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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask why you went dairy free for health reasons? Apart from vegans.

63 replies

CuriousMama · 18/02/2023 12:44

I've recently gone dairy free for my sinuses as I've heard, often, that this can help.

Why did you if not for veganism? Has it helped?

Also what foods do you recommend? I haven't tried cheese yet. I bloody love it but might have to forgo? I've not heard much positivity about it?

I've actually noticed a difference. I don't know if it's placebo but I've suffered years and had no help from gps and specialists. I've had tests but nothing to help. I've tried everything.

Looking forward to hearing if it's helped anyone else?

OP posts:
Twizbe · 18/02/2023 13:56

I did it for infertility and cycles.

Not sure what difference it made. I kept it up right through my first pregnancy (interestingly that child is allergic to cows milk)

I introduced it again in my second pregnancy as an experiment. That child isn't allergic to cows milk. Likely a coincidence.

Now as a family we're 90% dairy free. I will have it from time to time but mostly not.

AutumnCrow · 18/02/2023 14:02

I did as part of low FODMAP eating, for a very long time.

Lactose free cheese is better than vegan cheese.

I still only eat limited lactose.

mamabear715 · 18/02/2023 14:04

@CuriousMama Thank you for replying. :-)
The GP asked me if my jaw clicked, I said no, & that was it.. should I be asking about it, do you think?

BlueberryBuffin · 18/02/2023 14:04

Have you considered goats cheese and sheeps cheese. I can't explain why but they are different to cows milk in terms of the effect they have

WineCap · 18/02/2023 14:09

I went dairy free after my DH did following digestion issues. I noticed that I felt less bunged up and generally better in myself. My sister had sinus problems and going dairy free worked for her.

An added benefit is that dairy is in quite a few unhealthy foods and while there are alternatives, I do think cutting it out helps my waistline!

I don't mind Aldi oat milk, it tastes good in coffee.

WashAsDelicates · 18/02/2023 14:25

I went DF because I was breastfeeding a dairy-intolerant infant. If I ate buttered toast she got eczema. It had no effect on my own health. It was simpler for the whole family to go DF than to faff about with multiple items and worry about cross-contamination. Though dh kept a tub of hard cheeses in the fridge for his own use.

For cereal I found oat milk and unsweetened almond milk the best. I preferred my drinks black, rather than with milk substitutes, and have stayed that way even though I am no longer DF.

The dc liked sandwiches with DF spread, but I didn't care for it. You can bake with it, but I only used it for pastry. I preferred to use oil or mayonnaise for cakes. Hellmann's regular mayo is DF, although the reduced fat one has dairy in it.

I didn't find any DF cheese
that was worth eating. I found some recipes for 'uncheese' made with cashews, nutritional yeast and some other stuff. They were quite nice, but in a vaguely reminiscent of a mild cheese sort of way. Nutritional yeast is very good added to a white sauce made with oat milk to give a cheesiness to it.

Tartex patés also have an umami flavour, like cheese does, even though they don't taste of cheese. Very nice on toast or in a sandwich.

Alpro yogurts are lovely, especially the vanilla one, but I never found a really nice unsweetened DF yogurt that did not taste exactly like what it was made of, eg beans or coconut.

Calcium supplements are poorly absorbed by the body. The best way to ensure you have enough calcium is to get it from natural sources such as sardines with bones. Good vegetable sources are IIRC dried apricots, sesame seeds/tahini, and dark greens such as kale.

WashAsDelicates · 18/02/2023 14:27

Swedish Glace ice-cream! Another product we still sometimes buy, even though we are no longer DF, because it is just so nice.

emmathedilemma · 18/02/2023 14:32

I’m not strictly dairy free but don’t eat much and never drink milk or dairy yogurts. My eczema is better, my IBS is better and my sinuses / phlegm are much better since I cut most of it.

MrsRinaDecker · 18/02/2023 14:36

I find too much dairy triggers my IBS. The fattier the worse.. so I can drink my coffee with skimmed milk, occasionally eat low fat yogurt, but very rarely anything with cream in. I like almond milk for cereal, soy a close second. And I like the Alpro brand yogurts (they also make a really good dairy free fro-yo in an ice cream maker). I don’t eat loads of cheese anyway, so haven’t tried many alternatives, but I do really like the vegan pizza in Pizza Express.

