About milk - a question

Hello guys! I would like to ask you about this issue. Since I was a child I've always been eating one glass of milk for breakfast. Now that I've been following thrive I removed most junk foods and other least favourable sources from my diet (e.g. gluten), except cheat day. Considering this, I realized that sometimes, just soon after have drunk a glass of whole milk with coffee for breakfast I feel intestinal pain and I need to go to the toilet. It looks like diarrhea, but after that I feel quite soon good.

I also realized that I did not feel these symptoms when I eat greek yoghurt, butter, mozzarella or other solid foods with lactose. For breakfast I have a glass of milk every single day, greek yoghurt 3-4 times a week. As I said I have only a few times a months this episode, but they clearly occur just after drunk that glass of milk... I do not believe it is coffee the problem, I use to drink 2-3 cups a day with no problem.

Considering this, could you say I am a bit intolerant to lactose? Should I avoid milk once for all, or limiting it, even though this episodes of diarrhea occur only sometimes?... I love milk, but if I have to remove it for my health, I guess I should consider this!

Thnaks to all!

Alessandro

Hi Alessandro,

Interesting question. Try removing the milk for a month or two and see what happens. If you still get those episodes, then try the opposite: add the milk back in, and, though I hate to suggest this, remove the coffee. That's the best way I can think to pinpoint what's causing the upset. 

15 hours ago, Everett Carroll said:

Hi Alessandro,

Interesting question. Try removing the milk for a month or two and see what happens. If you still get those episodes, then try the opposite: add the milk back in, and, though I hate to suggest this, remove the coffee. That's the best way I can think to pinpoint what's causing the upset. 

Wise suggestion, @Everett CarrollI'm going to start from today removing milk. Let's see what happens. I will let you know! 

Thanks again! 

Alessandro

how soon after? 'just soon after' would suggest neither the milk nor the coffee is the issue and I'd look to the meal before that...

On 18/4/2017 at 0:36 AM, Jared Birbeck said:

how soon after? 'just soon after' would suggest neither the milk nor the coffee is the issue and I'd look to the meal before that...

About quarter of an hour. I also realized I often have these episodes If I eat smashed potatoes, where I put milk and Butter. I do not know If It coould be because of the previous meal... I use to eat potatoes/rice, meat/fish, and cooked veggies the evening before, Just like every day... 

Anyway I've started since saturday to remove milk, while keeping coffee, let's see what happens. Till now no problem, but it's clearly too early. I'm going to give an update in the next weeks. 

Alessandro

Butter, yogurt, and cheese have pretty low lactose content compared to milk, which could explain why those foods don't cause a reaction for you. Coffee often has a side effect that makes people need to poop shortly after drinking it, so I'm suspicious that coffee is at least partly responsible. 

Best of luck figuring out what the culprit is! 

17 hours ago, Alessandro Di Sanzo said:

About quarter of an hour. I also realized I often have these episodes If I eat smashed potatoes, where I put milk and Butter. I do not know If It coould be because of the previous meal... I use to eat potatoes/rice, meat/fish, and cooked veggies the evening before, Just like every day... 

Anyway I've started since saturday to remove milk, while keeping coffee, let's see what happens. Till now no problem, but it's clearly too early. I'm going to give an update in the next weeks. 

Alessandro

 

people seem determined to blame milk and dairy products. if you want to find a link you will find one. I can blame just about every food I eat for 'something', apples, beetroot, beans...but it doesn't happen all the time so to me it then seems unlikely.

15 minutes seems too fast for the milk to cause the problem, or even the coffee.

food diary is my suggestion. stop guessing and get some facts (not intended to sound harsh or tell you how to suck eggs). find the thing or the combination of things that always cause the issue. Otherwise the power of the mind is a tremendous thing and you will find the link you were looking for. 

5 hours ago, Jared Birbeck said:

people seem determined to blame milk and dairy products. if you want to find a link you will find one. I can blame just about every food I eat for 'something', apples, beetroot, beans...but it doesn't happen all the time so to me it then seems unlikely.

15 minutes seems too fast for the milk to cause the problem, or even the coffee.

food diary is my suggestion. stop guessing and get some facts (not intended to sound harsh or tell you how to suck eggs). find the thing or the combination of things that always cause the issue. Otherwise the power of the mind is a tremendous thing and you will find the link you were looking for. 

Your thoughts make sense, actually they are the same as mine. De facto I've always been reluctant to the idea to remove milk and/or coffee, because I simply love milk since I was a child... During the last years I've been drinking one glass of "latte macchiato" every single day... Maybe I should say my parents and my brother are drinking lactose free milk, they feel better than before, they say, but I always thought it was due to the "power of mind", as you wrote... Moreover I have never considered to add it on my diet: I saw it is very poor of fat and protein amounts, which are a must in Thrive.

