This article was written in the hopes of people experiencing similar symptoms may come to know and find out what may be ailing them. This is a subject which most people don’t even want to think about much less have to face in our Cheesy country where mounds of the gooey stuff drip all over morsels of food in any ad we see whether it be television, magazine or newspaper ads. Not only can we taste this delicious goo in our mouths just by looking at the lovely, happy, delectable pictures we see, but the temptation is beyond most of our restraints. We know, we know. And who can do without bacon and eggs in the morning? Or pancakes? O, my goodness.
My husband began experiencing bouts of inexplicable diahhrea and waves of stomach cramps periodically and finally realized he would have to see a Doctor. The Doctor examined him saying he didn’t see anything Wrong with him except to watch his stomach as he had PreUlceric conditions.
How Would Anyone Know?
One day my husband said he was going to do some self tests. He asked himself one day, “What is making me ill some days and not others?“ He set out by testing himself using the process of elimination of foods. He had long been an eater of meat and cheese sandwiches and just decided to eliminate one of them. So while on vacation we brought a big deli array to our son’s house and there the experiments took place. One day, no meat. The symptoms ran rampant, but the next day…all meat sandwiches and no negative reaction. Interesting isn’t it he omitted the meat first. Allergic to cheese, impossible. One day after breakfast of bacon and eggs, similar negative symptoms occurred in the morning and with the omission of eggs we determined the other culprit.
Of his daily foods he came to realize it was the dairy and eggs causing him the stomach problems. Utter relief was the most apt way to describe him from that day forward. No more immediate diahhrea bouts right After eating. No more indescribable, undefined stomach cramps. As hard and as unfashionable as it may be, He had to avoid dairy foods and eggs at all costs. We had eaten plenty of pizza, lasagne and desserts to know he would miss these foods and there is dairy and eggs in most desserts.
Aha, he thought of trying the many dairy allergens on the market. They worked for a period of time, only to find out, as he aged, the lactose became more sensitive and no longer was it any use to take the many varieties of lactose medicines that people can now buy easily over the counter. He knew not only were these Sensitivities happening more and more frequently but other foods he loved as well began to feel irritating, I.e., fried foods and coffee.
As he discovered this ailment in his 30s, he has had many years to live with it. Unfortunately, many co-workers have not learned as much to just sit by and be tolerant--- abhorrent remarks made by insensitive people who have no such problems and say they would “die” if they had to go without it or “you do not want to socialize with us and eat with us“ “you might as well be dead” “surely you are alien if you can’t drink coffee” and a myriad other number of thoughtless remarks people may make. One can understand the feeling of being terrorized by these cruel thoughtless statements.
What Were We To Do Next?
When I found out my husband had these intolerances I thought I shall never bake Again nor could we have the very many foods we were so used to having. My food world had come to A breaking halt and predicament of what can I do about this? I scourged for information high and low. (we didn’t have a computer then) about food allergies and intolerances. When I inquired about this topic it was generally, “Let’s not talk about it”. I appreciate your giving me an opportunity to talk all about it now.
Not only do these food allergies NOT come all by themselves but most likely they will be accompanied by other “sensitivities” as well such as serious affects if eating too late at night, colon irritation accompanied by Cramps and possible diahhrea. Another subject most people do not want to talk about but this is the world Of people who have to watch any type of intake of foods. People with IBS and Celiac Disease and any other stomach ailment associated with Food Allergies and Sensitive Stomachs know this to be true.
Part 2
Scouting for Information
After spending many months looking for some type of help books I bless the day when my son called and said I am sending you some birthday presents and I know you are going to like one of them in a special way. Not having a clue what he was talking about one day his presents arrived and lo and behold “The Lactose-Free Family Cookbook”(l996) arrived with some other gifts; I don’t to this day remember the other gifts, but I do remember this one. Written by Jan Main of Canada. To this day, when I look at this Cookbook it reminds me of the joy of having received it.