Icanbetherubberband · 18/02/2023 14:39

@AdventFridgeOfShame

Yes I do think that's it's best with medical advice, however if you can't get that then doing a structured elimination diet can be helpful. You give up the allergen for 2-3 weeks, if no improvement reintroduce, then move on to the next allergen. This helped my friend realise that she didn't have the issues with wheat and dairy she thought she did, but that she did have a problem with the nightshade family tomatoes, peppers, aubergines.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 18/02/2023 14:56

I initially cut all dairy out because it was making me feel sick and bloated - turns out there was definitely some sort of milk protein issue as well as gut damage from undiagnosed Coeliac Disease making me lactose intolerant - and there was clearly good reasons why, as a thin, pale, stuffy but never snotty mouthbreathing kid with constant stomach pains and headaches, had been advised by the consultant not to eat dairy or wheat, even if my mother had totally ignored the advice because it was too much like hard thought.

I found the taste of the Violife blue cheese substitute was spot on so, as long as I didn't look at it, that was OK (it's just wrong for a pure white block of what looks like feta to taste like Danish blue), but the rest were all pretty rubbish, so I went without cheese. Liked chocolate and standard coconut milk, but oat milk made me feel sick (turns out oats aren't always great for Coeliacs even if they're labelled gluten free), UHT soya milk tasted horrible, but the chilled versions were fine, and all of the nut milks were disgusting and generally tasted burnt and bitter with a weird astringency. Coconut and soya yoghurts were perfectly alright

However, over time and especially since being diagnosed and becoming gluten free and spend far too much of my life wondering exactly what in the shop I can actually eat, I started trying to reintroduce some dairy and I'm great with goat and ewe's milk products including cheeses (Pecorino is so much cheaper than Parmesan, too) and yoghurts. I hardly ever have any sinus issues or headaches and outside getting glutened, I don't have any gastro symptoms these days.

I had already, however, learned that saline rinsing combined with pseudoephedrine and cold packs to the face, with a black coffee/two paracetamol and to continue rinsing and decongestant for 7 days after it first stops hurting is the best way to deal with sinus pain; combining the 'hit the bastarding sinuses hard and don't give the fuckers a chance to come back' with not eating dairy was the key for me.

I despise butter substitutes/spreads, but good olive oil is really nice on GF bread with some sea salt - it makes it taste of something other than disappointment. If you're fine with gluten, it would be absolutely lovely.

I always liked Tartex mushroom pate and am glad it's GF, but my favourite savoury things are tinned sardines (with bones), olives, pickled garlic, pickles and suchlike, and already preferred tomato based sauces than dairy ones; adding dairy to curry, stews or sauces just wasn't something I liked, but cornflour or adding potato gave a 'creamier', richer texture without the dairy.

AdventFridgeOfShame · 18/02/2023 14:57

@Icanbetherubberband for us women, I'd be quite rash and do an exclusion of one thing for a complete menstrual cycle. Nearly all research is done on men because they have much simpler hormones. But far more women have adverse reactions to food.www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5746020/#:~:text=Food%20allergy%20and%20intolerance%20can,induced%20anaphylaxis%20and%20histamine%20intolerance.

Structure is important. Try lactose before all dairy is standard dietician advice.

We need more female based research.

Icanbetherubberband · 18/02/2023 15:38

Thankyou @AdventFridgeOfShame I had never considered that the male bias in medical research would have implications on the elimination diet. That is very interesting, and I am going to do some self research to see if I can work out my migraine triggers better, i have previously tried the two week pattern but my migraines definitely have a hormonal element.

We really are screwed over so much by the male as default medical model. So frustrating. I (small, female) have been told many times that my medication dose is too small to be therapeutic. I've continued ignoring medical advice on that front, and taken half of children's recommended doses for most of my adult life. I believe this has had a positive effect on me, as at one point taking male based doses I was like a zombie and had elevated liver function tests, and once I accepted that my dose was smaller have never had either problem again. I have told my GP I'm going this, so not really without medical advice now as he has checked that the medications I take are safe to cut in half eg. Don't have a special slow release coating and don't come in capsules.

Icanbetherubberband · 18/02/2023 15:39

Sorry half of the adult recommended or the recommended dose for an older child eg. 12+

CuriousMama · 18/02/2023 15:39

mamabear715 · 18/02/2023 14:04

@CuriousMama Thank you for replying. :-)
The GP asked me if my jaw clicked, I said no, & that was it.. should I be asking about it, do you think?

