How I Overcame Lactose Intolerance

Yum...I just had a humongous bowl of vanilla ice cream!  I know you're thinking 'big deal, so what?!'  Well, to me it IS a big deal, because for a period of at least 10+ years I was so lactose intolerant that I couldn't even enjoy mashed potatoes because of the milk in them!  I re-adjusted my system without Lactaid, or any of those other products on the market.

I wasn't always lactose intolerant.  I grew up drinking milk, every day, and all the time.  We had a dairy farm, so to become lactose intolerant was almost akin to a slap in the face!  I can pinpoint exactly when I developed a problem with milk.  It was after my divorce when I had no money for food, and I really couldn't afford milk or other nutritious foods.  Then after I could afford food again, I found I could no longer tolerate milk in anything at all. The theory is that once an adult quits having a constant intake of milk they become intolerant of it.

I avoided any and all milk product for years, and I got my main source of milk and calcium by drinking milkshakes that were made with yogurt. I tried soy milks, but I didn't care for the taste, and I found out the hard way that I'm allergic to soy (not mere intolerance, but truly allergic.) Not bad for a start, but you know, I really missed those mashed potatoes, cheeses and things like that. On top of that, my one Dr kept insisting that I must have more daily dairy products. 

My oldest daughter, a veterinarian, suggested that I try re-introducing milk slowly, just a dab at a time, to see if my body could once again get used to milk products.  I started out with a half teaspoon of milk once a day during a meal.  After a couple of weeks of that, I moved it up to a full teaspoon a day for a week or so.  Then it was 2 teaspoons, one during lunch, and one during supper. Through gradual increases, I finally got up to the point where I could at least have a bowl of cereal with milk, or even those mashed potatoes!  Although this seems like a slow and tedious process to most people, I found the end result was definitely worth it.  Just as in the story of the tortoise and the hare, slow wins the race :-)