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What qualifies as a problem?


kate61

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Hi!

 

This is actually my first post; I finished the Whole30 and the reintroduction.  With the exception of eating something that had both dairy and gluten on the dairy day accidentally, I followed the reintroduction.

 

But I'm curious if my reactions are really an issue.  On the legume day, I ate sort of a naked burrito for both lunch and dinner, so I had a lot of refried pinto beans that day and was gassy.  Isn't everyone gassy when they eat a lot of beans, though?

 

I also had a mild reaction to the dairy day, but after accidentally also having gluten, I extended the reintroduction and did another (separate) dairy day.  I didn't feel perfect, and have felt a little bloated since I ended reintroduction; so again, is minor bloating or gassiness or whatever really significant enough to be considered a sensitivity?

 

Also, is it possible that I'm only sensitive to yogurt or milk, while butter and cheese are fine?  Does that happen?  I'm considering doing W30 for a couple weeks and then reintroducing just milk one day, just cheese another, just yogurt another.... 

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The beauty of this program is that the answer to your question lies entirely with you.  Does it bother you that after you have dairy that you have bloating and gassiness?  Maybe it doesn't bother you at home if it's minor but you don't want to go to a fancy wedding and chow down on cheesecake... this is the type of information that you use to make 'worth it or not worth it' valuations.

 

It is possible that you are more or less sensitive to different items within a food group, so you can definitely work on re-introducing those things separately to get more concise information.

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It's not so much about diagnosing an official sensitivity as figuring out what the consequences for a certain food are for you. Is feeling a little bloated worth that ice cream for you? Only you can answer that, and my answer might be different from yours, and that's great.

 

For me, ice cream/milk are definitely more problematic than butter or a sprinkling of Parmesan. It could be the quantity (you get a lot more dairy in a bowl of ice cream than in a pat of butter!) or it could be the chemical makeup, I don't know; I'm not that concerned about the specifics. I just know that ice cream has to be really Worth It, but a little cheese on a salad I don't worry much about. I like your re-reintro plan to see how the specific types of dairy affect you. (Some people do this with grains too - corn might be different from rice might be different from wheat.)

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I am also more sensitive to yogurt and milk and (I think) no reaction to butter. Cheese is more complicated, I do okay with the hard cheeses, but the soft ones are actually as bad as yoghurt (these used to be my favourite). I always knew I had problems with milk, but not the others until I excluded them and most of my reactions to dairy are delayed.

 

There are different things in dairy that can make you feel sick/strange:

  • Hormones
  • Opioid-like proteins (these can make cheese addictive as in cheese, this substance can be highly concentrated)
  • Proteins
  • Lactose & other non-protein things (in milk, there's a substance called permeate which I react to more strongly than any other dairy item).

I avoid milk and soft cheeses and yoghurt. Mostly avoid hard cheeses.

I can cope if I eat these things (some better than others) but in terms of quality of life, I'm much happier without them, so ghee & butter is generally where I stick to. None of these things make me thrive and that's what I want.

 

I've also found that if I'm really short of food options and barista made coffee (gluten free) is an option, heated milk (boiled) doesn't affect me as much as cold milk added to hot coffee. I presume this is some kind of hormone/protein/lactose damaging effect from the heat, but I've never seen any studies on this subject (I'll put it in the "may reduce" category, still not something I really want in my life and likely too variable to rely on).

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Thanks for the responses!  I never thought that specific things might affect me when they're all dairy, until I did this. Part of why I've been thinking about doing this again is that when I redid the dairy and gluten at the end of the reintro, my period was starting, and as praxisproject says, hormones seem to make me sensitive to things that aren't a problem the other 28 days of the month.

 

Thanks again.

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Just thought I would comment on the part about heated milk vs cold milk.  About 20 years ago I had the skin prick tests for food allergies - one of which was dairy.  The allergist told me that I could have milk if it was heated. At the time I never asked him why even though I thought this was odd.  I never researched it either - just interesting to see another reference to it.  Put on the "to do list" I guess.

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one other thought: as you weigh the consequences of "worth it" foods post-whole30, know that these can be accumulative. 

 

I can actually have some dairy without much reaction, but if I had it several days in a row all bets would be off. I think this is true for a lot of people. Consequences for different people can range from stomach upset, to mood issues, congestion to anger; all kinds of stuff.

 

Some foods are just special occasion foods. I feel better not making them a habit.

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Just thought I would comment on the part about heated milk vs cold milk.  About 20 years ago I had the skin prick tests for food allergies - one of which was dairy.  The allergist told me that I could have milk if it was heated. At the time I never asked him why even though I thought this was odd.  I never researched it either - just interesting to see another reference to it.  Put on the "to do list" I guess.

The heat denatures the proteins which can then allow the body to accept the milk without an immune system response.  However, it doesn't always denature enough for the severely allergic. 

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