As I read this book I felt she was with me every step of the way from disappointment to disillusionment to becoming unquenchable about finding out about knowledge of this illness and most of all….the substitute foods people can use instead of milk, cheese, eggs, etc. if any. Her best friend became lactose intolerant and asked her to write this book and she decided to write it. She is a great empathizer to people who do have LI.
In the first few pages of her book are listed foods for high calcium from nuts to green vegetables and the list goes on and on. She then proceeds to talk about levels of LI from most severe to mild. Some people can have some dairy intolerance but not much whereas people like my husband it has become a poisonous substance in his body in whatever amount. This book is full of recipes for the LI…
However, this book had nothing about Egg Intolerance. My search continued and finally I found a book called , “Special Diet Solutions” by Carol Fenster, Ph.D. (l997) This lovely author takes us on a journey of her discovery of her wheat allergy and how she thought she surely must be dreaming…being married to a big wheat farmer in Nebraska? Her book also entailed Healthy Cooking without dairy, gluten, eggs, yeast or refined sugar. Aha, I finally had the 2 pieces of the puzzle together (egg and dairy free cookbooks) and from here on I even started experimenting with other flours and ways to cook. During this period of time we lived in a small town where there were no such thing as a health food store.
Thanks to moving to a small city in Missouri named Mountain Grove they have/had an excellent Health Store and the owner’s husband was an MD who was dairy intolerant. I received soy butter recipes from his wife along with other tips from her most valued assistant who helped me immensely in knowledge and telling me about various health foods. It was like a haven for me.
With our most recent move to Tallahassee, I became more aware of other foods which could be purchased. The health food stores now have substitute tofu mayonnaise which tastes just like the real mayo and many substitutes already prepared. They also have specialty breads made with soy flour or various other flour mixtures. Tofu and its miraculous consistency can be made to make anything from delicious cheesecake (it tastes just like cheesecake) to mayonnaise. It adapts itself to the surrounding flavors. It is healthy and can be available to be used for numerous substitutes in the dairy free diet. It is also known to be a meat substitute. Some grocery stores are beginning to incorporate lactose free margarine.
What to Substitute Soy, tofu, rice milk, etc. are all substitutes for dairy - I just substituted water as all the milks affected my husband’s body system. Evidently, the food processing had something to do with his body aching as well as the foods. When I would make soy bread or rice flour bread these flours had no negative effect on my husband‘s body system. (This is just an example of how one situation can lead to another situation and we learn more than we expected. )
Did you know all the many substitutes for eggs? Do you want something sticky for ingredients to cohere to each other? How about ground heart healthy flaxseed heated…it is very sticky when heated with water and becomes pasty. It will cohere ingredients just as solidly as eggs. Another binder for egg substitutes is the healthy joint /muscle food called Knox gelatin. Mixed with hot water, this makes a tremendously sticky substance that is needed in cakes, etc. Did you know l/4 cup of tofu can be substituted for 1 egg? Did you know l l/2 cup flaxseed = l cup of butter
Being a big dairy lover myself, a few years ago I had a mound of cottage cheese and yogurt, one of my old time favorite foods. I fell asleep in the afternoon and I awoke gasping for air. I was all alone by myself in the afternoon and wondered if I were dying. I could not breathe and thought I was having an asthma attack though I never had one before. After a few minutes, I appreciatively thanked God I was still alive and later read a few articles about how dairy allows mucous to build up in the lungs. I am sure that is what happened to me that afternoon and have been leery of eating the two ever again.
Living with Allergens
A true life-style change has come about due to this and we have learned to read every label for “hidden” terms for eggs such as “albumen” and many other terms. Buying Prepackaged food has become almost nearly become out of the question most of which contains dairy or cheese or egg in some form or other.
Not only have we come to live and enjoy our way of eating but do not mind it at all. up . Like any other habit, we have deprogrammed ourselves from these foods. I myself only eat them occasionally.
I hope you have enjoyed reading my article and please pass it to anyone who may be interested.
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