Dairy

[jennifer47]

Well, after reading some of the tips here and listening to my own body, I want to also give up dairy for a while so I can heal. However, I'm wondering if it needs to be as absolute as the gluten avoidance. Many family members are trying to be supportive of the celiac by making me food or buying me gluten-free food, and a lot of it has dairy (milk, butter) listed in the ingredients. Can I get away with eating a muffin with some milk in it once and a while, or will this impede healing?

[Mama Melissa]

jennifer how long have you been gluten free???I have been gluten free for almost 4 months and i totally avoided lactose for the first 2 1/2 months never had a problem with butter or milk in ingriendients but now that i am almost 4 months in ido see improvement however if i try to do a yogurt or piece of cheese i do realise slight bloating and gas, i have read thsat lactose most of the time resolves itself within 6 months to 1 yr goodluck xoxo

[Kimbalou]

I love milk, too. But i know I have an intolerance to it. I was diagnosed in Nov. I switched to Vanilla almond Milk. You have to try it!! I get the "Silk" brand, it's in the refrigerated section with the other milk. I don't miss drinking regular milk at all! It's healthier for you anyway and it lasts a lot longer than regular milk (longer exp. date)

I still eat some dairy, but do not drink regular milk and I've noticed a big difference. Let me know if you try it, you will probably like it!!

[sb2178]

I don't avoid butter, but it's not a daily part of my diet. Any other dairy does give me stomachaches.

I think the only way to figure it out is to eat it and see what happens. Just do it under tightly controlled circumstances. Like, from your own kitchen... no new foods... etc.

[WheatChef]

It's pretty tough to tell in the beginning, because you're going through a period of getting your diet in check it would be great to get everything out of the way as soon as you can. Dairy intolerance (casein) is not an uncommon thing and additionally lactose intolerance is often a side effect of a gluten intolerance until you get a little ways into the healing process. If you're supplementing with probiotics during the healing process then you shouldn't worry too much about some dairy consumption slowing down your healing process but once you get start getting the hang of the gluten-free thing you might want to go ahead and challenge dairy by quitting it for a month (like many people do to find out their intolerance with gluten) and then go for high consumption for a short period to see if you have any symptoms disappear/reappear as a result of this pattern.

Best of luck, dairy's a great source of some awesome nutrients assuming you avoid that skim/low-fat stuff like the plague and stick with the natural full fat stuff.