Which Is Easier For You: Dairy Or Gluten Free?

[JWSJ]

My daughter and I are dairy and gluten free due to allergies.

Being gluten free has been an annoyance. Luckily, the sick stomach aches are enough to keep us away from gluten.

Rice and corn are easy substitutes.

Dairy free has been more difficult. We don't get nearly as sick.

It also seems easier to avoid gluten. Dairy is hard to avoid - it's in everything baked.

Cheese substitutes are just not as tasty.

Which is harder for you: dairy or gluten free?

JWSJ

[Roda]

Overall gluten free was harder for me. I've been dairy free several times, when I breastfed both my boys and once for a good three months thinking it was the cause of the problems I was having in 2010 after I had been gluten free for 1.5 years. Substituting dairy alternatives in baking/cooking was no problem for me. What got me was not having any cheese! Other than that I didn't think it was too bad. I'm happy to report that dairy wasn't my problem.

[Adalaide]

Cheese is one of my very favorite foods. Expensive European and South American chocolates are an indulgence I doubt I could live without. I also had a milk habit of 2-3 gallons a week until the doctor said to cut down on dairy. Realistically unless it made me extremely sick I wouldn't give it up. Just the smell of soy milk makes me gag. Almond and coconut milk just taste awful. Rice milk is the only substitute I can tolerate, and I've read here that sadly it has hidden gluten.

It may be "easier" to avoid gluten, as in easier to find and have good food. Honestly, I'd just as soon have a leg cut off than give up dairy.(No, not exaggerating... I do accounting and office work, I don't need legs for that.)

[alex11602]

I find gluten free to be much easier. With gluten free you can say "oh I want pancakes, let's make them with almond flour or whatever other flour you use", with dairy free you can't just say I want lasagna because you just can't replace the cheese easily.

[IrishHeart]

Gluten free was much easier for me because I was so happy to get rid of the thing that was poisoning me and making me so ill and in pain for years. I am probably one of the few people who can honestly say I was happy to know I had Celiac -- because it was an answer and a solution to getting my life back.

But no Cheese? (absolutely one of my favorite things to eat) ice cream? half and half in coffee?? oh no!! waaaaaaa

I did use ghee and I ate So Delicious coconut milk ice cream and used that milk in my cooking and baking, so it was not so bad.

I had to avoid soy, too, so it was tricky at first.

But I did it--for 11 months and now, happily, I can have

some cheese without any trouble. That first pizza? HEAVEN.

[love2travel]

Without question gluten. I still miss the elasticity and texture that gluten adds to croissants, fresh breads, bagels, rolls, puff pastry, etc. You should see my bakery library that I can no longer use, including my beloved gigantic culinary school baking textbooks. Thankfully I have some decent gluten-free recipes for dough that I can actually roll out as opposed to spread like cake batter. Breadmaking was one of my favourite things to do and it is no longer. I just have bread far less often now.

As an avid cheese lover (we used to always have about 8-10 kinds of cheeses in the fridge at all times) dairy was difficult but when I eliminated dairy the weight started slipping off. It was easy to substitute coconut milk and so on (but not cheese, of course). Now I can eat some aged cheeses but definitely cannot drink milk or eat ice cream (but I can still eat granita, semi-freddo...). I have many cheese encyclopedias that I did not look at for several months as it was too sad. Now I can happily go to cheese shops for those wonderful European cheeses (well, some of them).

[Skylark]

Dairy-free is much harder for me and I'm stuck with it for now. Cheese is one of my favorite foods and there is really no substitute. There is also nothing good for my coffee.

[beebs]

I would much rather be gluten free, when I was just lactose free for 3 months I almost didn't make it, I just missed lattes and milk chocolate way too much

[TeknoLen]

Going gluten-free was definitely more difficult since wheat-based foods were such an integral part of my diet. Bread for sandwiches, pizza, breakfast cereals, hamburger buns, beer, breaded foods, etc were all tough to give up because I knew they were gone forever. Dairy was not as difficult since I thought it might only be temporary. I still have occasional fantasies that I might get milk, cheese, butter and ice cream back someday...

[mommida]

dairy free is harder for me. Things I did like gluten and dairy free, enjoy life chocolate chips, rice milk, almond milk, Lizlovely.com cookies, and I learned to try other combinations. Using hummus on sandwiches to make them "stick" together and almost like a slice of cheese.

Keep looking and concentrating on foods you can have and keep trying new combinations.

[sa1937]

Going dairy-free was much harder for me, too, although I did use Lactaid milk, which is 100% lactose-free. I missed cheese something terrible but started eating small amounts of hard cheeses when I was gluten-free for 9 months. Now I am able to eat cheese without a problem. I missed pizza so much, which probably explains why I make it so frequently now.

[MJ-S]

Without question, dairy. I would give anything to be able to have cheese, cheese, and cheese. It makes me sad every day.

I honestly wouldn't even mind not having gluten, if only I could have dairy! But alas, I'm super sensitive to dairy and it makes me even sicker than gluten.

[ladymiss]

"But I did it--for 11 months and now, happily, I can have

some cheese without any trouble. That first pizza? HEAVEN."

= HOPE!!!!!!!

[Marilyn R]

But you'll do the happy dance once you have healed enough to reintroduce dairy!

(I can't decide which I loved more, loved both.) Don't miss gluten much because it made me sick as a dog, and I don't mind not being sick.)

