What up guys! I’ve been planning to update you all about my dairy hiatusfor a while now, so I figured there’s no better day than today. Long story short, I adopted a Paleo diet around end 2013 (which then transitioned into the Whole30 in January 2014). After reintroducing dairy, I noticed several unfavourable symptoms especially bloating. Although I stopped eating a Paleo diet, I continued to avoid dairy. In November 2014, I reintroduced dairy back into my diet and continued eating it regularly until February 2015. Bloating aside, I noticed that my recent dairy intake correlated with my skin breaking out. As much as I loved my breakfast bowls of yogurt, fruit & oats, the trade-off wasn’t worth it. Result: once again I decided to keep my dairy intake to a minimum.
Cheddar & Tomato Tartine
If you follow K Weigh on Instagram, you’ll see that dairy has become somewhat of a staple in my diet again since the last 3 months. I snack on Greek yogurt almost daily; my omelettes taste so much better with cheese sprinkled over; I enjoy ice cream a couple of times a week. Fortunately my body seems to be handling dairy like a champ these days. Initially I was terrified that it would affect my skin and/or digestive health but neither have been an issue- touching wood as I type!
I guess that is the beauty about our bodies. They learn to adapt and are constantly healing themselves. I personally think that certain intolerances can be managed through diet alone. Sometimes a change in diet can help boost your digestive & gut health, and in turn enable your body to process certain foods again. If the intolerance wasn’t overly severe to begin with, avoiding certain foods for an extended period & then gradually reintroducing it can also be enough to do the trick. Even the way you pair certain foods can help manage the symptoms.
Cheese & Mushroom Quesadilla
My experience with dairy has only reinforced the importance of trial and error in our diets. There is nothing set in stone about food and its effects on the body. What works for one person might not work for you. Heck certain foods or a particular style of eating might not provide the same results that it did for you 5 years ago. Especially given the information overload of late about what we should eat and should avoid for best results, we tend to ignore the feedback that our bodies constantly provide us with. Our bodies & lives are constantly evolving and it’s our duty to try and tune in to how certain foods make us feel and make changes as necessary.
Greek Yogurt with Applesauce & Peanut Butter
If I do notice any signs of bloating or break-outs in future, I will most definitely reassess my dairy consumption. Until then I’m just rolling with it and enjoying dairy in all its glory. I’m still not drinking cows’ milk but that’s more to do with me genuinely preferring the taste of soy & almond milk. On that note, I’m going to go make me a bowl of one of my all-time favourite snacks: Greek yogurt with homemade applesauce & peanut butter- never.gets.old.
Have you noticed any ill effects from a particular food?
You already know my stance on dairy. Bring on the cheese I say.
I do have mild reactions to certain foods, although it is never consistent. One day something may bother me (and by bother, I mean I get red, flushed, and hives for a short period of time) and the next day that same food will have no effect. I’ve taken it to mean, my reaction has more to do with my stress level at the time than the actual food. I think that can have a huge impact on our bodies, more so than most people realize.
Food intolerances and allergies can be such a pain in the butt to figure out and manage. I have a list of foods that I -know- bother me, and others that seem to follow no rhyme or reason. I think what makes things so frustrating is that there are so many other factors that affect how our body processes food, including environmental, mental, and emotional ones. And you’re absolutely right — at the end of the day, we just need to keep experimenting and adapting.
That’s awesome that you’ve been able to pinpoint exactly what foods bother you! Even if you don’t want to avoid them completely, at least you have the knowledge on how to manage the symptoms.
Weirdly, milk makes me sick in the US but not India. I do tend to breakout with dairy, but not cheese, JUST milk and yogurt. My dad is lactose intolerant so that might be it. But I will see how reintroducing it slowly fares 😉 so good to hear about your experience, Khushboo!
I’m not surprised that the milk in the US affects you whereas you’re fine in India- I’m sure the former involves so much more processing and preservatives! Luckily both cheese and yogurt have a pretty low lactose content so it’s worth having your dad starting off with those.
Hi K! You are so right that what we can eat changes throughout the years. I’ve never eliminated a food group and certainly enjoy dairy. I would be so sad if I had to give it up! Glad you’re enjoying it now too. 🙂
I do eat dairy but just small amounts of full fat yoghurt, cheese and the occasional ice cream! I did take it out for a while and reintroduced it to see how my body handled it. As long as I keep it to small amounts I seem to be fine. Like you I still avoid milk but I do it because of the poor quality of milk available and its nutrition level – if I could get unpasteurised raw milk I would be buying it in a shot!
Testing yourself periodically is so important though – I’m really glad that you are able to enjoy some dairy again 🙂
Although people tout about drinking milk for calcium, it’s one of those foods/drinks that is completely avoidable- so many other foods provide calcium which in fact is more bio-available!
