Please, Not Dairy Too!

[zeeclass6]

Oh damn...I think I do have a problem of some sort with dairy, corn, or beans. But it doesn't happen all the time, so I'm confused.

Tonight for dinner I made a Mexican casserole dish: chicken, sweet red peppers, onion, garlic, zucchini, corn, canned jalpeno peppers (mild), gluten-free chipotle sauce, gluten-free salsa, topped with some lowfat shredded Mexican cheese. Accompanied by homemade Cuban black beans (made with peppers, onions, garlic, and some vinegar and spices), and eaten with some lactose-free sour cream and gluten-free guacamole. It was delicious. I especially enjoyed the very creamy lactose-free sour cream (I've been avoiding dairy most of the time lately)! I took a Lactaid pill anyway due to the cheese on top of the chicken dish. I also drank down a huge glass of water that had Apple Cider Vinegar in it (for the stomach acid).

Now it's 2 hours later and I've been burping like crazy. Burp, burp, burp. The burping started about a half hour after I finished eating. And a tiny bit of reflux (but it's not burning my throat or anything). I don't feel especially bloated and so far there's no gas. I am relatively certain that nothing I ate contained any gluten (I was very careful and checked everything).

So I'm thinking....was it the beans, the corn, or the dairy? Because those are the only things I consider really suspicious. The food was not spicy, it was really rather mild.

I have been able to eat some dairy with no problems whatsoever. For example: lactose-free yogurt (no reaction at all). Gluten-free pizza made with cheese (no reaction at all). Some Lactaid milk in my scrambled egg (no reaction at all). If I eat more than a certain amount of dairy, it seems that my stomach doesn't seem to like it, whether I have a Lactaid pill or not.

So...what do you guys think? I was going to take a generic gax-x, but realized it was chewable and probably not gluten-free. Thinking of taking a digestive enzyme (unless now, at 2 hours later, it might be too late for that). Or maybe having more apple cider vinegar, but this time with some baking soda mixed into the water.

I tested negative for Celiac but my IgA was very low. I have not tested for anything else (casein, corn, soy, egg, etc).

I'd appreciate your thoughts. I really don't want to eliminate another food from my diet, but.....uuuuurgh....maybe I'll have to.

[Metoo]

Oh damn...I think I do have a problem of some sort with dairy, corn, or beans. But it doesn't happen all the time, so I'm confused.

Tonight for dinner I made a Mexican casserole dish: chicken, sweet red peppers, onion, garlic, zucchini, corn, canned jalpeno peppers (mild), gluten-free chipotle sauce, gluten-free salsa, topped with some lowfat shredded Mexican cheese. Accompanied by homemade Cuban black beans (made with peppers, onions, garlic, and some vinegar and spices), and eaten with some lactose-free sour cream and gluten-free guacamole. It was delicious. I especially enjoyed the very creamy lactose-free sour cream (I've been avoiding dairy most of the time lately)! I took a Lactaid pill anyway due to the cheese on top of the chicken dish. I also drank down a huge glass of water that had Apple Cider Vinegar in it (for the stomach acid).

Now it's 2 hours later and I've been burping like crazy. Burp, burp, burp. The burping started about a half hour after I finished eating. And a tiny bit of reflux (but it's not burning my throat or anything). I don't feel especially bloated and so far there's no gas. I am relatively certain that nothing I ate contained any gluten (I was very careful and checked everything).

So I'm thinking....was it the beans, the corn, or the dairy? Because those are the only things I consider really suspicious. The food was not spicy, it was really rather mild.

I have been able to eat some dairy with no problems whatsoever. For example: lactose-free yogurt (no reaction at all). Gluten-free pizza made with cheese (no reaction at all). Some Lactaid milk in my scrambled egg (no reaction at all). If I eat more than a certain amount of dairy, it seems that my stomach doesn't seem to like it, whether I have a Lactaid pill or not.

So...what do you guys think? I was going to take a generic gax-x, but realized it was chewable and probably not gluten-free. Thinking of taking a digestive enzyme (unless now, at 2 hours later, it might be too late for that). Or maybe having more apple cider vinegar, but this time with some baking soda mixed into the water.

I tested negative for Celiac but my IgA was very low. I have not tested for anything else (casein, corn, soy, egg, etc).

I'd appreciate your thoughts. I really don't want to eliminate another food from my diet, but.....uuuuurgh....maybe I'll have to.

Are you sure that the low-fat cheese, lactaid sour cream and lactaid cheese is gluten free?

I honestly have been sticking to full fat dairy products because they are less processed...but even then I have to carefully make sure I don't eat too much dairy during the day. At this point I think I am lactose intolerant. I seem to not be able to handle cow milk, but cheese and sour cream...yogurt in smaller amounts don't seem to bother me. I also am careful about my egg intake now, too many eggs makes my skin go crazy!

I would like someone suggested to me, entirely eliminate them from your diet for 2 weeks, then reintroduce them. I first eliminated eggs for 2 weeks, then worked on dairy...which I am almost certain at this point is lactose.

[heatherjane]

Dairy is tough on the ol' GI tract, so you may have to lay off it for a while. It's annoying, but it may help. I stayed off dairy for a year after I was diagnosed and now I do just fine with cheese and even ice cream. (I still haven't gotten around to drinking a straight-up glass of milk, though.) Depending on how long you've been gluten-free, you may need to take a break from dairy until your gut gets at least somewhat back to normal. The good thing is that you may be able to go back to it eventually.

