Friday, July 16, 2010

Another Thing I Can't Eat/Drink.....MILK!

Before I begin this post, I'd like to highlight a very important event that occurred yesterday, July 15th, 2010. One of my favorite people in the world, Emily (The Health Nut) officially joined the special club known as "The Food Police Club", aka THE REGISTERED DIETITIAN CLUB!!! I am especially excited to announce this because Emily was the one who got me started blogging. If it wasn't for her I would not have found this other world, known as the "Blog World". I never want to leave. Thanks Emily. And.....


CONGRATULATIONS!!!




Ok, now post time.

As you know, I have fructose malabsorption, which means my body doesn't have (or doesn't have enough, or it doesn't work) the enzyme to break down fructose. In the literature I have found that most people with fructose malabsorption also have lactose intolerance, which you can learn more about here. Briefly, if you are lactose intolerant you are lacking the enzyme that breaks down lactose, which is called lactase. When you can't break down lactase you will have gas, bloating, and/or diarrhea (all similar symptoms that I experience when I consume too much fructose).


I have never had a problem with milk (or at least I never thought I did), but for some reason I sort of cut it out of my diet a couple years ago and switched to almond and soy milk. I have not had a glass of real cow's milk in years. The other day, before leaving for Pittsburgh, I had a coupon for Smart Balance's new cow's milk, so I bought some.



While this milk is called "Fat Free" it actually has some fat added to it, in the form of essential omega-3 fatty acids. So it's true that the milk itself is fat free, but with the added fat it has about 1 gram per cup. This milk also offers 6 IU of vitamin E, which is not much, but it's still pretty neat that they added it to milk! Many Americans aren't getting enough vitamin E in their diets because of the lack of fat in their diet. Vitamin E is an antioxidant and it's also good for PMS prevention!



You can get a better view of the nutrition facts at the Smart Balance website. The milk contains .32 grams of EPA/DHA (essential omega-3 fats). I like to strive for .5-1 gram of EPA/DHA per day, so I think this is fantastic.






This milk doesn't taste like 2%, like it says, but either way it's still very good. However, there is one problem. I had one glass of this stuff and had FOWL gas all day. It took me a while to connect the milk to the gas, but I eventually decided that I am now LACTOSE INTOLERANT! Ugh. It's pretty normal for humans to lose the gene that is responsible for lactase (the enzyme that breaks down lactose) as they get older, but I think I may have quickened this process by completely cutting out cow's milk in the past several years. Thankfully I can still eat; ice cream, cheese, and yogurt, because each of these provides less lactose than a glass of milk, and they don't cause me any GI issues.


Question: What's your favorite way to get your calcium and vitamin D? Mine is definitely yogurt (especially Greek yogurt) and ice cream, but I don't know if ice cream counts as a good source of calcium and vitamin D. Oh well!




Coming Up/Training Update

I have to stay here in Pittsburgh for more training tomorrow, then I'll be heading back to Columbus tomorrow evening. I won't be in Columbus long though, as I must be back here on Tuesday for another week of training. In good news, next week will be my last week in Pittsburgh! I'm not calling this good news because I don't like Pittsburgh, in fact I really do like this city. It's very similar to Columbus (although they are all professional football fanatics, while we are all about college football!). Anyway, I am just excited because I will no longer be living in a hotel, but instead I'll be home and comfortable. Not to mention I get to have my own store, and I will no longer follow an RD! Apparently a Giant Eagle nearby had an RD who left, therefore they figured I could sort of take over after 3 weeks of training. I'm completely up for it. While I'm slightly intimidated, I feel that Giant Eagle has a fantastic support team and I don't feel like I'm going in there blind, at all. I'm so excited. I will hopefully be able to post pictures and more detail once I get the "ok" from corporate (although I may not get the "ok" at all....).




Have a great weekend everyone!

29 comments :

  1. I think I'm not lactose intolerant because I add milk to my coffee everyday, although Im not 100% sure... I used to have more yogurt but not recently... maybe I should think about the calcium thing a little bit more to make sure that I get enough.

    yes, living in a hotel isn't fun... specially when you can't prepare your own food. Glad that you'll be back soon! :)

    happy weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i, too, am lactose intolerant, but I firmly believe that this is 'normal'. why should we tolerate milk from a completely different species? i blogged/ranted about this a few months back.
    anywhooo..i lie to get my calcium from yogurt, brocoli, and green leafy veggies. thier bioavailability of Ca is higher than milk, too. nice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. arg. posting at the end of an overnight shift is dangerous. of course i mean "like" not "lie", and "their", not "thier".

    ReplyDelete
  4. I get my calcium/vitamin D from lots of milk and yogurt. I do take a Vit. D. supplement in the winter because I'm in the far north.

    My brother didn't have milk for a year when he was in Afghanistan and since he's been back he's had terrible lactose intolerance symptoms, which he's never had before in his life (unless he did and just assumed the gas was normal?). It seems to be getting better the longer he has dairy products back in his diet. So maybe you're right about speeding the process of losing the lactase by cutting out milk? Interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks so much for the congrats! :-) I'm so happy to have the test done!

    I think that you're right about the lactase enzyme. I think we learned something in 762 about losing proteins we don't use as much? Haha, oh 760's...those were goood times.

    Glad you will be back in Cbus soon! You are going to rock the GE store with your nutritional knowledge! You'll do a great job!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm not lactose intolerant, but I definitely notice inflammation caused by milk and therefore I notice that when I take it out of my diet, my nose and sinuses are a lot clearer. I stick to soy milk for my cereal and just about everything else. I've been drinking that stuff since I was an itty bitty kid, so I actually prefer the taste. I got a latte the other day from Starbucks and actually didn't like it because I couldn't stand the milk taste! I also take supplements though to ensure I'm getting enough calcium.

