Starting The Diet....avoid Dairy?

[USMCgirl05]

Hi everyone, I was just wondering...I read that it might be good to avoid dairy products at first because of previous damage to the intestines. Did you all do that or no? And do you think it's a good idea?

Also, what is the deal with Soy products? Okay or not okay? I know that soy sauce for chinese food has wheat in it...

Thanks!

-Katie

[Lins]

Hi Katie!

Before I was diagnosed, I found that straight milk and some ice creams really bothered me. But most cheeses didn't seem to. So I avoided milk but kept eating cheese. Now that I've been gluten-free for about 7 months, I've found that milk is okay again. My point is, everyone is different, so if you have trouble with something avoid it. You might find out later that you've healed enough that you can re-introduce some things again.

As for soy, I've had no trouble with it, and now love soymilk. I still drink it even tho I could drink the regular again. But, yes, you have to be careful with soy sauce as some of it has wheat. Read the labels, though, since some are okay. I think I have WalMart's GV brand at home and it SAYS it's gluten free.

Good luck!

[USMCgirl05]

Thanks! I think I'm going to avoid milk for a little while, I had a frappuchino this morning (the starbucks pre-bottled kind) and my stomach has been bothering me all day. Though I have to admit it could be because I ate nachos with chili on it last night I guess I need to be careful with the beans lol!

[jerseyangel]

Hi Katie and welcome

It's a good idea for newly diagnosed Celiacs to avoid dairy for a few months while they are healing. This is because the tips of the villi that secrete the enzyme needed to digest dairy are injured or gone, and they need time to heal before they can properly digest the dairy foods again.

I'd wait 3-4 months, and then try some if you want, and see if / how it affects you.

[hathor]

If one's problem is with lactose, you can probably go back to it after healing. If casein, this is unlikely -- this means usually that the casein hurts your gut like gluten does.

Some of us can't tolerate soy either. It also is a gluelike protein, like gluten and casein.

You tell by either monitoring your reactions or getting testing, such as with Enterolab.

[Offthegrid]

Be aware that you may have several food intolerances. If you are being very careful with avoiding gluten and not getting cross contamination from foods with gluten, and you still have symptoms, I'd eliminate dairy and then soy. I personally have found I also cannot have potatoes. I do hope this will clear up in time.

For a long time, I just assumed I was always getting glutened. I got sick at every allegedly gluten-free restaurant. Now I know it was from the butter and vegetable oil (that contains soy) in them.

You can get gluten-free soy sauce -- La Choy is one.

[sickchick]

I just went off dairy and soy the first of this month and it's been a challenge.

Good luck!

[USMCgirl05]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I never really considered having MORE than one food intolerance at once- how inconvenient! I think I'm going to start by cutting out dairy and then if that doesn't work try the other ones too. This is a lot harder than I thought it would be, I guess it just takes a lot of time and experimenting!