Also, I'm not sure how long you've been diagnosed, but sticking to simpler foods/meals may help with the gas, reflux, and stomach upset. It may not be related to gluten or dairy, but your body is healing and may not be able to handle certain things at this point in time.

[RiceGuy]

Even when it's trouble with dairy, it's not always lactose. In fact, from the many posts and threads on the subject, I'd say it's just as if not more commonly due to the casein (the primary milk protein).

But given the foods you ate, it isn't particularly apparent which item(s) is/are the culprit(s). If it is dairy that bothers you, please don't kid yourself, by thinking you can have a little here and there and be "OK". Eliminate it from your diet entirely. You'll heal faster, and have a better chance of being able to tolerate it again later. But the longer you deny your body the opportunity to heal, the worse it can become, and the less chance there may be for a successful reintroduction later.

And besides, there are plenty of non-dairy foods which can satisfy the palate. For instance, coconut yogurt, coconut ice cream, sour cream, milk, etc. There are rice cheeses as well as other types of non-dairy cheese, some of which you can easily make yourself. Coconut oil, which is solid below 76 degrees, makes a great replacement for butter/margarine. There are also non-dairy margarines and spreads too.

However, it seems you need to eliminate the uncertainty regarding which food(s) are causing you problems. Try just a little corn as a snack or something. Just plain corn, so there's no question about it. Then after a day or so, regardless of how the corn test went, try some plain beans, though there are so many different types, that may not be so easy to determine. You may be fine with some types and not with others.

[Takala]

I don't eat "low- fat" cheese. You could not pay me to go near it, it's got the fat replaced with undigestible modified food starch. Ditto the supposedly processed lactaid- free sour cream, which you did not specify if it was dairy or soy based. I'm better off with real, plain, unprocessed yogurt or sour cream with no additives. Were the beans drained and rinsed before using ? What were the ingredients in the chipotle sauce ? What brand ? Was it labeled gluten free or did you assume ? The salsa, and what brand ?

I've gotten glutened or reacted poorly so many times to processed foods that were supposedly "gluten free" it's not funny, even stuff with a "gluten free" label from certain manufacturers, or a policy of disclosing all allergens on the label. This is why I introduce only one new thing at a time, and if I react, it's gone, whether or not it is supposedly gluten free, it's just not worth the hassle of assembling a complex meal and getting it ruined by one lousy ingredient out of a jar or box. One of the worst reactions I've had was from some allegedly gluten free corn meal by a major name brand gluten free manufacturer, when I KNOW I can eat corn. It was so bad we threw it away, rather than donate it,(I had purchased more than one package, of course ) because I wouldn't want another celiac or gl-intolerant getting sick off of it. So I do not use their brand of corn meal. I've also reluctantly given up drinking vegetable juices unless I made them, too many problems with shared lines and too many times the ingredients are changing from batch to batch.

[TeknoLen]

All of the above comments make good sense. I would add that the big glass of water you said you drank with your meal might be working against you. Your stomach needs a very acidic environment to accomplish its job. Excessive water with meals (even accompanied by some apple cider vinegar) could have substantially lowered the overall acidity of your stomach and resulted in either delayed or incomplete digestion. I typically avoid large amounts of water or any beverage 30 minutes before and 1-2 hours after meals.

You might also look at food combining. Meals combining proteins with veges with starches are tougher on the digestive system than just meals with protein and veges for instance. Just changing my food combining habits improved my transit time quite a bit... Good luck!

[zeeclass6]

These are all very good suggestions, thank you.

I have been wondering about the "low fat" nature of the cheese. I looked at the label. It is Trader Joe's Lowfat Mexican shredded cheese. It does not seem to have any gluten ingredients in it. But a long time ago, I read that when you are lactose intolerant, it's better to stick with full-fat dairy products (hooray for premium ice cream, ha ha). My family wants me to cook with the lowfat stuff. But I guess I don't have to tell them. We don't smother everything in cheese anyway. We eat very healthy. I'm the only one who cooks the big meals.

I think I am going to avoid dairy for a few days, and then eat some full fat cheese and see how I react. Then wait a few more days and eat some lowfat cheese. I will take a Lactaid pill each time because I don't want lactose skewing the results (I already know that I am lactose intolerant). I'm trying to decide whether I have (or have developed) a problem with casein.

It's encouraging to read that eliminating a food for a while will help things heal, and that eventually I might be able to tolerate it again. I would really hate to give up dairy forever. Especially ice cream in the summertime, or yogurt.

I will also take your advice about "just eating corn" or whatever and seeing how things go. The complex nature of last night's meal does make it difficult to figure out what may have caused my indigestion.

Thank you also for the suggestion of drinking less water with a meal.

Do you think that taking Betaine HCL is a good idea? Sometimes when I eat out, I don't have anything acidic to help me, besides perhaps squeezing some lemon in water. I would love opinions on this.

[RiceGuy]

Do you think that taking Betaine HCL is a good idea? Sometimes when I eat out, I don't have anything acidic to help me, besides perhaps squeezing some lemon in water. I would love opinions on this.

I think it can help. There are supplements which combine betaine HCL along with pepsin, which is supposed to be a good combination for the stomach. Just make certain of the ingredients in the supplement you select.