Lactose intolerance after 2 years of being a vegan?!
I have been a vegan for 2 years, but in the past weeks I started eating a little bit of some things with dairy (muffin, cookie and butter). Each time I had these things, within about 5 or so hours, I got horrible stomach pains which was followed by some serious gas and eventually diarrhea.
I never get sick and I haven't had diarrhea in years. I used to tolerate dairy well before I became vegan. So, my question is, do you think I could have developed lactose intolerance?
Answers: 1. Please don't answer if you have something nasty to say about me being a vegan. I just need some help from someone who knows what they are talking about. ie. other vegans.
I have been a vegan for 2 years, but in the past weeks I started eating a little bit of some things with dairy (muffin, cookie and butter). Each time I had these things, within about 5 or so hours, I got horrible stomach pains which was followed by some serious gas and eventually diarrhea.
I never get sick and I haven't had diarrhea in years. I used to tolerate dairy well before I became vegan. So, my question is, do you think I could have developed lactose intolerance?
Those are the symptoms of lactose intolerance. Sometimes is develop es when you get older, ie you might have been okay when you were young but as you aged you developed an intolerance, this happens to non-vegans as well. Yours in probably more pronounced because you are a vegan. Dairy is very hard for the human stomach to digest, it's all the fat.
It seems possible to develop lactose intolerance, simply from not comsuming the bacterias you need to properly digest dairy. Check out this link, it may explain it more clearly.
Hi,
I'm not a vegan, but I'm lactose intolerant and I can tell you that this is not a problem related with your vegetarian habits. This intolerance is caused by the lack of an enzyme in our body, and it can be caused beacuse of many reasons, one is age.
Hope this helps ;o)
It is possible...
Physiologically, human beings need to produce a particular enzyme to break down lactose in milk - most human beings (75% of the global population, in fact) stop producing that enzyme by the age of 5 because biologically we are supposed to be weaned by then - as are all mammals, in fact - past infancy, we just don't need milk.
Some populations, like certain European countries and here in the States, dairy intake is maintained well into adulthood so sometimes those enzyme levels remain stable and people can still digest lactose. 80% or more of African Americans, Native American Indians and Asians cannot digest lactose.
However, since you cut out dairy for so long, your body might have taken the natural route it should have and it stopped having those enzymes around.
Once you no longer have those enzymes in your system, the lactose goes into your intestines undigested and is not broken down and it irritates your intestinal bacteria, which causes the gas, bloating, diarrhea, pains, and all sorts of other ailments.
It is pretty likely that you developed an intolerance to lactose, but some things that are off include the fact that it takes 5 hours for you to feel symptoms - some of the sites I saw say it takes 30 minutes or so to feel symptoms. Plus those foods you consumed don't contain a lot of lactose.
If you want to keep trying dairy products, there is milk that is lactose-free, and there are certain dairy products that have less lactose than others.
No. It is not lactose intolerance.
People with lactose intolerance can generally tolerate small amounts of dairy like a small piece of cheese half glass of milk, and dairy in foods. If you has these symptoms with these foods u had it must have been something else like bacteria.
Or if u want to know for sure get a test done. its simple, and just measures ur breath (does involve drinking milk though, and u might not like it as u are vegan.)
This is very common. Since you took all the dairy out of your body, your body isn't used to it anymore. If you want to start incorporating those foods back into your diet, you will have to gradually add it back in, in small increments.
Just like a baby. When you switch from formula to milk, you start out adding 1 ounce of Milk to the 7 ounces of formula, then after a few days, you go to 2 ounces of milk. You keep doing this until it's all milk. The body needs to adjust, and by gradually introducing the dairy into your diet, it will give the body time to get used to it.
Dogs are the same. You can't just switch their brand of dogfood on them. When i had to switch dog foods awhile back, my vet told me to start out with 1/4 cup of the new food into 3/4 cup of the old food. I kept adding more and more of the new food till that was all she was getting.
When I started adding poultry and fish back into my diet, after years of being a strict vegan, i did it in little portions, and not everyday. It took about a month.
Good luck!
I kinda doubt it, dairy can reek havoc on your digestive system and I know vegans who had to start really slowly getting back into dairy.
A friend who works down the hall from me said that she started eating meat again (after 3 years of being a vegan) and it was no problem, but dairy took months and month.
I think that you should seek a professional opinion. It could be something you should look into. See a nutritionist or doctor, if you are lactose intolerant, you should know for sure to avoid complications later on in life.
Good luck...
More like you lost your tolerance for dairy, rather than developed an intolerance.
We're weaned onto dairy (and meat) as kids because it's rough on us. When you don't eat it for a while you really notice what it does to you.
p.s. if you're eating dairy, you're no longer vegan.
I have always read & believed the Cleaner your diet is the more reaction you will have when eating things not so good for you.
On a personal experience, I find as time has gone on I am more sensitive to foods than I was when eating SAD.
I see you list butter, that maybe Casien(milk Protien) allergy too, not just Lactose or it maybe both. Ghee is Lactose free(clarified butter)
Do you eat much wheat in your Vegan diet? That has similar symptoms too.
Slainté (to your health)
Maggie is right, as usual. After two years of no dairy, your body stops producing lactase, the enzyme that digests lactose (milk sugar). If you try eating dairy again, your body can't digest it properly, causing a whole host of problems.
But if you're eating stuff with dairy, you're no longer vegan.
Yes, of course.
"Lactose intolerance" is just a silly term made up by the medical community to confuse you into thinking that there is something wrong with you. All non-infant mammals (including humans) are naturally "lactose intolerant". Once a mammal has stopped consuming mother's milk, they will slowly stop producing the enzyme used to help digest the milk. Usually takes a years or more. It never starts again, that's it, done, over, finished. Most people in other countries already know this sort of thing as common sense.