Dying Without Dairy!

[Guest AlabamaGirl]

So about a year ago it was the gluten. Right after that I discovered that rice and buckwheat were also off-limits. Then apples and almonds and most other birch-related foods had to go. (Yep, apparently no rice milk or almond milk subs for me.) A few weeks ago my EnteroLab report came back ALSO positive for casein. Dr. Kenneth says to let it go forever. After hem-hawing around for a few weeks, I'm now on day 4 of casein free. Sigh ... I know many of you are in the same boat, and I never understood the big deal until now. However, I do vaguely remember constantly trying to convince myself that "it isn't really the gluten" and wanting it so bad it felt like torture, so I know this too shall pass.

My question is:

I don't know if I'm craving diary as much as I'm NEEDING fat. My body does better on a higher fat diet. I stay hungry all the time without it. I'm normal weight with great good cholesterol, very low bad cholesterol, and whose triglyceride level stays around 30 (normal is <170). My body seems to function well on fat, and now that my daily afternoon snack of Hagan-Daz is out, I'm hurting. I bought some avocados but they are a few days away from ripe. The EVOO on the salad is just not cutting it. I need my cheese (and cheesecake, and cream cheese, and cream, and creamy salad dressing -- the list goes on and on).

Anyone have any ideas of how I can get satiated??? Or will this constant hunger (craving!!!) also pass???

[ArtGirl]

I am dairy free and know what you mean about missing cheese and cheesecake....

One source of fat that I like are ripe olives - I can snack on them just out of the can.

You can make a pudding with coconut milk instead of cow's milk. Coconut milk is also good in a fruit smoothie - run thru a blender.

No-grain baked products that use almond flour would also up the fat/protein. I have made some really good cookies with just almond flour with baking powder, butter and honey, from the book "Grain-Free Goumet" by Jodi Bager and Jenny Lass The cookbook also has muffins and bread (although they do use eggs in these).

[Mango04]

I don't know much about birch-related foods...sorry if any of these are off-limits:

Coconut Oil

Extra virgin cold pressed organic is the best kind and you can use it as a sub for butter on/in everything.

Hemp milk and hemp tortillas

(the tortillas are higher in fat than the milk - but vanilla hemp milk (Open Original Shared Link is creamy and really good

If you can eat bacon, Applegate Farms makes a nitrite-free organic version that might be a good source of fat for you as well.

Can you eat cashews? You can put cashews in a blender with water, lemon, herbs etc. etc. to make dips and dressings.

[mftnchn]

I satisfied my craving with some peanut butter cookies if you can have the four ingredients: peanut butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla.

[Guest AlabamaGirl]

I satisfied my craving with some peanut butter cookies if you can have the four ingredients: peanut butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla.

Oh, please share your recipe! PB is becoming quite a good friend. I haven't found much for breakfast so I eat a lot of PB & bananas. And though I cannot cook with almond flour, pecan flour and lots of other nut flours are safe.

I'll be looking for that hemp milk! Maybe my local place can get it ... See, there is life after dairy. Please keep the tips coming. This is a great encouragement for me!!!

Another quick question: Do you all take a calcium supplement? If so, what kind? Thanks!!!

[TrillumHunter]

Can you have sesame? If so, try tahini. It's a paste of sesame seeds used in Middle Eastern foods. You can make creamy salad dressing to desserts with it. I can buy it in the regular grocery store in the ethnic aisle. It keeps forever at room temp and is high calorie. If you've ever had hummus it's used in that.

Monica

[mftnchn]

Oh, please share your recipe! PB is becoming quite a good friend. I haven't found much for breakfast so I eat a lot of PB & bananas. And though I cannot cook with almond flour, pecan flour and lots of other nut flours are safe.

I'll be looking for that hemp milk! Maybe my local place can get it ... See, there is life after dairy. Please keep the tips coming. This is a great encouragement for me!!!

Another quick question: Do you all take a calcium supplement? If so, what kind? Thanks!!!