[kaity]

my son is celiac and lactose intollerant, i think that it is very difficult keeping him away from gluten, after all everything contains gluten spices, break, speghatti, and he is a piccky three year old so he wont just eat anything, however after being diagnosed with lactose intollerance almost no changes were made, exceppt that he stopped eating cheese, and cheese was his favorite breakfast, ice cream can be replaced with dairy free ice cream, chocolate can be replaced with black chocolate, cakes can be found dairy free

i think that the hardest think that i ever did was putting my son on gluten free diet

[IrishHeart]

Going gluten-free was definitely more difficult since wheat-based foods were such an integral part of my diet. Bread for sandwiches, pizza, breakfast cereals, hamburger buns, beer, breaded foods, etc were all tough to give up because I knew they were gone forever. Dairy was not as difficult since I thought it might only be temporary. I still have occasional fantasies that I might get milk, cheese, butter and ice cream back someday...

TL--I hope you are finding some good gluten-free substitutes for all those bready items? There are some decent ones on the market and many of us bake our own. Did you surf around the recipe section yet?

And, there's always hope. In the interim, have you tried So Delicious Coconut milk?--about the closest thing to dairy milk I could find (and I tried them all ) and full of calcium. That company makes yogurt and coconut ice cream, too. Very tasty, Dedicated facility-- certified gluten-free....Just some suggestions.

[burdee]

My daughter and I are dairy and gluten free due to allergies.

Being gluten free has been an annoyance. Luckily, the sick stomach aches are enough to keep us away from gluten.

Rice and corn are easy substitutes.

Dairy free has been more difficult. We don't get nearly as sick.

It also seems easier to avoid gluten. Dairy is hard to avoid - it's in everything baked.

Cheese substitutes are just not as tasty.

Which is harder for you: dairy or gluten free?

JWSJ

Dairy was harder for me ... at first. I missed the creamy taste milk (rice milk was horrible) and other dairy products. I missed ice cream, cheese and lattes. I couldn't tolerate soy substitutes and was later diagnosed with delayed reaction soy allergy. Then I discovered creamy Hazelnut milk and coconut milk (for cooking), coconut milk based ice creams, and Daiya cheese (which had the same taste and texture of cheese I remembered). Then I was diagnosed with allergies to egg, cane sugar, vanilla and nutmeg. So dairy abstinence didn't seem so difficult anymore. Then I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, got thyroid supplements and didn't need caffeine. So I didn't need lattes. Then I discovered great tasting substitutes for foods made from my other allergens, like beet sugar instead of cane sugar. Most recently I discovered soy/egg free mayonnaise. I don't miss anything now. I especially don't miss all the cramping pain and bloating I used to get from eating my allergens. It's all relative.

[missmellie]

Giving up dairy and gluten were both difficult, especially since I also have to avoid eggs and soy. Soy is VERY difficult to avoid, especially when eating out, even harder to avoid than gluten. Like some of the others have said, I miss cheese a lot. There are substitute flours and "milks", but finding good-tasting substitutes for cheese and eggs is impossible.

[GFdad0110]

my son is gluten free/lactose free. I am also gluten free (since about 9 months old) so that part wasn't too difficult for me because I really don't know how it is to not be gluten free. But a lactose free diet is new to me. He is getting along just fine,but he never was on a diet with lactose in it. A question for all the lactose intolerant. Can you tolerate greek yogurt?

[burdee]

Giving up dairy and gluten were both difficult, especially since I also have to avoid eggs and soy. Soy is VERY difficult to avoid, especially when eating out, even harder to avoid than gluten. Like some of the others have said, I miss cheese a lot. There are substitute flours and "milks", but finding good-tasting substitutes for cheese and eggs is impossible.

Soy was difficult to give up for me until Earth Balance came out with a dairy/soy free buttery spread and later a soy/egg free mayonnaise. Then I found Daiya dairy/soy free cheese. Then Amande made dairy/soy free yogurt. Best of all we found coconut aminos, which tastes just like soy sauce, without the pain and bloating reactions I got from soy sauce. What other soy products do you miss? I never really liked tofu or edamame. So I don't miss those.

[Marilyn R]

I had my first gluten nightmare in a very long while after I responded to this thread.

I never dreamed about dairy, even though it was rough to avoid it for quite awhile.

So I guess gluten was a bigger beast of burden.

[kaity]

hello everyone i responded to this post before saying that gluten free is much harder than dairy free, i would like to change that to say that dairy free diet is a thousand time harder than a gluten free diet, because now most of the stuff my son cant eat, i find either dairy free products or gluten free products, it is hard to find a product that my son would eat that is both gluten and dairy free........

i hope that his lactose intollerance is only temporary... i have my fingers crossed

[Chalula88]

Going dairy free was way WAY easier for me than going gluten free. I don't miss dairy at all. I used to love cheese, but I never drank milk, used butter, or ate yogurt, so cutting it out wasn't a big deal for me. I just stopped using cheese, which wasn't even noticeable because I almost immediately converted to a whole foods diet.

I feel happier and healthier without both gluten and dairy and so the rewards are so great that I don't find either all that difficult emotionally. From a practical point of view, I think shopping dairy free is way easier than shopping gluten free.

[kaity]

Going dairy free was way WAY easier for me than going gluten free. I don't miss dairy at all. I used to love cheese, but I never drank milk, used butter, or ate yogurt, so cutting it out wasn't a big deal for me. I just stopped using cheese, which wasn't even noticeable because I almost immediately converted to a whole foods diet.

I feel happier and healthier without both gluten and dairy and so the rewards are so great that I don't find either all that difficult emotionally. From a practical point of view, I think shopping dairy free is way easier than shopping gluten free.

my son never ate butter or drank milk either he only ate cheese, and that is what i thought when he got on a dairy free diet, i thought that i would eleminate the cheese from his diet and all would be good, but i didnt know that almost everything had milk in it, soups, icecream, almost all cakes, cookies, chocolate, some candies, some speghetti..... and the list goes on and on and on

but i do hope that you find it easy, because personally i find it very hard