Complete Newcomer - hello!

[Kamagrian]

Hi everyone.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only newcomer on the boards (hello Kazyn!). :)

I'm a 32 year old woman living in Edinburgh, Scotland and I've recently been seriously ill in hospital with pancreatitis. Although I'm home now and recovering (it's slow going!), I've been told in no uncertain terms that I have to avoid all dairy products for a while. This could be anything from a couple of months to much longer, but I'm taking a sensible view of it and making sure I'm careful anyway. I also have to maintain a generally low-fat diet, and abstain completely from alcohol. I'm taking the stance that some dessert or chips now and then won't ACTUALLY kill me, so long as (if I treat myself to such things) I eat very low-fat generally. Basically my body may not have the ability to digest certain substances at the moment, so I'm having to change my diet.

Came across this board by typing 'dairy free' into Google, and I'm so glad I found the discussions and information on here - thanks to everyone who's contributed as it's been really interesting to browse.

One of my big problems is cheese. I've always loved eating a wide selection of foods - I've studied nutrition as part of a holistic diploma and my bf calls me a 'food geek' :D. I believe most things aren't especially harmful in moderation, so I've always enjoyed the odd chunk of really good farmhouse cheese. So far I've tried Galaxy's Soya Slices (I hated them) and Redwood's Cheddar Cheezly (which actually makes a reasonable, if high-fat, toastie). I've heard some good reports about Scheese, but I know that vegan cheeses aren't exactly reliable. Any pointers?

One thing I've been pleasantly surprised by is Alpro low-fat, vegan custard. This stuff is AMAZING and I can eat it fairly guilt-free over stewed fruit. I've also had a couple of spoonfuls of vanilla Swedish Glace, which totally blew my mind. Again it's high fat so I can only have very small amounts of it, but if anyone on here hasn't tried it - do! If I didn't have to limit my fat intake, I could happily eat half a ton of it in one sitting (lol).

I think I'm going to miss a few things: spaghetti carbonara (high fat AND dairy-laden), beef stroganoff (ditto), welsh rarebit...I'm a sucker for creamy comfort foods once in a while. If anyone has suitable ideas for any of these, I'd be really grateful. I've always eaten a lot of fish, salads and fresh vegetables so in general the low-fat restriction shouldn't be a major issue.

Sorry for the long introductory post! Thanks for reading, and I hope I've not bored you all too much.

Gill
x

[Copper]

Welcome to the site. Pancreatitis sounds painful - I hope that you feel ok now. A dairy free life is hard to start with especially if you like cheese and chocolate. Eating out is still tricky for me as I have other food allergies too, although dairy is the main problem. I had no idea that cream was added to soooo many foods in a restaurant.

I used to eat strong cheddar cheese daily until the lactose intolerance caught up with me again. I have tried various substitutes and I only like the Scheese variety. I have thrown my Scheese wrapper away and frozen my Scheese so I don't know what the fat content is like.

[Kamagrian]

Welcome to the site. Pancreatitis sounds painful - I hope that you feel ok now. A dairy free life is hard to start with especially if you like cheese and chocolate. Eating out is still tricky for me as I have other food allergies too, although dairy is the main problem. I had no idea that cream was added to soooo many foods in a restaurant.

Certainly was painful - I didn't realise how ill I was until they had to shut my entire digestive system down (nil by mouth, only IV nutrients) to prevent my pancreas poisoning me! I'm out of danger now and on the road to recovery, but that's why I've got the dietary restrictions, and also why I'm so eager to stick to them by making sure I get some good pointers. :)

Thanks for your welcome! You're right about chocolate. I've never eaten a huge amount of it, but I love to have just one or two squares when I've got a craving. Since milk chocolate's my favourite I've tried the Martello stuff (Plamil) today - it's not bad, a little powdery-textured because of the soya but even my boyfriend admits it's OK. If I'm craving dark I've always gone for Green and Black's 'Maya Gold' variety anyway, so no problem there.

I've had a few people say that Scheese is the best-tasting of the vegan cheeses, but it's the 'completely non-melting' thing that puts me off - my main cheese-craving foods were melty ones like omelettes and toasties. Might try it though...

Gill
x

[cnc]

Hi and welcome!

Cheese is still the one thing I miss- I ate very strong chedder at least once a day before being dairy free, but I know that I'm much better without it, and you can't put a price on health.
For melting cheeses I'd try the tofutti slices- they do have 26.3g of fat per 100g, but a pack is 150g and you get 8 slices in that, so as a treat then the fat content wouldn't be too bad... The plus side with them is that they melt!!

The Plamil chocolate orange is very nice- I posted about this somewhere else, but my boyfriend- who keeps Cadburys Dairy Milk in business, made me keep going back to the stand it was on display so HE could go and eat more of it!!

Gill- as you live in a big city (I'm sorry if you live on the outskirts in a village or something!) you should be able to find more restaurants that will cater for you :) - especially with it being a tourist city, because places won't want to lose custom.
Hope you're going to stay around and share information

[Copper]

Ah melting cheese - Pam on here will be more help as I know she has mentioned this before. I can't remember which one she said melted now as I just like lumps of cheese in my sandwiches.