I found it on another part of this forum:

2 C PB

2 C sugar

1 T vanilla (gluten-free)

1 egg

Bake 10 min at 350 degrees.

I couldn't believe I could make these without flour so added a 1/3 c or so of rice flour. But my guess is they would be fine without. Mine were crispy, and I like them that way!

Enjoy!

[super-sally888]

Those PB cookies look soooo good. Will have to try them out.

I am also eating a high fat diet (healthy fats - my cholesterol is low overall, including the good cholesterol, though i haven't tested for a while) - about 50- 60% of my calories usually come from fat. Rice is out as well, so I find my grain choices pretty limited.

For fat: avocado, and coconut cream (this is loaded with fat)

Here in Philippines they mash up the avocado and add sugar and milk (but I reckon coconut cream - see below would do) and have it as a sweet rather than as a salad vegetable.

I haven't tried it, but I would think that coconut cream would make a wicked sorbet (do you have a home ice-cream maker)..... Also could make fruit icecream with coconut cream.

My standard breakfast is eggs fried or scrambled in coconut oil and bananas. Sometimes have sardines instead, or as well.

I found it on another part of this forum:

2 C PB

2 C sugar

1 T vanilla (gluten-free)

1 egg

Bake 10 min at 350 degrees.

I couldn't believe I could make these without flour so added a 1/3 c or so of rice flour. But my guess is they would be fine without. Mine were crispy, and I like them that way!

Enjoy!

[Guest AlabamaGirl]

For fat: coconut cream (this is loaded with fat)

I do cook with lots & lots of coconut oil. I tried a canned coconut milk and it was yucky -- very metallic tasting. It was just some I found at Publix so I'm sure there is much better out there. What is coconut cream? Is it the same as the milk? If anyone has any good coconut milk that they use, I'd love to know what & where.

I'm thinking I could add a little coconut flour to those pb cookies (instead of the rice flour) and that would work well too.

[tarnalberry]

avocado - with tuna or in salsa or on a salad

hemp - in powder (in smoothies), seed (on salads, in baked goods), butter (on rice cakes or apple), or tortilla

coconut milk (there are ones in lined cans that are pretty good) - in smoothies, curries, soups, etc.

nut/seed butters (other than almond)

[Byte Me]

I found it on another part of this forum:

2 C PB

2 C sugar

1 T vanilla (gluten-free)

1 egg

Bake 10 min at 350 degrees.

I couldn't believe I could make these without flour so added a 1/3 c or so of rice flour. But my guess is they would be fine without. Mine were crispy, and I like them that way!

Enjoy!

They will work great w/o flour! One of my favorite midnight mad munchies recipes (even years before going gluten free) was almost identical to this, 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg. they are unbelievably good, crisp on edges, chewy in the middle, and quick to make. They aren't quite as good the second day (if there are any left over, that is ) but if you stick them in the microwave for just a few seconds they are just like fresh out of the oven.

[diamondheart]

I've had good luck using coconut milk instead of cream in some soup recipes. DH is so impressed, he can't tell the difference! I buy it at the health food stores. It's good in gluten-free oatmeal as well.

I haven't found anything good to substitute for cheese though, which bums me out! I love cheese!

Clarified butter or ghee is also safe. It's butter with all the milk solids removed. Some people may argue with you on this, but it's never given me any problems. It gives you a little butter taste, but doesn't work exactly like butter. I still use it on gluten-free bread, and it's satisfying enough.

Claire

[Nancym]

Were you trying to drink coconut milk by itself? That can't be good. It makes up into wonderful curry sauces, smoothies, even ice cream. Coconut cream is the first pressing of water with the coconut meat, further pressings yield what they call the milk. I've heard you can even whip coconut cream, like whipping cream, but haven't tried it.

Can you eat chocolate? That's a good source of fat.

I eat avocados, olives, nuts, coconut milk (usually made into soups and curries) and oil for stir fry and such, in addition to whatever fat comes out of my meat.

