Go Dairy Free
Do you know about Go Dairy Free?
When I started this blog last summer and was looking for some dairy-free sites, I stumbled upon this super resource. Alisa, Ms. GDF, has a serious milk allergy and created this site for others like her who really need to be dairy-free or bad things happen.
Although I had a mild milk allergy as a baby, I quickly outgrew that and heartily enjoyed ice cream, cheese, yogurt-everything milky for years. That is until 2004 when my body’s chemistry changed and serious tummy issue ensued. After doing all kinds of tests for all kinds of things, including celiac in 2004-2005, which were negative, one of the things my GI suggested was that I might be lactose intolerant [or wheat intolerant, as one of the tests came back positive for wheat issues]. He said it happens, you can lose your ability to digest milk as you age.
Lovely.
However, I was VERY attached to milk and was reluctant to give it up. So I didn’t. Foolish girl. It was only in 2005 after giving up wheat [and still having tummy distress] that I gave up milk. And sugar. And soy. And after about 18 months things slowly started to improve tummy-wise.
I was completely dairy-free, May 2005 through March 2007. After a lot of rice milk in my tea, I rethought the lactose intolerant thing. It wasn’t so much a rethink as I was desperate for milk in my tea. And I only wanted a little milk. This clearly doesn’t work if you are allergic: a little of an allergen can do a lot of damage. But to TEST for a potential intolerance, I could handle a stomachache to find out if lactose intolerance was or wasn’t the issue [essentially a protein versus sugars thing]. And huzzah, Lactaid works for me; I'm lactose intolerant. One thing solved. So I get to have a little milk in my tea and some hard cheese a couple of times a month but other than that I'm "dairy-low".
And I still appreciate a great dairy-free resource. For you who are allergic, have allergic children, are vegan, or have done an elimination diet [as I have] check out Go Diary Free if you haven’t already. You'll find some of my posts over there too!
When I started this blog last summer and was looking for some dairy-free sites, I stumbled upon this super resource. Alisa, Ms. GDF, has a serious milk allergy and created this site for others like her who really need to be dairy-free or bad things happen.
Although I had a mild milk allergy as a baby, I quickly outgrew that and heartily enjoyed ice cream, cheese, yogurt-everything milky for years. That is until 2004 when my body’s chemistry changed and serious tummy issue ensued. After doing all kinds of tests for all kinds of things, including celiac in 2004-2005, which were negative, one of the things my GI suggested was that I might be lactose intolerant [or wheat intolerant, as one of the tests came back positive for wheat issues]. He said it happens, you can lose your ability to digest milk as you age.
Lovely.
However, I was VERY attached to milk and was reluctant to give it up. So I didn’t. Foolish girl. It was only in 2005 after giving up wheat [and still having tummy distress] that I gave up milk. And sugar. And soy. And after about 18 months things slowly started to improve tummy-wise.
I was completely dairy-free, May 2005 through March 2007. After a lot of rice milk in my tea, I rethought the lactose intolerant thing. It wasn’t so much a rethink as I was desperate for milk in my tea. And I only wanted a little milk. This clearly doesn’t work if you are allergic: a little of an allergen can do a lot of damage. But to TEST for a potential intolerance, I could handle a stomachache to find out if lactose intolerance was or wasn’t the issue [essentially a protein versus sugars thing]. And huzzah, Lactaid works for me; I'm lactose intolerant. One thing solved. So I get to have a little milk in my tea and some hard cheese a couple of times a month but other than that I'm "dairy-low".
And I still appreciate a great dairy-free resource. For you who are allergic, have allergic children, are vegan, or have done an elimination diet [as I have] check out Go Diary Free if you haven’t already. You'll find some of my posts over there too!
Comments
ummmm, Allergic Girl, now that was a telling misspelling :-) And, thanks for the resource. I mentioned before that I'm also lactose intolerant (like you, I can eat small amounts of dairy products with no distress) and appreciate good info on the subject.
ciao for now,
Jonah