[monocyte]

DS and I have just been put on a no dairy diet to see if it helps with his constant ear infections.

Need some help - I barely label read - we shop/eat mostly organic when possible, but I rarely pay attention because I have never had to.

What do I need to look for as far as hidden milk names?
What are some good substitutes for the obvious dairy products - milk (which he never drinks, but I do); ice cream, chocolate?

Any help would be so much appreciated - we are eating grapes for dinner tonight.

 

[Plummeting]

Hidden dairy:

Casein
Whey
Sodium caseinate
Lactose
Butter
Cream
Milkfat
Natural flavor (you have to call the company to find out for sure)

I'm sure you could've figured some of those out on your own.

Milk substitutes include coconut, rice, almond and soy milks. Ice cream substitutes include Rice Dream and Soy Dream frozen desserts, as well as Toffutti (sp?). I prefer Rice Dream myself. You will have to switch to dark chocolate, but there are plenty of choices.

ETA: Oh yeah, and do NOT eat those rice or soy cheeses. They *all* contain dairy ingredients.

 

[mama_nomad]

my daughter is dairy, egg, gluten and nightshade free so i feel ya.

we do rice dream on special occasions. rice milk gets bought by the case around here, warning though rice dream rice milk has a high fluoride content. we buy lundberg farms b/c they filter it all out.

also be careful not to over-do the cheese substitutes. you kind of have to re-think your meals. meats (if you do that), grins, veggies, fruits, nut butters...keep it simple. if you are always subbing with cheese, you tend to over-do soy which i did and now have an awful soy allergy. it's a good idea to do rotation diets so that a food allergic person doesn't develop other allergies/sensitivities just by eating too much of one thing.

if you can find Road's End Organic brand mac and cheese it's dairy free and it's darn good--made with nutritional yeast.

that's all i can think of right now. good luck!

 

[oceanbaby]

Another reason to avoid the fake cheeses - they SUCK! Seriously, they are incredibly disgusting, even the ones I've heard people rave about. Biggest waste of money.

As far as non-dairy ice cream, I like Rice Dream, but only certain flavors. Forget the strawberry, for example.

We use almond milk here, mainly because I hate cow's milk.

I agree that the best way to approach this (having done it myself) is to try to make foods that are nondairy, rather than trying to do a lot of dairy substitutes. (I do like Earth Balance margarine, though.) However, there is an interesting vegan cookbook put out by the Farm (I can't get the exact name right now cuz it's in my bedroom and I don't want to wake ds2 up), but it has a lot of recipes for cheese sauce, cheese spread, etc. I haven't tried it yet, but plan to.

So for me, instead of having fake ice cream, I chose to have popsicles in the freezer. Instead of a bagel with fake cream cheese (which is not as bad as the other fake cheeses, but still not the same), I would have a bagel with avocado (and Earth Balance margarine of course).

A yummy snack is popcorn with olive oil, nutritional yeast, and salt. I made this and brought it to the movies with me the other day. It is sooooo good.

 

[LavenderMae]

There are vegan soy cheeses. It will say vegan on the package.
I like most veggie cheeses though so does my dh and kids.

Products that are labeled vegan will be dairy free.

 

[richella]

If you want to replicate cheese, I like the Uncheese Cookbook by Joanne Stepaniak. Lots of great recipes, pretty easy. Of course the one I make the most is a cheese sauce that is a facsimile of Velveeta sauce.

I also like the fake yogurts, so does dd. They have come a long way with those over the years.

I've been off dairy for over 10 years. It's really not as hard as one might think. For me, the hardest part was making the commitment.

 

[tboroson]

You can make your own ice cream using coconut milk as the base

Sorbets are also wonderful. (Not sherbet - that has milk in it.) After he's been milk free for a while, you could try him on goat's milk. My older DD had stomach distress from dairy in my diet in her first few months. She could tolerate when I drank goat's milk, though. Many people find they can tolerate that. You can readily get goat yogurt. It's a little runnier than cow's milk yogurt, but still yummy.

 

[monocyte]

You mama's are the best!!

Thank you all!

Attempting to go food shopping today!!

 

[Parthenia]

VeganRella is the only fake cheese that doesn't contain any dairy. The mozzarella flavor is palatable when melted. I actually like it melted on mochi. Cheese is my favorite comfort food, and I find a little comfort in VeganRella. But everyone's different. If I could eat real cheese I wouldn't be bothering with VeganRella.
Nutrtional yeast makes a better cheese substitute. I'll have to find the recipe, but I have one for macaroni and no-cheese. There's now Macaroni and Chreese, which is pretty good.
I keep the Kellymom.com hidden dairy cheat sheet in my wallet.
If you are cutting out milk because of the protein, you have to cut out *all* animal milks (except human!), including goat, sheep, etc. If it's a lactose issue, you might be able to tolerate it.

About 70% of people who are sensitive to milk protein are also sensitive to soy as well. (Thankfully dd2 is in the 30% population.)

 

[Erin Pavlina]

Here's a great list of products that are all 100% dairy free that you can find at your natural health food store and some will be at the mainstream store.

List here

 

[kaydee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parthenia VeganRella is the only fake cheese that doesn't contain any dairy.

Actually, Follow Your Heart brand is also 100% vegan (i.e., 100% dairy-free). I believe it is also made on dedicated non-dairy machinery (check the label to find out).

Our co-op and the local Whole Foods carries Follow Your Heart.

I have had trouble finding Veganrella lately--I think the company has been doing some restructuring and/or reformulating.

 

[Erin Pavlina]

I've actually been in the manufacturing plant for the Follow Your Heart Cheese and it's dedicated!

I even got sent home with two 5-pound blocks of cheddar as a parting gift. Oh, was I in heaven for a couple of weeks!

There's another vegan cheese too... from Soyco/Galaxy Foods. Vegan Singles.

 

[swimswamswum]

I can't do milk and a great guide for me is to look for the kosher sign on food packages- if it says parve then it doesn't have milk (I think- or it is at least certified kosher as dairy-free, and I've never reacted to someting that is parve). Obviously everything you eat isn't packaged, but this is helpful.

Good luck! There are lots of great things out there (and great advice on this post!), but re-structuring your meals is probably the best approach. It is easy to live without dairy by eating foods that never had dairy to start- Japanese, for instance, almost never has milk products. Same with Chinese food. I just like to eat lots of good things that never had dairy, so I don't feel like I am missing out.

 

[Parthenia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaydee Actually, Follow Your Heart brand is also 100% vegan (i.e., 100% dairy-free). I believe it is also made on dedicated non-dairy machinery (check the label to find out).

Thanks for the tip! Our co-op only carries VeganRella. The other fake cheeses they have contain casein, but no lactose. Next time I'm out at Whole Foods, I'll look for Floow Your Heart!