked out the facts.
Thanks for checking into it for us :)
Actually, I don't think carnivores are totally fart-free, either! To be alive is to fart sometimes. :-[
Well I don't know any humans who are strict carnivores... but I know some serious meat eaters with some serious farts. ;D
Apparently, you have not met my father! :D
I, too, believe that TSP and TVP are different products, but probably not significantly different. Looking forward to hearing more....
I don't know what it is, but I am not gassy anymore EVER>>>>I used to be, as a meat eater AND as a veg-person, but now I hardly ever am, and if I do, they are not that offensive. I used to burp a ton as well (actually got a detention for it in middle school) and I hardly do that. Maybe I am one of the few whose body has "adjusted' to the veg-diet!
My husband does get gassy from certain TVP things. We had it tonite in a pot pie-hopefully he won't dutch oven me too much. Recipe to be posted later. It rocks!
Here is the reply I received from Bob's Red Mill on the question of TVP versus TSP. Not incredibly informative, but they did confirm they are not the same thing. Anyway, I switched to TSP and noticed a big improvement in the gassy factor:
Thank you for your email and for your interest in Bob’s Red Mill products. Our Textured Soy Protein (TSP) is made by a water-based process. Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) is made by a chemical-based process.
TVP® (Textured Vegetable Protein) is made from soy beans and is used to replace or extend ground meats. It is also added to casseroles to add extra flavor and nutrition.
Organic Textured Soy Protein is made from low fat, water-processed soy flour that is cooked, extruded and dried. It is a superb protein source, a good source of essential amino acids and high in isoflavins. Use TSP in meat patties, health bars, stews and soups.
Both can be used as meat replacements as well as adding them to a variety of recipes for protein. Hope this information is helpful and have a great day.
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