[Lan]

Hi all,

Cheezley do a brand of melting cheese in different varities, such as mozarella etc. I get mine ordered into Holland and Barrett.

Hope that helps.

Lan. :D:D

[Steve]

I think I'm going to miss a few things: spaghetti carbonara (high fat AND dairy-laden), beef stroganoff (ditto), welsh rarebit...I'm a sucker for creamy comfort foods once in a while.

Once you get used to cooking without any dairy you will be surprised at how many foods you can have. Most recipies can be followed quite easily by just substituting non dairy ingredients where needed.

[Kamagrian]

Wow, I wasn't expecting so many fast replies - thanks people! Thought I'd answer a few posts in one instead of filling the board up with multiple replies.

Claire (cnc) - you're right about the advantages of living in a big city. I just moved here from the rural wilds of County Durham last month and it's an advantage to have everything on my doorstep - a choice of healthfood shops, restaurants and coffee shops that probably make life easier for me than some of the more scattered members. I've already discovered the delights of Costa's soy lattes (following a posting on this board!) so I haven't had to give up the occasional creamy coffee in town. They're really good. :D

This got me thinking - I've used 'swap boards' and sales boards on a website before (namely Lush's as I'm a bath-additive addict!) and have had good experiences. If there are products that more rural types have problems getting hold of, but are prohibitive to order by post due to P+P or other costs, is this board ever used to arrange for things to be sent on by city-dwelling members? Just a thought - I'd certainly not mind sending the odd package at cost price if it saved money for someone else.

Anyway...I digress (it's 3.39 in the morning and I can't sleep due to the pancreas, so humour me! :lol2:

Lan - I'm glad to hear H+B will order in the melting Cheezly as none of the healthfood stores I've tried are carrying that part of the range! Does the super-melting type taste the same as the normal varieties, or different?

[Edit later: Just found the discussion about this in another thread, so ignore me!]

Steve - re: being able to eat my favourite things...I was hoping someone would say that! ;-) If anyone could let me know their experiences cooking with dairy-free creams (e.g. whether they split with heat, etc.) I'd be really grateful as it would save me wasting my money on products that are only really suitable for desserts.


Sorry for posting so much already - don't want to seem like a pesky newbie. Going to trawl through the recipe section until I'm ready to fall asleep again.

Gill x

[matt]

hi, someone else on the site at stupid o clock with me. though your reason sounds terrible with me just insomnia.

sorry to hear the problems. i'm a scheese person but not the cheddar version too rubbery, edam, cheshire or mozarello versions. yeah i know they don't melt.
also like tofutti soft cheese spread. again these will be fairly high in fat. at least with the scheese you can slice it all up and then freeze. just wrap the pieces in cling film first, it'll keep for ages that way and you get portions already cut out.

you need to get to know the local healthfood shop. not just holland and barrett but the local independant one. they'll be really ehlpfull and will be able to order stuff in.

i think it's going to involve training yourslef away from the creamy sauces as they will all have lots of fat. better to go for more flavour. add loads herbs etc to make up for it. look at it in the the long term. being good now may mean a return to old habits in a few months whereas too much fat.....

keep at it and ask for any help you want. we're always happy to help.

not sure if we've any other members that far up north. i've two aunts in the town though!

[Pam]

Hi and welcome to the site. I think everyone has already said all the cheese stuff for me. I use Tofutti slices where I need a melt but they don't taste brilliant. Their soft cheese is very nice too (a bit like philadelphia).

Scheese or Cheezly is probably the nearest thing you come to proper cheese but I don't like either. I haven't had much success with the Meltingly Cheezly either. All in all, dairy free + cheese do not = tasty food.

Most supermarkets sell tubs of dairy free cheese sauce mix, I think it is by Free and Easy. It is ok in small amounts but not very cheesy.

I agree about Swedish Glace and Alpro custard (their Yofu and desserts are good too) and I am also a Maya Gold fan. Sorbets would be good for your problems - low fat, dairy free and now in quite a good range of flavours. Tesco have quite a good range of them.

I'm glad to hear you are getting over your medical problems, you will soon adjust to your new diet and I'm sure you will feel the benefits. Keep posting!

[cnc]

There are some advantages to living in big cities its great!!
If you find any good places for dairy-free food in Edinburgh, let me know as I have relatives up there that we visit sometimes, so would be useful.
I'm assuming you've found the nice Lush in Edinburgh now then??- Was the first one I ever visited, and thankfully theres now one in both of the towns I live in :)

Just because you don't eat dairy doesn't mean you have to go without the foods you want- just have to be prepared to accept that they may taste slightly different to what you are used to :D
Sorbets are good, and sometimes you can get them in restaurants as well, so make a change from either going without dessert or having fruit!

[Lan]

Hi all,

The melting cheezley tastes lovely. It was actually nice to have a cheese that melted when placed on toast under the grill. It was absolutely gorgeous. Let me know how it goes.

Lan. :D:D:D