Why Can't I Eat Easy Mac and Cheese?

Are you one of those who can't eat the Easy Mac without experiencing symptoms of lactose intolerance? Maybe you know some friends or relatives who are lactose intolerant but they can eat macaroni and cheese without suffering too much?

Let's look at the Easy Mac. After eating a bowl of this macaroni and cheese, you experience stomach cramps and diarrhea. You feel awful. You just want to curl up somewhere.

Take a quick peak at the ingredients:

Ingredients for Easy Mac: Enriched Macaroni Product (Wheat Flour, Durum Wheat Flour, Glyceryl Monostearate, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate [Iron], Thiamin Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], Folic Acid), Cheese Sauce Mix (Whey, Corn Syrup Solids, Palm Oil, Maltodextrin, Modified Food Starch, Salt, Milkfat, Milk Protein Concentrate, Calcium Phosphate, Contains less than 2% of Medium Chain Triglycerides, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Natural Flavor, Whey Protein Concentrate, Monosodium Glutamate, Citric Acid, Guar Gum, Sodium Phosphate, Lactic Acid, Calcium Phosphate, Milk, Apocarotenal [Color], Artificial Flavor, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Enzymes, Cheese Culture.

Lots of processed stuff and foreign sounding words. Look again and you will see numerous sources of dairy products:

Whey, Milkfat, Milk Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Concentrate, Milk, Cheese
Culture.

Those items are the culprits causing the symptoms.

For each person, the onset of the symptoms will vary.

1. For some, the symptoms may be immediate. For others, you may not feel any discomfort for hours.

2. Sometimes the symptoms will last for a few hours, sometimes much longer. If my daughter eats the wrong thing, she can still have abdominal distress the following day. And nothing helps in relieving the symptoms once they start.

3. The severity of the symptoms of lactose intolerance can vary dependent on the type of dairy product, how much was eaten, and over what time period.

In our household, my daughter can eat the Easy Mac as long as she takes Lactaid right before eating. Unfortunately, she found out the hard way not to long ago that she cannot eat homemade macaroni and cheese as a meal. You know the kind - thick with sharp cheese and milk. She can eat a small portion, accompanied by other foods. But, she cannot eat the macaroni and cheese alone.

Experiment to find out what kind of dairy products you can eat and how much you can tolerate. Start with small amounts of foods that have dairy products and make sure that you eat something else when you have that dairy product. This sometimes helps alleviate the symptoms that can accompany a meal filled with dairy products or ingredients.

And remember to take Lactaid right before you eat. Taking Lactaid helps prevent symptoms of lactose intolerance

For Your Symptoms of Lactose Intolerance: Yogurt Does the Body Good

You probably know by now that a real concern with lactose intolerance is making sure that you get enough calcium in your diet. Your body requires calcium, no matter what age you are. Long term dietary deficiency of calcium can cause bones to become weakened and prone to fracture.

Our children need calcium to ensure they have strong bones. As a woman, you need calcium, especially if you are approaching or have reached the age of perimenopause. You want to do everything you can to help ensure against any further bone density loss.

There is a dairy product that you may not want to exclude completely from your diet - yogurt. It seems that the yogurt organisms actually release lactase, which in turn helps with the absorption of the dreaded lactose. And it is the lactose that leads to your symptoms of lactose intolerance.

The New England Journal of Medicine reports that “Ingestion of 18 g of lactose in yogurt resulted in only about one third as much hydrogen excretion as a similar load of lactose in milk or water, indicating a much better absorption of lactose in yogurt."

You can read the abstract from the NEJM here.

An 8 ounce serving of yogurt can provide between 400 to 450 mg. of calcium. That is about one third of a child's requirement, and almost one half of an adults calcium requirement.

My daughter, who is lactose intolerant, does eat yogurt. And she takes one of the lactase enzymes right before she consumes any yogurt. To date, she has not experienced any lactose intolerant symptoms afterwards. I hope it stays that way, because it is a big relief knowing that she has this healthy source of calcium.

This is something you will have to experiment with. Start by eating small amounts of yogurt and see if you experience any of the lactose intolerant symptoms. If you don't have any problem, then add a little more to your diet. If you can eat yogurt, it is a good source of calcium for you diet.

So go try some yogurt.

If You Are Lactose Intolerant, Make Sure You Read Your Food Labels!

Watch out for hidden lactose, commonly used in pre-packaged foods. Foods with certain ingredients can trigger your lactose intolerant symptoms. Either eliminate these items, or take some form of lactase enzyme, such as Lactaid, to supplement your diet.

Lactose is a commercial food additive used for its texture, flavor, and adhesive qualities. It can also be listed on food labels as:

• Whey

• Curds

• Casein

• Caseinate

• Lactoserum

• Lactoglobulin

• Milk Byproducts

• Milk Solids

• Modified Milk Ingredients

You will find the lactose ingredients added to foods such as sliced breads, breakfast cereals and bars, baked goods, instant potatoes and soups, lunch meats, sausage, hot dogs, and many other foods. So, read your labels!

Some of you may be able to eat a small quantity of these foods without experiencing any symptoms of lactose intolerance. You will have to go through a trial and error period. Often, the foods can be eaten in moderation if you take one of the lactase enzymes with your food. One that works, and can be easily purchased here is Lactaid.