Help Required

[nathalie11]

Help needed, im very new to the dairy free life style, after being diagnosed this week.

Can any one advise me on any books, receipes and shops that would be of benefit to me.

Many thanks

Nathalie11 :thumbsup:

[jacqui]

Dear Nathalie,
Remembering how I felt 4 years ago when I was diagnosed I expect that right now you are relieved that at last you know what is wrong and daunted at the prospect of learning all the words on the 3 sides of A4 list that you must now avoid! For a couple of months every shopping trip seemed to last forever as I looked up every ingredient, but don't worry you will be able to remember them eventually !!
Rice milk is, I find, the nicest alternative for drink/cereal/tea n coffee etc. but it's not very good in cooking, because it's more expensive than soya milk and certain things just don't 'work' with rice milk ( particularly batter etc.)
When cooking at home you will find that you can substitute milk based ingredients quite easily once you get used to it. When shopping, I find that the less a food has been processed the better it is for me. In fact, dairy free is a very healthy way of eating, do MAKE SURE, though, that you take a good calcium and vit. D every day ( your body can't absorb calcium without vit. D as well) The Tesco one is very good and not expensive. They tend to be 2 a day, again you should take one in the morning and one in the evening to allow proper absorption. As you are a woman this is SOOO important as we are in extra danger of osteoporosis in later life when we can't take milk.

Eating out can be difficult, but you will get used to it. Veggie restaurants are a good option, cos you can always eat their vegan choices, otherwise you can opt for 'unadulterated' things like steak and salad (just make sure before hand that they don't cook it in butter.) My 'fail-safe' option is ham salad, in fact my husband jokes that I should write a book called "Ham Salads I Have Eaten" as an autobiographical guide to dairy free !!! :lol:
Staff in these places are usually very helpful and understanding. We have found it best to get everyone else's food ordered, and then the waiter is able to give his/her full concentration to what you are explaining about your condition. (There will be times when they are not helpful, or worse, are difficult. Vote with your feet in these cases, there are plenty of kind people around so you don't have to put up with the others !!)

Carry some fruit tea bags in your handbag so that you can always have a hot drink with other people, this is so much easier than taking pots of milk substitute. All you have to do is ask for a cup of hot water and then put in your tea bag ( gr8, 'cos cafe's don't charge for the water !!)

Lan has a good lactose free cookbook, the ISBN is on one of the discussions, cos I asked her/him for it the other day.

Most of all, don't fear. It sounds simple I know, but I was very fearful at first. You really will get used to it all.
This has turned out to be long, I do hope it is helpful too !

All the best, look forward to 'talking' with you again.
God bless,
Love Jacqui. :hug:

[Lan]

Hi Nathalie,

I have lived dairy free for 4/5 years now and believe me you will get used to it. I agree with everything that Jaqcui said.

If you have any questions you would like to ask me please leave it on the forums, or send me a personal message by e-mail.

Kind Regards,

Lan
(Website Owner) :cheers:

[Lan]

P.S. I am a woman.

Kind Regards,

Lan :bleh:

[jacqui]

SO SOZ Lan, pweaze don't be cwoss wiv me( actually Pam just told me )

It's so much easier to tell when people have names like Susan or David !!!!!! ;)

Loadsa appologies n love
Jacqui

[madness86]

Hi I just found out that I cant tolerate Cows Milk because of the lactose content. I found this a bit hard to believe at first because im a chocoholic fan but have found there are carob bars which dont contain any milk at all, it tastes a bit funny but you do get used to it and if you go shopping at Tesco, they do a good range of foods which are free from certain ingredients.

Soya milk is good for having in tea and coffee and you can cook with it too, I cook my fish portions in it and taste yummy. I have just found a website that sells all vegan free (no milk) website where you can get chocolate gifts from so you dont have to go without. (www.animalaid.org.uk).

Also be careful when choosing cosmetics and body products because they sometimes contain milk especially creamy bath products.

Hope this helps. :fart: :fart:

[Pam]

I developed a taste for dark chocolate when I went milk free and I previously didn't care for it at all - but needs must! I think to enjoy dark chocolate you need to let it melt in your mouth and savour the taste rather than munching through a bar as quickly as possible. I'm not really into carob, it just isn't the same!

I can recommend Green & Black's Maya Gold, it is an orange flavoured dark chocolate and is really yummy. The Kinnerton bar isn't bad either (sold as 'the careful chocolate company' I think) It comes in a glossy black plastic wrapper and is available in Sainsbury's, Waitrose and I believe Somerfield.

Plamil do dairy free chocolate but it doesn't quite taste the same - give me G & B any day.

As for useful books - I like The Vegan Shopper (also called The Animal Free Shopper) by the vegan society. Animal free and therefore dairy free - it lists all sorts of food and household products which do not contain any animal products, it also gives a breakdown of what E numbers are and where they come from - a very useful little handbook to have.

[Lan]

Hi there Jacqui,

Thanks for the personal message, have just had a good laugh. Trust me when I say I have been called worse than that, much worse.

Take care.

Lan :cheers: :thumbsup: :woot:

[kelly]

On the chocolate issue,
I buy KOSHER PAREVE "chocolate" bisctuits for my 20-month son from a Jewish shop where I live. Luckily we havea big Jewish community where I live so there are a couple of small shops with a large selection of Kosher pareve biscuits, etc.

He loves them, but I ave tried dark chocolate and he does not like that, so (although I have to admit that I have not tried the kosher pareve "chocolate") my son certainly loves it.

All kosher pareve labelled foods are dairy free (but expensive).
What exactly they have in them I don't know, but they certainly don't have milk protein because my son can eat them and si unaffected :-)

Hope that helps,
Kelly.