I've Become Lactose-Intolerant

I'm lactose intolerant too. Here are a few tips I have picked up over the years:

1. Cracker Barrel cheeses have no lactose (it says so in the fine print on back). This information made my life considerably better. Sometimes other cheeses are also surprisingly lactose free. Learn to check the backs of packages.

2. Lactaid milk tastes just like real milk, because it is real milk - jsut with an enzyme added to dissolve the lactose. The dissolution produces a little sugar, so lactaid milk supposedly tastes a little sweeter than regular milk, but since I don't campare the two I don't notice.

3. Breyer's makes a lactose free vanilla ice cream. Same deal as lactaid milk - no weird substitutes - still the real thing, just minus the lactose, and you won't notice the extra sweetness since sugar is added to ice cream anyway.

4. In general, aged cheese has less lactose than fresh cheese. So go for hard cheese over soft.

5. The pill works sometimes, but not all the time. For me, it won't counteract a glass of milk, cream cheese, or regular ice cream, but I can get away with a slice of pizza, a piece of cake, or most soft cheeses. I've heard other people have better results with the Lactaid pill, so you'll just have to learn your limits through trial and error.

6. Get familiar with the natural foods aisle of your grocery store. You'll have to learn for yourself which soy/rice substitutes are acceptable to you, and which are not.

7. Asian food! They rarely use dairy.

8. Look for kosher pareve items. That means it's dairy free.

That's a smattering. I'll see if I can think of some more.

Lactose intolerance isn't really that bad. I love food, and the lack of an enzyme hasn't stopped me from loving food. I still eat some dairy - but I do it in moderation. I actually lost a bunch of weight when I discovered my affliction, since I stopped eating random slices of pizza and doughnuts laying around the office. You can still eat those things, you just need to think about it first, rather than just gorging.

Originally Posted by westinghouse

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Life is better without dairy. Phlegm and sluggishness go away. Put Coffeemate in coffee. Eat broccoli for calcium and vitamin D. End of thread.

life w/o butter is a wasted life... and coffeemate???....

ComboOrgan's got some good stuff. i'll add:

always, always, always bring a lactase pill when you go out to eat Italian.

try to carry around a "just in case" lactase pill in your wallet. my ex was a champ at always remembering to carry around a spare lactase pill.

sometimes it IS worth it to forgo the lactase pill if you don't have one. you'll soon recognize those situations.

-Jeff

Lactase pill work. Normally I can tolerate about 12 ounces of milk without any problems. Anything above that and things get gassy/uncomfortable. Taking a 9000 lactase units pill with each 8ish ounce glass milk completely corrects any intolerance in my body. I've done 64 ounces in one sitting with 8 lactase pills. No problems. Without the pills I would be destroyed for the next half a day.

I'm also lactose intolerant but strangely have no problem with cheese, butter, ice cream or yogurt.
We don't have lactase pills here, but lactose-free milk is readily available.

Originally Posted by westinghouse

Click to expand...

Life is better without dairy. Phlegm and sluggishness go away. Put Coffeemate in coffee. End of thread.

Originally Posted by westinghouse

Click to expand...

Life is better without dairy. Phlegm and sluggishness go away. Put Coffeemate in coffee. Eat broccoli for calcium and vitamin D. End of thread.

GTFO of my thread.

Originally Posted by ComboOrgan

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I'm lactose intolerant too. Here are a few tips I have picked up over the years:

1. Cracker Barrel cheeses have no lactose (it says so in the fine print on back). This information made my life considerably better. Sometimes other cheeses are also surprisingly lactose free. Learn to check the backs of packages.

2. Lactaid milk tastes just like real milk, because it is real milk - jsut with an enzyme added to dissolve the lactose. The dissolution produces a little sugar, so lactaid milk supposedly tastes a little sweeter than regular milk, but since I don't campare the two I don't notice.

3. Breyer's makes a lactose free vanilla ice cream. Same deal as lactaid milk - no weird substitutes - still the real thing, just minus the lactose, and you won't notice the extra sweetness since sugar is added to ice cream anyway.

4. In general, aged cheese has less lactose than fresh cheese. So go for hard cheese over soft.

5. The pill works sometimes, but not all the time. For me, it won't counteract a glass of milk, cream cheese, or regular ice cream, but I can get away with a slice of pizza, a piece of cake, or most soft cheeses. I've heard other people have better results with the Lactaid pill, so you'll just have to learn your limits through trial and error.

6. Get familiar with the natural foods aisle of your grocery store. You'll have to learn for yourself which soy/rice substitutes are acceptable to you, and which are not.

7. Asian food! They rarely use dairy.

8. Look for kosher pareve items. That means it's dairy free.

That's a smattering. I'll see if I can think of some more.

Lactose intolerance isn't really that bad. I love food, and the lack of an enzyme hasn't stopped me from loving food. I still eat some dairy - but I do it in moderation. I actually lost a bunch of weight when I discovered my affliction, since I stopped eating random slices of pizza and doughnuts laying around the office. You can still eat those things, you just need to think about it first, rather than just gorging.

Good advice. And thanks for the advice from everyone else. I will definitely try out the lactose-free milk so I can at least foam it up for lattes/cappuccinos. I only use milk and half and half for coffee in the first place, so it being a little sweetened is of no concern.

Jesus, Horns...even your coffee? Man, that sucks - I hope Lactaid will at least take care of that for you.

FWIW: milk does make me phlegmy, but chocolate hits me even worse. So when I have a brownie and a glass of milk...

This intolerence has hit me later in life. I grew up chugging milk. In my late 20s ice cream suddenly started making me get the sweaty splittin' ****** skitters. Now I sometimes get the gut-coffee dropouts from just a glass of milk. But not always. If I drink milk with food, I'm fine. But if I drink it too long before or after a meal, I sometimes get the rumble in the jungle like ******* Vietnam 1969, dropping agent orange and napalm over Laos with impunity. When I get constipated, I have a quick cure.

Have you tried the one-a-day pill for lactose intolerance? I remember seeing ads for an OTC product that you take on a regular basis instead of "as needed". If you're constantly eating dairy products then it might be easier to take one pill every day instead of one (or more) pills every time you slug down a coffee or slice of pizza.

PS I'm lactose intolerant as well. The Lactaid pills aren't always effective for me, so I try to avoid foods containing dairy whenever possible.

Lactose intolerance sucks. I got it in my twenties and had to give up ice cream. I find that the Lactaid pills don't work, but I've also discovered that I can eat sheep, goat and buffalo milk cheeses in small to moderate amounts. Sheep yogurt is also great. At this point, I've learned to enjoy very small portions of things I used to eat in greater quantity--a few bites of a cake, a spoonful or two of ice cream, a few nibbles of forbidden cheeses. I no longer have the taste for croissants and butter cookies. Finally, I cannot recommend high quality sorbetto enough. Some flavors, like fig and kiwi, have a ceramy texture that approximates ice cream.

Good luck! At least you didn't have to give up coffee or wine.

Originally Posted by gomestar

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GF grew out of it ... but then it came back

Not what I want to hear!

"You know what? If I were allergic to dairy, I think I'd kill myself. 'Cause this is way, way too good."

lactose intolerance =/= dairy allergy