Low Carb and Keto Coaching

My struggle with dairy products.

I have always loved dairy products. As a vegetarian, they were a mainstay of my diet. Then when I went low carb, cheese and yoghurt became important protein sources for me. The bonus was I really love cheese.

Then I started to get really painful ulcers on my tongue every now and again. I had no idea what was causing them, until I had some really mature cheddar. Almost instantly, an ulcer appeared along with a generally raw and painful tongue. I blithely put this down to the mechanical effect of the calcium crystals in mature hard cheeses, but the truth was starting to become obvious.

As I had progressed with low carb and then keto eating, my body recovered from the effects of gluten intolerance. This had undoubtedly been behind much of my irritable bowel syndrome over the decades. So, as that cause of inflammation resolved, the next biggest cause of inflammation became more obvious - cheese. Hence the ulcers.

I had little choice but to stop eating cheese, and start eating meat again. That went well, but then the butter, cream and yoghurt started to make their effects known. So I progressively cut these out of my diet. I kept on re-challenging myself after intervals of abstinence, but the truth was still painfully obvious. Even the mildest goats cheese gave me a raw mouth, and cream and butter flared up my IBS. Then all I had left was the milk in my tea.

I loved my tea. It was practically all I drank, a running joke with friends and family. Then I was listening to someone talking about keto dieting and they reminded me of the amount of sugar (lactulose) in milk. After a quick tally of my mugs, I did some arithmetic, and was horrified to realise how much sugar I was actually getting with the amount of tea I was drinking.

As it was small quantities spread fairly evenly throughout the day, it was probably not producing insulin spikes, but it was still too much. So I cut down to only 4 mugs a day with milk in. My low level of IBS symptoms improved a bit, but I still had some. So I cut out all milk.

I have not enjoyed a single cup of tea since - yes I have tried all the ginger, lemon, herbal combinations, but it is not the same. My IBS - better - gastric reflux - better - enjoyment of tea - not.

But after all these years, and in an unnecessarily convoluted way, I have reached a point where my metabolism has taken another step on the road to more complete health. Now it will be interesting to see whether anything else improves, or whether another allergen sticks its head above the parapet.

Contact me to discuss how I can help you get your metabolism healthy again.