Struggling with my dairy and gluten free diet

[Nickibmibile]

Nearly three years ago I started on a dairy free diet. I won't lie it was horrible, and I was irritable and cross a lot of the time. All the food I wanted to eat contained milk or butter or some variance of. Cheese was a major problem as it has always been my comfort food. I tried eating it but it made me so sick it really wasn't worth it. I did lose over a stone in weight so it wasn't all bad. However now I have to cut out gluten and I'm really struggling. I miss puddings and the majority of recipes I find are incorporate chocolate and I really don't like chocolate at all.

[Hidden]

Hi Nickibmibile , I empathise with you in regards to the food restrictions we need to follow in order to help us feel better. I have cut out most of my previous lifestyle foods and I was never one for processed or junk food. But the benefits far out way the sorry for myself feeling. My health is so much improved than it was 10 months ago. It's good you don't like chocolate because your not going to miss it. I find a lot of the puddings just contain tons of sugar. I eat fairly simply these days but my attitude has changed I totally understand the saying 'eat to live , not live to eat', now. It's altered my whole attitude to food. I know it's hard but it's worth persevering, best wishes x

[Lisahelen]

As a recently diagnosed coeliac i can empathise. It is hard going at first especially the just going shopping and no longer just being able to grab something off the shelf but inspect all the labels but as you have been dairy free you know all about that. It just means that unfortunately you now have more things to look for. I cant stand chocolate as a pudding and have found alternatives and have had to find the time to make my own stuff- and believe me its not the same! It has become a needs must thing as mango quotes eat to live not vice versa

There are cookery books available i was lucky enough to get one in a charity shop recently

[Galixie]

I can relate a bit also. I had elisa testing done and discovered that I have trouble with dairy products (especially casein and whey). I was pretty strongly in denial for a couple of years after that test, but I felt so much better when I gave it up that I could no longer deny it. I eventually got over any cravings for dairy products, but I do remember intensely craving cheese when I first gave it up. I switched over to a lot of Asian foods because they tend to be dairy free. Then I found out I have gluten ataxia and had to give up gluten too. Well that cut out everything that included soy sauce and I was back to square one.

I still struggle with keeping both dairy and gluten free. I am not a cook, so my meals are pretty pathetic. You have my sympathy.

I do still manage to make the occasional happy discovery. Like last month when I found out that most (but not all) macaroons are both gluten and dairy free.

[kaspa]

It is very difficult avoiding gluten and dairy when eating out and especially trying to choose a pudding.

I prefer to make my own with lots of recipe ideas from the web. I swap out dairy and swap in almond, soya, coconut or other milks and coconut oil or df marg and the results aren't too bad.

Soya yogurt, fruit and homemade granola is a good standby. As are homemade biscuits.

There are definitely more dairy free products available now nut but yes i feel your pain

[upnabout]

It's difficult living on a restricted diet, especially in the beginning. I tempted fate several times and made myself ill until I finally realised it wasn't worth the misery. Now I have accepted it and don't feel deprived when I have to say no to things. Nowadays my treats are different. Just been on a trip to Scandinavia and was delighted at the selection of gluten free breads and crispbreads!

[Hil101]

After being diagnosed with coeliac and going on a gf diet, I became much more ill and it lasted years. I ended up also giving up dairy (and eggs - they made me exceptionally ill) for a period and it was very hard work. Thankfully, I found I was able to tolerate dairy again in small amounts after a while and gradually increased it. I then did a few neurolinguistic programming sessions with a man who specialises in food allergies. This was life-changing as I could immediately eat all the very low gluten things I couldn't tolerate before such as glucose syrup, codex wheat and low levels of contamination. Now a year into eating tiny amounts of gluten and plenty of contaminated food (eg toasting bread in a normal toaster, having chips from oil used for wheat etc) I have just had my annual blood tests and they are the best yet! At last I have such a low level of antibodies that it comes out as 'no action needed' whereas before the talk was of refractory coeliac. I can also eat eggs now. I highly recommend NLP but you need to check out who's doing it and it isn't cheap. I find 'no dairy' harder than 'no gluten'. Did you know that chocolate cross-reacts so some coeliacs' bodies think it's gluten? I think this is why I don't like chocolate either. Good luck with your new diet and I hope you feel better soon.