LebGeeks

potato

Member

Lactose intolerant

So i discovered since a while that im a lactose intolerant due to the recent symptoms and it made me somewhat sad due to all the lebanese food that i have to let go :( of and stop consuming them  such as dairy products, mankoushe cheese :'(, pizza, etc..

Anyway, could someone with experience give me some tips on what products i should eat, when ordering food which ingredients that i should avoid etc.., restaurants to consider. I really appreciate the help. Thanks a bunch. I will still do the research just wanted to check with you guys.

Last edited by potato (August 23 2018)

AVOlio

Member

Re: Lactose intolerant

What does manoushe has to do with lactose intolerance?
Unless you meant manoushet cheese.

potato

Member

Re: Lactose intolerant

What does manoushe has to do with lactose intolerance?
Unless you meant manoushet cheese.

Yup i meant manouchet cheese.

rolf

Member

Re: Lactose intolerant

Beans and meat? (mexican food!)
Vegetables.
Rice, cereals.
Ham and eggs with toast.
Pasta bolognese, no cheese
Fish.

I guess if I eat all of the above, I can live without milk derivatives.

If you like milk in your coffee, there is soy milk, however the most common brands they get in Lebanon taste bad. There is also almond milk, rice milk, and tofu, if you can find any.

Use margarine instead of butter.

Cakes... you will have to find lactose free. My aunt bakes lactose free (gluten free, bio as well) cakes and they actually taste good! She does it for people as well it's like a small business of hers.

Mexican and Asian (Thai, Chinese, Japanese and others) cuisines mostly don't use milk and derivatives. In many Asian dishes, they use coconut milk, such as in curries. In mexico they have a drink which contains almond milk.

Japanese have tofu which kind of resembles cheese but is made from beans.

And it is all very tasty! I wish it was easier to find. Well there are a few restaurants in Beirut but you can count them on your hand.

The thing with cheese is that's it's easy, convenient, cheap in Lebanon.
So now you have to look for better options.

Last edited by rolf (August 23 2018)

xazbrat

Member

Re: Lactose intolerant

There is something you can take which may or may not help to reduce your lactose intolerance---it's the enzyme lactase which you hopefully can find in a pharmacy.

Avoid Mexican foods from your list--they like using cheeses and sour cream in their foods, so probably not the best choice.  Asian dishes tend to be good to eat---for whatever reason, many asians are lactose intolerant (probably because they aren't as exposed to it) and use coconut and soy as substitutes.  As for cheese, check out how your body reacts to cheeses from other animals such as sheep, goats and buffalo.  While the first two do contain lactose, your body may be able to handle them better than cows milk.  Lots of goat cheese labneh here---give it a go.  I believe buffalo milk doesn't have any lactose and you can find it most commonly as mozzarella, so you should be able to enjoy pizza once in a while.

Anyhow, good luck in dealing with it.

Last edited by xazbrat (August 23 2018)

rolf

Member

Re: Lactose intolerant

Avoid Mexican foods from your list--they like using cheeses and sour cream in their foods, so probably not the best choice.

You are right. They do use it on a few dishes. But I would say most do not contain cheese, and the sour cream is usually served on the side so you can ignore it.
If you're not eating milk products, then it is good to eat beans (maybe with meat). This was the main idea.
If you go to a decent mexican restaurant, you should be able to get a good meal without cheese or cream.

Chinese, Thai and Japanese, I've never seen them use any milk.
Indians only use milk in a few deserts.

Last edited by rolf (August 24 2018)

samer

Admin

Re: Lactose intolerant

Any type of vegan dish won't have cheese in it, so look up vegan recipes. Veganism is somewhat more mainstream these days, so it shouldn't be a problem when eating out.

Keep in mind that lactose intolerance is a fuzzy notion, not binary. This means most people are lactose intolerant to a certain extent (except maybe Scandinavians). What I would suggest is to eliminate dairy for 4 weeks, then slowly re-introduce it until you understand what your limits are. Note that many environmental factors affect your digestion (e.g., stress), so take that into account when trying to understand how your body digests food.

Another approach is to buy lactose free products (you can find those at Spinneys). Or pop a lactase pill before eating.

Do note that you may have some other dairy-related sensitivity that is not lactose.

Guitaret

Member

Re: Lactose intolerant

Hello potato

Just sharing my experience/knowledge (I am in a hurry so forgive my bad articulation):

I have food intolerance too: gluten, wheat, lactose...

You need to understand that intolerance is different than allergies. In allergy case, you need to completely stay out of the substance. Intolerance is mostly acquired when your digestive system cannot handle this much amount of a specific element. Number 1 intolerance in Lebanon is wheat because we eat wheat all day long.

I advise you to cut down your intake by 80% instead of completely out and test out if your situation got better. In my case, it solved the problem without being in a state where I feel deprived of having some favorite snacks.

Being completely out of a category of nutrition can be dangerous, and it can have bad side effects.
Let me know if you need more explanation on the above.