Lactose Intolerance - Learn From My Fifteen Years of Experience
I have been lactose intolerant for 15 years as of the time I wrote this article (April 5, 2008.
) For the newly diagnosed, this may well seem like a daunting task to deal with.
TAKE HEART!! YOUR LIFE IS NOT OVER!!! For my part, when I was diagnosed, my doctor asked me a few questions, said "hmmm," handed me a list of foods to avoid, wished me luck, and charged me $125 for all ten minutes of my visit.
Not to put too fine a point on it, I was terrified to eat anything that might, just might, contain lactose.
When first diagnosed I weighed in at 163, after four to five months I weighed 129 pounds.
Life sucked, I had no energy, and I was despondant, to say the least.
How would I ever make it through this ordeal ?! Finally, it occurred to me to seek answers on the internet, which is no doubt why you are reading this article.
GOOD FOR YOU! You are in luck because you have run across someone who has dealt with this issue for a very long time.
It took years and no small amount of luck to gather the knowledge I have of this malady.
Believe it or not, you CAN maintain a fairly good "quality of (EATING) life" thanks to the many products available to help manage lactose intolerance.
While there are some things you will have to give up entirely, there are many things there to help you along.
There are also things recommended that I have found to be of no use, such as lactobacilli supplements, acidophilus milk, and yogurt, for example.
I found that I still had difficulties after trying these things.
The only things that I have found to be useful are lactose-reduced or lactose-free products.
You will be surprised at how many of them there are out there.
Some manufacturers will even indicate on there packaging that the product is naturally lactose-free.
While this might be considered a marketing scheme, I definitely appreciate it just the same.
Rule number one, as far as I am concerned is to read the ingredient list on ANYTHING that I even suspect may contain lactose.
Some hot dogs, vitamins, even prescription drugs contain lactose itself as an ingredient, so read, read, read!! Key words to look for in the ingredient list are: lactose, milk in any form (non-fat, whole, solids, etc.
), and whey (the liquid part of milk).
While I am very lactose intolerant (there are varying degrees), I generally find that if I eat some yummy snack item that has a milk or milk-derived ingredient listed in the "contains 2% or less of" portion of the ingredient list that I generally will not experience any real difficulty.
Many aged cheeses are naturally lactose-free, such as cheddar, swiss, monterey jack, muenster, and mozzarella, so go ahead and eat that pizza!! Look for lactose-reduced or lactose-free products in your supermarket.
Many of them are producing their own items now, which translates into savings for us, and are just as good quality! Again, take heart.
You will live through this ordeal, and possibly be even healthier than you were before, as many high fat ready-to-eat products contain a lot of milk related ingredients, although I must admit lactose-free ice cream is a weakness (yes, it's real ice cream, and it is excellent!) You might consider visiting a "health food" market, as you usually can find many milk-derived food "substitutes" that can be very tasty.
Soy milk and soy "ice cream", for example.
I found soy-based "ice cream" products that are low or no fat, have fiber, and would be willing to bet that one brand in particular could not be told from premium real ice cream.
Go forth and EXPLORE this dastardly new world! (It's not as bad as you might think).
So for the last time, TAKE HEART! you'll be fine! Health and Happiness!
) For the newly diagnosed, this may well seem like a daunting task to deal with.
TAKE HEART!! YOUR LIFE IS NOT OVER!!! For my part, when I was diagnosed, my doctor asked me a few questions, said "hmmm," handed me a list of foods to avoid, wished me luck, and charged me $125 for all ten minutes of my visit.
Not to put too fine a point on it, I was terrified to eat anything that might, just might, contain lactose.
When first diagnosed I weighed in at 163, after four to five months I weighed 129 pounds.
Life sucked, I had no energy, and I was despondant, to say the least.
How would I ever make it through this ordeal ?! Finally, it occurred to me to seek answers on the internet, which is no doubt why you are reading this article.
GOOD FOR YOU! You are in luck because you have run across someone who has dealt with this issue for a very long time.
It took years and no small amount of luck to gather the knowledge I have of this malady.
Believe it or not, you CAN maintain a fairly good "quality of (EATING) life" thanks to the many products available to help manage lactose intolerance.
While there are some things you will have to give up entirely, there are many things there to help you along.
There are also things recommended that I have found to be of no use, such as lactobacilli supplements, acidophilus milk, and yogurt, for example.
I found that I still had difficulties after trying these things.
The only things that I have found to be useful are lactose-reduced or lactose-free products.
You will be surprised at how many of them there are out there.
Some manufacturers will even indicate on there packaging that the product is naturally lactose-free.
While this might be considered a marketing scheme, I definitely appreciate it just the same.
Rule number one, as far as I am concerned is to read the ingredient list on ANYTHING that I even suspect may contain lactose.
Some hot dogs, vitamins, even prescription drugs contain lactose itself as an ingredient, so read, read, read!! Key words to look for in the ingredient list are: lactose, milk in any form (non-fat, whole, solids, etc.
), and whey (the liquid part of milk).
While I am very lactose intolerant (there are varying degrees), I generally find that if I eat some yummy snack item that has a milk or milk-derived ingredient listed in the "contains 2% or less of" portion of the ingredient list that I generally will not experience any real difficulty.
Many aged cheeses are naturally lactose-free, such as cheddar, swiss, monterey jack, muenster, and mozzarella, so go ahead and eat that pizza!! Look for lactose-reduced or lactose-free products in your supermarket.
Many of them are producing their own items now, which translates into savings for us, and are just as good quality! Again, take heart.
You will live through this ordeal, and possibly be even healthier than you were before, as many high fat ready-to-eat products contain a lot of milk related ingredients, although I must admit lactose-free ice cream is a weakness (yes, it's real ice cream, and it is excellent!) You might consider visiting a "health food" market, as you usually can find many milk-derived food "substitutes" that can be very tasty.
Soy milk and soy "ice cream", for example.
I found soy-based "ice cream" products that are low or no fat, have fiber, and would be willing to bet that one brand in particular could not be told from premium real ice cream.
Go forth and EXPLORE this dastardly new world! (It's not as bad as you might think).
So for the last time, TAKE HEART! you'll be fine! Health and Happiness!