    Congrats to Emily! You all make me want to become an RD!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Another informative post! I haven't seen the Smart Balance milk...it will take a while to get to po'dunk USA, but I'm sure I'll buy it since I buy their butter and peanut butter! We go through 2 gallons of milk a week! congrats on almost finishing your training!

    ReplyDelete
  8. girrrrrl don't be intimidated!!!! you're gonna kill it at your OWN store :) i hope you bring us on a video tour of it!

    have fun at home this weekend!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I never had problems drinking milk until I randomly switched to rice and almond milk a year and a half ago. I still have some dairy milk occasionally and each time my stomach hurts a bit. That's interesting that you can lose lactase much quicker by cutting out milk.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I don't have milk very often at all, and when I do I have gas like you mentioned. Now I just stick to almond milk, I think it's way better anyways! There's lots of calcium in veggies, so I don't worry about getting it from dairy!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm pretty sure I'm lactose intolerant too. I don't drink milk but ice cream and regular yogurt gives me those kinds of symptoms usually. I love Greek yogurt though and that's my go to dairy source.

    ReplyDelete
  12. ahh so sorry about that milk!! my favorite way to get calcium and vit D is greek yogurt and no salt cottage cheese!i go through SO much in just a week!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Well, since I live in San Diego, I *believe* I get Vitamin D from the sun...it's usually pretty sunny year-round! Mitch buys Lactaid so when I have milk in my coffee/oats/cooking, that's what we use. It lasts longer than milk too (according to the boy anyways). I rarely eat cheese but I try to consume Greek yogurt ~5 days a week for the calcium and protein (and yummy taste!). I probably need more though...my daily multi also has some calcium and vit D.

    ReplyDelete
  14. i swear.. everytime i go to your blog i read something new!! so sorry about milk.. eeek. i LOVE almond milk :) and def greek yogurt, and cottage cheese!! I go through a big container in about 5 days!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I learn so much from your blog - it's always so much fun!

    I love to get my vitamin D and Calcium from yogurt. I generally eat some everyday. I also take an extra 2000IU of vitamin D everyday to treat a deficiency that doesn't seem to want to go away.

    Congrats on the Giant Eagle store! Funny name for a store, but we have a store in Canada called Giant Tiger, so there must be a whole zoo of stores throughout the world.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm not lactose intolerant but I still try to not eat too much dairy. If available, I choose soy milk or almond milk. I still eat some greek yogurt, cheese and soft serve! Good luck with your new job! So exciting!

    ReplyDelete
  17. First off thanks for my package! I got it in the mail a couple of days ago...the husband already attacked some of the bars!

    I am not lactose intolerant...and gosh, I'm glad I'm not. I give props to those who are and have to find other ways to get their calicum in...

    ReplyDelete
  18. I have lactose intolerance, but it wasn't an issue until my early 30's. I have no problem drinking milk if I take a Lactaid, but for some reason it doesn't help with ice cream. Could it be that when I am drinking milk it is low fat and ice cream is loaded with fat?

    ReplyDelete
  19. I think Greek yogurt is definitely my favorite way of taking in calcium! Hang in there girl, you'll be done with the training in no time!

    Love the new design!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Congrats to Emily for joining us on the other side! Congrats to you for your training and your job. It will be nice not to live in a hotel. When you move with the military, you spend time in between in hotels, and it can be a pain. I have never seen that milk before, thanks for the info.

    ReplyDelete
  21. How exciting to set you loose after 3 weeks! You'll rock it!

    I'm sorry to hear you're adding lactose intolerance to your list :( You poor thing! I don't know how you do it!

    And I don't know Emily, but I'm always happy to hear of more RD's...especially blogger RD's!! WooO!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Congrats on your own store, whoa hoo!

    I don't drink straight milk either, but like you I also have yogurt and ice cream. I've been told that most people with IBS are lactose intolerant but I seem to handle the non-straight milk stuff okay. Then again, it all depends on what else I am having/doing- right now the traveling thing is killing my tummy!

    ReplyDelete
  23. haha aweee ya, the dreaded lactose int. gassiness :P

    my fav way to get calcium is yogurt and then calcium/magnesium supplements second, and lastly lots of kale, broccoli, and spinach! <3

    ReplyDelete
  24. Congrats on getting your own store! That is so exciting!

    I think I'm becoming lactose intolerant also. When I have dairy my stomach is noticeably upset, but not angry.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I am with you on the lactose intolerance. I used to be a yogurt lover! How I miss thee...sorry this is happening to you. I hope your stomach feels better soon! I was kind of amazed at how much calcium is in foods. I get it from everywhere and I take a supplement.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Lactose in cow's milk is essentially the same in human milk, so the cross-species argument doesn't stand. HOWEVER...hormones placed in the milk "business" makes a difference...
    How can you eat ice cream though?

    YOGURT, especially homemade is my favorite form of dairy, and all the good stuff that comes with it.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Ugh, in the past couple months I became lactose intolerant too! I changed from skim milk to almond or soy milk just as something else to transition away from the SAD. Recently I realized that dairy products made me feel so sick the next morning, and I put it together too. It's sort of sad not to have it as a choice now!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I can't have milk either now :( but you know that ;) I never liked the taste of plain milk anyway...bleh. I do love almond milk for cereal and such

    ReplyDelete