I had to go dairy free when my son was nursing as he was intolerant, and when I was finally allowed to eat it again (thankfully, he outgrew the intolerance. Like you said, bodies are constantly learning and changing!) it was glorious.
That’s so good to know Morgan! My sister is currently feeding and has had to avoid dairy as it doesn’t agree with her son. I’ll definitely let her know about your experience as she loves her dairy :)!
If I wasn’t so lactose intolerant, I would be eating ALL the dairy ALL the time! I need to try going off it and seeing if it helps my body adjust to it. So far, I can tolerate cheddar and any other aged cheeses, fro yo, and yogurt and I couldn’t imagine living without them! I like to say I don’t like to constrain myself to any sort of rigid way of eating – but the reality is that I just don’t have the discipline to be that strict – I try to eat mostly healthy, whole stuff – and dairy (at least lactose-free dairy) plays a big part in my daily food allowances. That’s my two cents anyways 🙂
You already know my stance on dairy. Bring on the cheese I say.
I do have mild reactions to certain foods, although it is never consistent. One day something may bother me (and by bother, I mean I get red, flushed, and hives for a short period of time) and the next day that same food will have no effect. I’ve taken it to mean, my reaction has more to do with my stress level at the time than the actual food. I think that can have a huge impact on our bodies, more so than most people realize.
That’s such a good point about stress- more than diet & exercise, stress plays such a pivotal role on how our body functions!
Food intolerances and allergies can be such a pain in the butt to figure out and manage. I have a list of foods that I -know- bother me, and others that seem to follow no rhyme or reason. I think what makes things so frustrating is that there are so many other factors that affect how our body processes food, including environmental, mental, and emotional ones. And you’re absolutely right — at the end of the day, we just need to keep experimenting and adapting.
That’s awesome that you’ve been able to pinpoint exactly what foods bother you! Even if you don’t want to avoid them completely, at least you have the knowledge on how to manage the symptoms.
Weirdly, milk makes me sick in the US but not India. I do tend to breakout with dairy, but not cheese, JUST milk and yogurt. My dad is lactose intolerant so that might be it. But I will see how reintroducing it slowly fares 😉 so good to hear about your experience, Khushboo!
I’m not surprised that the milk in the US affects you whereas you’re fine in India- I’m sure the former involves so much more processing and preservatives! Luckily both cheese and yogurt have a pretty low lactose content so it’s worth having your dad starting off with those.
Hi K! You are so right that what we can eat changes throughout the years. I’ve never eliminated a food group and certainly enjoy dairy. I would be so sad if I had to give it up! Glad you’re enjoying it now too. 🙂
That’s awesome that you have never needed to eliminate a food group, Ashley- hopefully this continues to be the case :)!
I do eat dairy but just small amounts of full fat yoghurt, cheese and the occasional ice cream! I did take it out for a while and reintroduced it to see how my body handled it. As long as I keep it to small amounts I seem to be fine. Like you I still avoid milk but I do it because of the poor quality of milk available and its nutrition level – if I could get unpasteurised raw milk I would be buying it in a shot!
Testing yourself periodically is so important though – I’m really glad that you are able to enjoy some dairy again 🙂
Although people tout about drinking milk for calcium, it’s one of those foods/drinks that is completely avoidable- so many other foods provide calcium which in fact is more bio-available!
We are actually doing an anti-inflammatory experiment right now and had dairy for the first time tonight in over a week. No change… thank god! 🙂
Woohoo thank goodness! Can’t wait to read more about what foods caused a reaction (if any)!
I had to go dairy free when my son was nursing as he was intolerant, and when I was finally allowed to eat it again (thankfully, he outgrew the intolerance. Like you said, bodies are constantly learning and changing!) it was glorious.
That’s so good to know Morgan! My sister is currently feeding and has had to avoid dairy as it doesn’t agree with her son. I’ll definitely let her know about your experience as she loves her dairy :)!
If I wasn’t so lactose intolerant, I would be eating ALL the dairy ALL the time! I need to try going off it and seeing if it helps my body adjust to it. So far, I can tolerate cheddar and any other aged cheeses, fro yo, and yogurt and I couldn’t imagine living without them! I like to say I don’t like to constrain myself to any sort of rigid way of eating – but the reality is that I just don’t have the discipline to be that strict – I try to eat mostly healthy, whole stuff – and dairy (at least lactose-free dairy) plays a big part in my daily food allowances. That’s my two cents anyways 🙂
It sounds like you have a great approach Shashi! And hey at least being able to enjoying dairy in small quantities beats not being able to eat it all!