Hey all,
For the past few weeks I have been drinking protein shakes in skim/fat free milk several times a day, every day and I’ve been having serious stool irregularities. I’ve also been on the chanko diet for the same amount of time. I can’t imagine the tuna and/or rice being responsible for this, so my only guess is lactose intolerance. How can i work around this? I don’t want to cut milk out of my diet. Are there any pills out there for lactose intolerants? Any suggestions appreciated.
While it’s quite possible you have an intolerance to lactose, I would first make sure you’re just getting enough fiber. A diet consisting of protein shakes, milk, corn rice and tuna doesn’t provide much for the makings of a healthy GI tract. Try increasing your fiber intake and see if that helps. It’d be just as easy to play around with lactose intake, but if you’ve never had the problem before, chances are its the fiber thing.
hey travis,
Besides the chanko and protein shakes, I eat a big, normal dinner every day, with a large plate of salad. Would the salad be adequate fiber?
If lactose is a concern you can generally by LACTESE (not sure about the spelling) at the drug store. These will help you digest lactose.
That is probably enough salad… I woudl think that you would want at least a little fiber with every meal, but I find that I cannot even do that unless I really try hard (given that I lo-carb all the time except for post-workout).
I had the same issues with lactose intolerance a while back. I never really drank milk or used milk products that much and I started to drink milk with protein shakes and consume more milk-based products and man-oh-man, it wasn’t good for me (or anyone else :)). Like the earlier suggestion maybe step #1 is to increase fiber a little; if that doesn’t work then you can try using some lactose products. I find that 1% milk doesn’t cause me problems.
I use lactaid milk. Little more expensive but I haven’t had that problem since using it.
try exchanging some of the rice for oatmeal, might do the trick.
It’s just as easy to make and will serve the same purpose. If that doesn’t help, play with your milk intake. Lactose intolerance isn’t an all or nothing thing, it’s my understanding that it comes in certain degrees. Lactase pills will help too, but you should certainly do some experimentation first to figure out if the problem is actually the milk.
yea i saw lactaid at the shop rite last night…damn right its expensive…i’ll definately give it a try though
is lactaid the same thing as milk nutritionally?
actually I cheated this weekend with the chanko diet (ate 'normal food friday, saturday, and sunday) and i was fine. So im pretty sure its the milk. Does one develop lactose intolerance? I remember drinking drink when I was little and being fine. (I even drank fresh goat’s milk, for real)
ok i found lactase enzyme softgels at vitamin shoppe…i’m gonna give them a try. It won’t mess with the protein/MRPs that I take, will it? [They probably have nothing to do with each other, but just to be sure…]
pasteurized milk is really very hard on the body, and lactose is just one small part of the equation. i won’t go into details, but the raw fresh goats milk was probably the healthiest milk you’ve had all your life. if you could get more of that, go for it. if you want more info on this stuff, i can get you links, or go to www.realmilk.com and read up on milk. lactaid might help YOU but it won’t make the milk healthier for you. you can decide. i gave up pasteurized store milk, and only drink cultured milk now (yogurt, kefir, etc.) and eat only raw cheese (well, most of the time, i cheat a little). this restores some of the enzymes and reduces the lactose. and i haven’t had any issues with those types of dairy.
seminole chick,thanks alot for the info. As a kid, i drank raw goats milk until the age of 5. Its unavailable to me now, so its not an option. Ill look into getting some real milk through that website and give it a try. [I don’t know if i’ll be able to adjust to the taste; i don’t even remember how the goats milk tasted after so many years of processed milk] Has anyone else taken the ‘natural milk’ approach?
by the way we drink alot of kefir/buttermilk in the family, but i’ve never actually tried to make a protein shake out of it (seems too thick, too many calories?). Also, i never really looked into how kefir differs from milk as far as the body’s response it it? Do you know?
Kefir is culured milk, so some of the enzymes are restored which taxes the bodies stores less. also, some of the lactose is broken down by the bacteria. i make my own, and according to the directions that came with it, you can leave it out on the counter or in the fridge a few extra days and almost all the lactose will be gone. although it’s very sour at that point. the store bought stuff can also sit in the fridge a couple days too and become more sour which is the same. (don’t get the kind with the sugar added, just plain, see if you like it! it’s good to me now) You also can make kefir or yogurt watery again, almost as watery as milk by blending it. the solidness is a result of the new complexes the bacteria build when they digest the sugars. they break up when you stir or blend. probably more than you wanted to know about your diary. by the way, the bacteria in the drink are also very good for your digestion too.