For a long time now I have been struggling with feeling incredibly unwell after I eat. At first it was just feeling really groggy and slow after certain foods, and then, when I had settled down in Wellington after backpacking in 2014, I found that lots more foods were making me feel terrible. I put it down to just eating the wrong types of foods, and went to see a dietitian/nutritionist in 2015, who talked about intolerances (I had already been told back in England that I was lactose intolerant and that I had something called Oral Allergy Syndrome) and discussed that there might be elements of my diet that needed changing.
Initially I was skeptical. Overall I was eating mainly vegetables, very little junk food, and getting lots of exercise.
The dietitian/nutritionist told me about something called the Low FODMAP diet, which is a diet developed by Monash University, that is supposed to be used to help manage the symptoms of medically diagnosed irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) through looking at things called FODMAPS: “fermentable oligo-, di-, mono-saccharides and polyols.” These are small carbs that many people cannot digest. She thought it might be useful to see if there were any foods that trigger my feeling unwell.
So I did that…and found that cutting out a few ingredients seemed to make me feel better…until they didn’t.
So I went back to see my GP.
Fast forward through almost four years of seeing various different doctors, and having them tell me I need to eat more fibre (which I did), or to drink more water (which I did), or to get more exercise (which I did)…I got an appointment with an Immunologist.
I had to tell her everything about my diet so that she could assess what’s going on, and following our appointment I had blood tests done. She explained that it could be Coeliac, it could be IBS, it could be allergies, but that we wouldn’t know until the bloodwork came back.
Soooooo…it turns out it’s a milk allergy. Random.
The immunologist told me that I would have had this my entire life. To which I said, well surely wouldn’t I be unwell? She explained that there are a whole range of ways that allergies can hit you; some people go into anaphylactic shock, some pass out, some become digestively unwell, others get a rash or hives…it’s really not a ‘one size fits all’ kind of thing. I didn’t realise that!
I get very sick when I eat normal cheese, heavy cheese sauces, yoghurts or things like milkshakes. I also sometimes get a rash on my ankles or wrists. I just assumed that my stomach took time digesting and that this was very normal. It’s not. If I eat normal ice cream or cheesecake, I get really groggy, have an agonizing stomach ache, and then pass out for a while. This, again, is not a normal reaction!
Initially I was a bit shocked, but it does actually make senses. All of the reactions I have to dairy are not nice ones. Overall it’s not that bad though, cutting out dairy. I was dreading it being Coeliac, or something worse. I don’t have to take anything for it, just simply cut out anything containing cows milk. Any other kind of milk is fine, it’s JUST cows milk.
One thing I have found out though, is that a lot of people don’t understand what’s in their food!
A lot of people don’t understand that cows milk is in EVERYTHING. It’s in butter, yoghurt, sour cream, cheese, milk and a LOT of other things. It’s in a lot of breads, in cakes, biscuits, most deserts that you can buy in a cafe counter cabinet. Even crisps!
I have gone from consuming a lot of dairy things, to alternatives. It’s been quite hit and miss…some milk alternatives are disgusting and have the nutritional value of cardboard, others are lovely and reasonably healthy. I began this whole process of changing my diet with the intention that I would try, as much as possible, to not replace all my dairy with ‘fake’ versions. I mean like not replacing cheese with ‘vegan’ cheese, or things like that, just to cut out the dairy and still be mostly healthy!
I have found some great alternatives, for example:
– I have replaced my coffee milk with Coconut Milky, a coconut milk version made by VitaSoy (it doesn’t contain soy). That is lovely.
– For my breakfast I have had to rethink the entire meal! Whereas I had cereal and milk before, now I have overnight oats with coconut yoghurt, cashew milk and maple syrup. Again, it’s amazing.
– If I want a creamy pasta sauce, I have tried cashew milk instead of cream. I wouldn’t have known the difference if I wasn’t the one making the meal!
So basically, it’s not all that bad 🙂
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