Ghee is very good, but it doesn't taste like butter.

I have to watch for seeds and seed butter, they give me the big D.

[RiceGuy]

I've made pecan milk and walnut milk just by putting the nuts in a blender with mostly water. I like adding a bit of guar gum to smooth it out too. A bit of vanilla is nice as well. Add banana, berries, and/or whatever fruits you like for a really tasty smoothie. Probably would make a decent sorbet I guess.

For a dairy-free ice cream dessert, try Open Original Shared Link. I've not tried it but it does look really good. Thing is, it doesn't seem to be available everywhere. However, they do list the ingredients, so there's nothing stopping you from whipping up your own https://www.celiac.com/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png' alt=':)'> Too bad that rice is out for you, or you might be able to have: Open Original Shared Link

[Guest AlabamaGirl]

Thanks for all your suggestions! You all have given me lots of good ideas. With a little extra effort (and some good leftovers from last night's dinner), I upped my fat intake today and am doing much better. The pb cookies sound wonderful -- will be making those tomorrow! I'm working on this and feel certain of eventual success. It's just something else to adapt to -- a challenge! Oooo, how i love those!!!

[BRUMI1968]

Coconut Cream is just the coconut oil and fiber and sugars and all that still in tact. I mix some with agave nectar to kill my post-dinner sweet tooth.

Also helping me with quittng dairy was eating sweet potatoes, because they are "creamy". If you mix them with coconut cream or olive oil or something, and whip them around, they are quite satisfying.

[Guest AlabamaGirl]

I just wanted to post and share, hoping it will help those who might be dealing with the same --

Exactly one week after going casein free, I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel!!! Whoo-hoo!

My cravings and hunger have subsided, and I feel back to normal in that department. Quite a few lingering symptoms that I attributed to CC or some kind of accidental glutening have *mysteriously* disappeared. Things are looking up! I'm feeling like I did after I went gluten-free (though admittedly it took me quite a bit longer to reach this realization regarding gluten): The benefits of abstinence are quickly outweighing the joys of eating it.

Right now I am planning to challenge dairy in a month or two, but I'm expecting to fail miserably. (The doctor just might be right, huh? ) I'm tempted to challenge to have that last little taste ... or I may say forget it and trust my body AND the test results. Coconut ice-cream, anyone???

A question & request (if anyone is still reading this post) ...

If you abstain from dairy, do you take calcium supplements? If so, what kind???

And, if anyone has any other recipes to share, please pass them along! Those pb cookies are divine! (You may pm me.)

[Guest lizajane]

So about a year ago it was the gluten. Right after that I discovered that rice and buckwheat were also off-limits. Then apples and almonds and most other birch-related foods had to go. (Yep, apparently no rice milk or almond milk subs for me.) A few weeks ago my EnteroLab report came back ALSO positive for casein. Dr. Kenneth says to let it go forever. After hem-hawing around for a few weeks, I'm now on day 4 of casein free. Sigh ... I know many of you are in the same boat, and I never understood the big deal until now. However, I do vaguely remember constantly trying to convince myself that "it isn't really the gluten" and wanting it so bad it felt like torture, so I know this too shall pass.

My question is:

I don't know if I'm craving diary as much as I'm NEEDING fat. My body does better on a higher fat diet. I stay hungry all the time without it. I'm normal weight with great good cholesterol, very low bad cholesterol, and whose triglyceride level stays around 30 (normal is <170). My body seems to function well on fat, and now that my daily afternoon snack of Hagan-Daz is out, I'm hurting. I bought some avocados but they are a few days away from ripe. The EVOO on the salad is just not cutting it. I need my cheese (and cheesecake, and cream cheese, and cream, and creamy salad dressing -- the list goes on and on).

Anyone have any ideas of how I can get satiated??? Or will this constant hunger (craving!!!) also pass???

There is rice ice cream, sour cream, cream cheese and cheese. All are very good when you can't have anything else!!