As I wrote previously only sometimes these episodes occur, and even to me this short time seems too fast, but it was only my opinion... that's why I wrote it! 

I think the suggestion given me by Everett is wise, as well as yours! I think about it as an experiment, I bet this episode will occur again, if milk is not the cause. In this case I will record which foods I ate previously. I could also plan to reintroduce milk in the next future, and see what happens.

 @Julia Quigley I didn't know about that, it could be an explanation. Good to know: the idea to remove any lactose source is tremendous for me!  Luckily Greek yoghurt doesn't hurt me! 

Guys, here's un update: just today morning I had another painful episode.

This is what I did: As I woke up I had only greek yoghurt for breakfast, after about 1 hour and half I drank a cup of coffee espresso... before having coffee I felt great, but 10-15 minutes later I started to feel intestinal pain rising, just like in the past.

 I should say that I felt often some light intestinal movements in these days after coffee drink, but no need at all to go to the toilet. Today is the first time this episode occurred since I removed milk two weeks ago. During this time I've drinken  this cup every single day at least one hour and half since main breakfast meal, just like I did before with coffee + milk...

The evening before I ate for dinner veal stew with white potatoes, and mixed cooked veggies (zucchini, carrots, aubergines, leek). The last time I went to the toilet was yesterday afternoon, and also today in the early morning before that cup of coffee.

To me it looks that this cup of coffee is at least in part responsible, just like @Julia Quigley stated. Now, at this point, what would you suggest me to do?:

1. continue to have this cup of coffee for some weeks and see if this episode occurrs again

2. remove both coffee and milk for a month and see what happens

3. add milk and remove coffee and see what happens

4. something else? (maybe to drink coffee with/without milk  later/sooner...? add something else together with coffee?... )

Thanks very much!!

Alessandro

Hi Alessandro,

Sorry you are still struggling with these episodes. I'd swap now: remove coffee and reintroduce milk (your third option). This sounds like the most scientific way to go. I hope this works for you!

On 29/04/2017 at 6:02 PM, Alessandro Di Sanzo said:

Guys, here's un update: just today morning I had another painful episode.

This is what I did: As I woke up I had only greek yoghurt for breakfast, after about 1 hour and half I drank a cup of coffee espresso... before having coffee I felt great, but 10-15 minutes later I started to feel intestinal pain rising, just like in the past.

 I should say that I felt often some light intestinal movements in these days after coffee drink, but no need at all to go to the toilet. Today is the first time this episode occurred since I removed milk two weeks ago. During this time I've drinken  this cup every single day at least one hour and half since main breakfast meal, just like I did before with coffee + milk...

The evening before I ate for dinner veal stew with white potatoes, and mixed cooked veggies (zucchini, carrots, aubergines, leek). The last time I went to the toilet was yesterday afternoon, and also today in the early morning before that cup of coffee.

To me it looks that this cup of coffee is at least in part responsible, just like @Julia Quigley stated. Now, at this point, what would you suggest me to do?:

1. continue to have this cup of coffee for some weeks and see if this episode occurrs again

2. remove both coffee and milk for a month and see what happens

3. add milk and remove coffee and see what happens

4. something else? (maybe to drink coffee with/without milk  later/sooner...? add something else together with coffee?... )

Thanks very much!!

Alessandro

 

 

so coffee an hour + post breakfast? could be breakfast, could the the night before, could be coffee, can't really be milk if it isn't there though. Could be stress. what did you have on for the day? plans to work out? as they can be a trigger for some people's bodies to empty their bowels?

gather more data. complete food diary and stress diary to avoid going the quick fix. you have one point on the graph to try and establish a correlation and nothing to assist causation. It is hard as you are trying to identify 1 thing in a complex system that causes something. larger quantities of beetroot for me can have an effect but depends on the situation, combination of foods, the way it was prepared etc etc..

By all means remove coffee, the anti-milk brigade would say it is the yoghurt, the anti-coffee brigade will blame the coffee, the vegetarians and vegans could lay blame at the feet of the veal, the meat eaters will blame the zucchini ;-).

Curious that basically I never have such problems After lunch or dinner, only in the early Morning. I also Remember wallnuts caused me some intestinal pain, so I removed them from my breakfast and I felt fine... Anyway, I got the message @Jared Birbeck, the issue could be more complex than It looks. I will further investigate, It is interesting! 

For now let's follow @Everett Carroll advice, and see! Thank you all again!

Alessandro

good luck. hopefully either it clears or you find the cause.

Id keep drinking coffee and just deal with it....just kidding. Id go with Everett rec.