Gp won't do anything. See an osteopath. Or at least ask one. Also your dentist can refer you to an orthodontist.

OP posts:
twitterexile · 18/02/2023 15:52

I’m lactose intolerant but at a level that means I can cope with cheese, etc when it is thoroughly cooked (eg cheese scone). Same with eggs.

Confused by this. Eggs have no lactose.

MissingMoominMamma · 18/02/2023 15:53

Milk products give me terrible diarrhoea 😳.

Thethuthinang · 18/02/2023 15:54

My doctor told me my acne was perimenopausal and nothing to be done. I dropped dairy for a few weeks while hanging out with my plant based MIL. My skin weirdly cleared up. Got home and had my usual yoghurt. Next day my skin broke out like crazy. My son got a stomach ache and I realized he had not really gotten over his dairy sensitivity he'd had as a baby. I do oat milk and coconut milk now.

Doowop1919 · 18/02/2023 16:05

I cut it out due to a screaming baby. 3 weeks off dairy and my son's all day screaming stopped. I also noticed in that time that my sinuses weren't as bad, I wasn't having loose stools anymore nor was I having that horrible lethargic feeling I got after dairy. When my son passed the milk ladder, I went back to consuming some dairy (cheese, occasional chocolate, butter) but never went back to cows milk (I now love oatly barista), nor yoghurt. And I limited it. My second son is 3 weeks old and I gave up dairy at 36 weeks pregnant to avoid a repeat. The only thing I miss is cheese. I don't care about anything else.

Doowop1919 · 18/02/2023 16:07

twitterexile · 18/02/2023 15:52

I’m lactose intolerant but at a level that means I can cope with cheese, etc when it is thoroughly cooked (eg cheese scone). Same with eggs.

Confused by this. Eggs have no lactose.

I assume Twitter meant the egg intolerance is on the same level as the cheese. As long as egg is properly cooked like baked in a cake, it's fine.

BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn · 18/02/2023 16:27

AdventFridgeOfShame · 18/02/2023 14:57

@Icanbetherubberband for us women, I'd be quite rash and do an exclusion of one thing for a complete menstrual cycle. Nearly all research is done on men because they have much simpler hormones. But far more women have adverse reactions to food.www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5746020/#:~:text=Food%20allergy%20and%20intolerance%20can,induced%20anaphylaxis%20and%20histamine%20intolerance.

Structure is important. Try lactose before all dairy is standard dietician advice.

We need more female based research.

Agreed. One of the symptoms of my dairy allergy is hot flushes, but only for half the month.

Cutting out dairy I did notice a clear improvement after a couple weeks, but it takes quite a lot longer to get fully out of my system. After an accidental exposure it takes about 6 weeks to get completely right again.

Confrontayshunme · 18/02/2023 16:32

I have done whole foods plant based, and I have had a LOT of good effects. Better skin, not anaemic anymore, good gut health, lower triglycerides, lower LDL cholesterol and lower cholesterol overall plus my weight is lower and stabilised. But I do emphasise frequently that the only "fake meat/dairy" that I eat is tofu. I cook without oils or plant butters, and I think that is the difference, rather than the lack of dairy, eggs or meat.

Confrontayshunme · 18/02/2023 16:35

And my eczema is gone too!

Jazzy21 · 18/02/2023 16:58

I became ill over the summer with intense bloating, cramps, wind, and an overall low mood, feeling very uncomfortable and embarrassed a lot of the time. GP ruled out anything sinister and was diagnosed with IBS triggered by diet. By process of elimination I worked out it was dairy.

I’m much better now. I miss tea (because plant based milk in tea is vile) but I have oat milk in coffee and dairy free spread is fine. The Coconut Collaborative do some gorgeous dairy free desserts.

bravotango · 18/02/2023 17:06

DS has CMPA and I'm still breastfeeding. Was on oat milk already, found it hard without butter and cheese but have become used to it and feel fantastic - had mild IBS which very very rarely appears now, skin clearer, lost a bit of weight too. Hard to say if it's the lack of dairy for sure as I'm also not drinking as much alcohol as pre pregnancy but considering remaining dairy free once I finish BFing.