dairy/phlegm

Adelie

I'm thinking of cutting out some dairy in an effort to avoid phlegm. Is it true that dairy can make phlegm worse? Does any one know what exactly in dairy can cause phlegm (e.g. lactose/casein), so I can just eliminate that? I eat a lot of butter, cream, greek yoghurt, all kinds of cheeses, and some milk. I don't really want to cut out everything unless it's necessary. Are there any other non dairy foods I should avoid?

El_Dangeroso

Adelie wrote: »

I'm thinking of cutting out some dairy in an effort to avoid phlegm. Is it true that dairy can make phlegm worse? Does any one know what exactly in dairy can cause phlegm (e.g. lactose/casein), so I can just eliminate that? I eat a lot of butter, cream, greek yoghurt, all kinds of cheeses, and some milk. I don't really want to cut out everything unless it's necessary. Are there any other non dairy foods I should avoid?

It's usually the casein, if it was lactose then the symptoms would be centered around the tummy. Give it all up for 30 straight days (no cheatin!) then reintroduce various types of dairy one at a time (for example some can handle goat's dairy but not cow, some are ok with yoghurt but cheese sets them off).

Coconut milk is a good sub for milk in most recipes. I'm not sure if there's a decent sub for cheese, those soy based ones are rank and not very good for you.

Red Cortina

I find that if I consume a lot of dairy then I end up with the phlegm thing going on in the back of my throat. I ate a tub and a half of cottage cheese one day before Christmas last year and haven't gone near the stuff since!

I really need to eliminate dairy from my diet but am barely getting my head around avoiding gluten right now, not to mind another food to avoid It's bad enough being in a restaurant and requesting gluten free food without requesting no dairy also.

Adelie

I also don't eat gluten. I went off it and when I ate it again, I got awful stomach pains. If the same happens with dairy (I go off, then get much worse symptons when I try it again), at least I will have a good motivation to stay off.

Red Cortina

These guys:

https://www.enterolab.com/StaticPages/FaqResult.aspx

reckon that folks who are intolerent to gluten are more than likely going to be intolerent to the milk protein casein...

El_Dangeroso

Worth mentioning that butter is often not an issue for people with dairy intolerance. Worth introducing that first after elimination IMO.

Adelie

Red Cortina wrote: »

These guys:

https://www.enterolab.com/StaticPages/FaqResult.aspx

reckon that folks who are intolerent to gluten are more than likely going to be intolerent to the milk protein casein...

Damn. Makes sense though. Cutting out dairy will be harder than wheat for me.... anyway at least I know when I've done it my diet will be healthier as a result but still

For now I'm going to ignore their warning that tomatoes and potatoes can also be problematic!

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

Worth mentioning that butter is often not an issue for people with dairy intolerance. Worth introducing that first after elimination IMO.

That's good news anyway, I love butter in my eggs and veggies!

El_Dangeroso

FWIW, gluten makes my IBS go crazy. I gave up dairy for a month and there was no reaction when I re-introduced it so I don't think that rule is hard and fast.

Then again I was always 'meh' about dairy, I can take it or leave it, it's an easy source of good fats for me so I keep it in. I've anecdotally found that people who are addicted to cheese, the kind that cannot stop at a little bit are the people most likely to be intolerant to it.

Adelie

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

I've anecdotally found that people who are addicted to cheese, the kind that cannot stop at a little bit are the people most likely to be intolerant to it.

Hah, my friends would laugh out loud if they read that, I'm famously addicted to cheese

I find dairy so convenient because I don't need to cook it if I'm stuck for food, I can just grab some yoghurt or cottage cheese or whatever. Guess I'll just have to stock up on sardines and nuts as a replacement.

El_Dangeroso

Adelie wrote: »

Hah, my friends would laugh out loud if they read that, I'm famously addicted to cheese

I find dairy so convenient because I don't need to cook it if I'm stuck for food, I can just grab some yoghurt or cottage cheese or whatever. Guess I'll just have to stock up on sardines and nuts as a replacement.

Aww snap.. no more cheese for you

In my no dairy experiment coconut in all it's forms was a lifesaver, big bags of macadamias are great because of all nuts they are hard to overeat. Always have a boiled egg in the fridge. That's the danger when you remove something from your diet, if you have nothing to replace it you'll get starving and crack and eat something so much worse like cake!

Sit down with a pen and paper and imagine a week of eating, don't go too low on cals, even increase them for the first few days to avoid any sense of deprivation.

Lots of stuff here with no grains or dairy:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-recipes/

Adelie

Those are good ideas, thanks. I've been eating fairly paleo-ish anyway the last few months but now it looks like I'll be even more paleo! Who knows, maybe I'll even see more improvements than just getting rid of the phlegm.

Red Cortina

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

Then again I was always 'meh' about dairy, I can take it or leave it, it's an easy source of good fats for me so I keep it in. I've anecdotally found that people who are addicted to cheese, the kind that cannot stop at a little bit are the people most likely to be intolerant to it.

This is me-my OH bought some crackerbarrel cheese a couple of weeks ago and I could not keep away from the stuff!!!