Going Dairy Free

[IrishHeart]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I think I will start dairy light. Stil use small amounts of butter and milk in baking products this week. Next time we go grocery shopping we'll buy some dairy free milk. Is silk a brand anyone uses? I see it all the time.

Hon, dairy LIGHT won't help you.

Take it OUT for awhile. Like a month...then add it back in later.

I'd skip the Silk soy milk.

Use coconut or almond milk.

[Celtic Queen]

Just to clarify, for me I plan on going full dairy free after the holidays. I'm doing dairy light until then. I just didn't want to add one more thing on my plate this time of year. And my problems with it are annoying, but nothing I can't live with for a month. But come January 1st, I'm going fully dairy free. But for you it sounds like this is a lot more serious, so you may want to consider going straight to dairy free.

As for the Silk soy milk, I agree with IrishHeart. Skip it. I think it's pretty gross tasting myself, unless I get the vanilla flavored, which kind of disguises it. I much prefer the almond milk. It costs a little more but tastes so much better. I haven't tried the coconut yet. I also like the rice milk.

[Korwyn]

Hi Booghead,

I sympathize. Giving up cheese was (initially) for me the worst part of giving up dairy. I think after my initial few months of trying to cope with everything when I discovered I really did have to drop dairy it was harder than the gluten. At least with the gluten I started feeling better immediately. With the dairy there wasn't the dramatic improvement from dying to living. But I tested positive for IgA to beta-casein protein present in cow's milk.

I fell in love with goat cheese, but not goat milk (bleah ) and goat cheese is really expensive.

But...on that note...about six months ago I discovered (through a long story that I won't go into here) that I cannot tolerate pasteurized cow's milk. I can eat unpasteurized (cow) butter, cream, milk, and cheese to my hearts content.

I think that Open Original Shared Link contains part of the answer. Scroll down to the section: Nutritional Differences: Raw Milk and Pasteurized Milk.

Now all of that said, please note that the Federal Food and Drug Administration advises that people do not consume pasteurized dairy as they believe it carries significant health risks. I'm telling you what I have found for my personal health and well-being.

I will tell you that I still cannot tolerate pasteurized dairy much at all. If I have been eating or drinking raw milk in the previous few hours I can get away with some pasteurized dairy (I believe due to the presence of some small amounts of enzymes in by system) but if I haven't been, pasteurized dairy induces violent projectile vomiting within a short period of time (minutes to a couple hours depending on quantity).

[MenHen]

I completely sympathize! I was so excited, because I didn't think I had a lactose problem. Now I realize I do. It is only minor as far as I can tell and am very hopeful its just temporary and not casein. My big question - Is there a replacement for sour cream? I love sour cream.

I watched an interesting movie on Netflix the other night called "Forks Over Knives." Basically the movie supports a plant-based, vegan diet. But one of the interesting things in the movie was how dairy really is bad for us. We are the only species that drinks the milk of other animals. And countries that have the highest milk intake, like the U.S., actually have one of the lowest rates of calcium absorption. They talk about how this big push for dairy being an important part of our diets was created by marketing done by the dairy council. And that it, just like wheat, is not really necessary to have a healthy diet.

I will have to check out that movie. I have said for over awhile now that dairy is very unncessary for us and that it was all a marketing ploy for $$. Of course, I love dairy. I could care less about milk, but all the cheeses and sour cream - yum.

[MenHen]

Well, as it turned out, they were not "false positives" were they? Perhaps the doctor just 'believes' there are false positives and that makes them so?

That is such a crazy article! Maybe it will help someone though. I think he said that to make his money. He had done all this work for her, but he most likely needed to see her to make the money!

[Celtic Queen]

Interesting link about the unpasturized milk. They sell it at one of the farmer's markets here and they have to label it "not for human consumption" because of the regulations. But of course everyone is buying it to drink it. Our ancestors survived drinking it without it killing them.

MenHen, do check out the movie. It was very interesting. I'm probably too much of a meat eater to go vegan, but it really did make me think that I need to cut back on the amount of meat and dairy I eat. They had one woman on there who had her breast cancer go into remission by eating a plant based diet. She was in her 60s and training for the iron man triathalon. And there was an interesting study linker cancer to diets in China that they talk about in the movie.

[Bettina]

So, I've been gluten free for about 10 months, and have noticed some random stomach pains here and there, but nothing worth really doing anything about until the other night ..I was having horrible stomach pains (very similar to when I was eating gluten) for almost an entire day, getting worse as the day went on. So, I thought back on what I ate, and came to the conclusion that it must be some kind of dairy issue. (I am absolutely positive I didn't come in contact with any gluten.) All I had eaten that day and the day before were dairy products (really, lots of ice cream, butter, and milk ).

So, I decided to try going off dairy for a week and then eating a decent amount of it again to see if I get sick. Question is, should I wait longer than a week? If so, how long?

I've cut out absolutely everything dairy related. Cheese, butter, milk ..and it's driving me crazy! But I want this test to work, so I'd rather wait another week now as opposed to later.

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Also, a kind of unrelated question: Does anyone get weird cravings for the texture of regular bread/baked goods? Like, I'll watch somebody eat a muffin and FEEL the texture of that muffin in my mouth, as if I were just about to eat it/currently eating it. It's weird and frustrating and I really would like it to go away. I grew up on bread, pizza, and cheese pretty much. So the diet I grew up with has been almost completely eliminated, and it's having this weird effect on my body. Anyone have a similar feeling?

[Chad Sines]

I get the texture issue. I often crave the feeling of bread for a sandwich or a nice tortilla. Too many of the substitutes taste too unnatural for me to appreciate.