need help introducing some dairy... any suggestions?
Hi, I am a long-time vegetarian and have been vegan for about two years. I will be traveling to Mexico for work in November, and because of the nature of my travels (I work for a non-profit and will be working in many low-income and rural settings) I am not anticipating being able to control my diet completely. I am planning on just being vegetarian (not vegan) while I am there (about three weeks) out of necessity. I have been trying to work in some dairy products into my diet to gradually get my body used to them so I do not get sick on my trip. Dairy makes me feel like crap, though! :-X Do you have any suggestions about which dairy products are best to introduce to my vegan body? Is there any information out there about this predicament? I just want to be comfortable and respectful during my trip, then quickly re-veganize when I am back into my own kitchen. :D
Well, most problems people have with dairy are from lactose (over toddler-hood everyone loses some ability to break down lactose and in around 2/3 of the world's population this becomes full-blown lactose intolerance--although you may already know this. It seems to come up in vegan discussions a lot). So, if you eat dairy products that have no lactose then you probably won't get sick. Yogurt, hard cheeses, and buttermilk all have little to no lactose (yogurt has some but the bacterial cultures in it will help you break it down, so functionally it has none). Also, having spent a summer in Mexico I will say there is a lot of dairy but, especially in rural areas, a lot of it comes from goat's milk which has less lactose to begin with. Although really you'll probably be so sick from just everything when you first get to Mexico that I don't see dairy making that big of a difference...but I'll understand if that's not a comforting thought ;)
I hope some of that was helpful, good luck on your travels!
Hi, I'm ovolacto and I understand your reasons perfectly well. If goat's milk is available where you live, it's much easier to digest than cow's milk so you might want to start with goatmilk-based products: milk itself in your coffee or tea, goat's cheese, etc.
I discovered sheep's milk (!!) in a hypermarket near here, and bought some to try (it was expensive, double the price of goat's milk and about 3 times the price of cow's). It tasted similar to 2% cow's milk.
Start with small quantities and phase it in; sort of the reverse process of going vegan.
why not just not have an dairy?
you could try taking a pro-biotic tablet or yogurt containing acidophilus, to help your body colonise milk digesting bacteria in your intestines.
you could also buy lactase drops or tablets- (one brand is Lactaid) to either take by mouth, or put in milk products before you eat/drink them- they break down the lactose so that your body has less work to do. apparently they're hard to find in the states (i'll assume you're american, cos everyone and his cat seems to be american- apologies if you're not!) though- so maybe ask your pharmicist, or buy them online from a canadian pharmacy. i have no idea how veg*n these are, though.