Cheating On Dairy A Bad Idea For Me

lonewolf · October 16, 2007

I'm sitting here feeling really frustrated. About 12 years ago I started getting bad joint pain and about 11-1/2 years ago was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. I got to the point where I was almost crippled. After doing some testing (ELISA) with a naturopath, I eliminated wheat/gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, red meat, nightshades and a few other things. I got better, completely, after about 8 months and added back everything except wheat, dairy, soy and eggs. I've been pretty fanatical about the gluten for the past several years, because trying to add it back (in the form of spelt) had horrible consequences. I won't go in to all that. I've also been really strict about soy in all forms except soy lecithin. I've been able to add small amounts of egg back in, like baked in a cake or cookies.

I have been cheating more and more on the dairy, thinking that maybe I'd "outgrown" that problem. I've ignored the fact that my psoriasis has been getting worse. The past few days I've started having joint pain in my jaw, feet and right hand. I'm terrified that I've set off the arthritis again. I'm "cured" of cheating with butter and cheese and sneaking little bites of ice cream or desserts made with milk. I think that I need to be as strict with casein as I do with gluten, and I'm really bummed about it. To me, gluten-free is easy. Mostly dairy-free is easy. Casein free is hard. I know because I did it for 10 years and am not looking forward to giving up pizza again.

So I guess I will be fanatically G F/CF now. I'll mourn for a few days and pray that my joints get better quickly. Thanks for reading my vent...

Green12 · October 16, 2007

I feel the exact same way, gluten-free is easy as pie, gluten-free and casein free is doable but very challenging.

I just recently took casein out of my diet after already a couple years of eating gluten-free, a lot of my lingering symptoms disappeared and I felt better and better as time went on but I found myself longing for all things dairy. I did cheat a couple of times, I figured it's the lesser of the two evils (gluten vs. casein) and so I ate some, my symptoms came back with a vengeance.

Now it is even more clear to me that I have to treat casein just like gluten in my case.

hathor · October 16, 2007

I do sympathize. I had been casein-free since the beginning of the year (and was very casein-light for years before that). Sunday I decided to take the chance on a dish that the waitress told me had the slightest touch of milk in it. My sinuses are only now calming down and my gut went berserk for a day and a half. So I guess I'm not one of those who get over their problem with casein

Do either of you react to ghee? I used to have no problems eating at Indian restaurants. But recently I never seem to feel well afterwards. I suppose it could come from some glutened spice or CC, but I've been thinking it may be more related to ghee. It is supposed to be casein-free, but I don't know how free "free" is.

I haven't been able to add small bits of egg back in.

I tried a dish made with soybean oil about a month ago and that was a no go. Recently I decided to cut out soy lecithin to see how I react. (I'm hoping that something I do will get rid of my hot flashes/night sweats. Yes, I'm menopausal, but this is getting really old. I still can't get over the idea that if I get my diet right, my symptoms will subside.)

I'm planning on trying to make a gluten-free pizza using Galaxy's rice cheese (the type without casein added). But then I've lived for years ordering cheeseless pizzas when I went out. I would just make sure there was plenty of sauce and lots of toppings and would sprinkle on red pepper flakes, and it was fine. I've never made a pizza crust from scratch before. Do you have a good recipe or sources that doesn't contain anything we can't have?