Lactose Intolerant Struggles

A few brands to look for are, Endangered Species, Enjoy Life, Rice Dream, and I think some of the Green and Black bars may be dairy free. Do you have a Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, or a health food store nearby? That would be your best bet.

I'm lactose intolerant too -- Godiva's dark chocolate and sea salt bar doesn't have any dairy in it. Check the other dark chocolate Godiva bars to see if they are dairy-free too.

Another thing I absolutely love is Silk's dark chocolate almond milk... it is so freakin' good!

Breyers also makes a lactose free light ice cream in vanilla and chocolate... it's like 110 calories for 1/2 a cup, I think, so not too bad. I'm not a fan of the soy, coconut and rice ice creams... bleh.

Five weeks? I did a dairy free diet for 5 days, then my GI doc said to pig out on dairy the 6th day. That did it! Most dark chocolate should be fine.

Silk makes a dark chocolate almond milk that I find satisfies my chocolate cravings fairly well... I believe it's 120 calories / 8 oz. serving. You can give that a try.

Good luck... and I hope you're able to get back to real chocolate at some point!

There's definitely lactose free dark chocolate out there, just make sure to read the ingredients. I bought a bar of lindt dark chocolate with caramel and sea salt that has lactose in the caramel bits I think their plain dark chocolate is OK though.

If you are lucky enough to be somewhere that carries Coconut Bliss brand coconut milk ice-cream, you should try it, they make about a dozen varieties with several different kinds of chocolate. It's a bit of a calorie bomb but completely Amazing. Some of the other brands are a lot lower in calories but the texture is just a bit meh.

Even if it does turn out that you are lactose intolerant you might find that you can handle small amounts of dairy without any uhm... adverse effects. I can manage most cheeses, a few creamers in my coffee, or a bit of whipped cream on dessert just not all at the same time. But definitely wait until your 5 weeks is up before experimenting.

My hubby is lactose intolerant and I make a lot of our treats. I make coconut milk icecream or just make it out of lactaid milk. he also uses the lactose supplement pill things. The hardest thing for me was not keeping cheese in the house until I discovered that a lot of cheeses have no lactose. Check the cabot brand. Most of their cheeses are lactose free. Most cheddars are also lactose free. Oh, and I have a Ghiradelli 85% cocoa dark chocolate that doesn't list milk as an allergen so I'm assuming it is lactose free.

It also depends on the severity of your intolerance. I can't go anywhere near a glass of cow's milk or a bowl of ice cream (even with lactaid)...but I'm fine with yogurt, cheese, and cooked items that have milk in them. If I have a hankering for ice cream, I get some made with coconut milk...and I use almond or coconut milk with my cereal and in my protein shakes. I've never had an issue with chocolate.

MarvelousMrs wrote: »

Once my five weeks are up I am going to experiment with different things. The doc said some people can have lactose in cooked foods (maybe heating it breaks apart the lactose?). Thank you all for your support - today is a much better day than yesterday. And I'm definitely buying some of that chocolate Silk milk Friday when I go grocery shopping! (Or maybe before then!!!!!)

Yes, it's true. I cannot drink your regular run of the mill non-organic milk from the grocery store. But I can drink a latte made with the same milk. I can also drink non-homogenized milk. I avoid most lactose free milks like Lactaid but that high protein Fairlife stuff is lactose free and I like it just fine. Like you said, you'll experiment and figure out what you like and don't like and can and can't tolerate.