While some people choose to stop consuming any product that contains lactose out of vegan conviction, Cloé was forced to do so.
“Quitting lactose was not my decision”
It all started at the end of 2019 when Cloé thought she had food poisoning. Extremely severe stomach aches, nausea to the point of vomiting, even diarrhea, “it happened to me regularly. After each meal, the more months went by, the sicker I was. I didn’t understand what was happening because it was very random, never the same meals, more and more frequently and above all, the symptoms came on more and more quickly after eating.” If the symptoms appeared within 3 to 4 hours after meals, “I got to the point where in the end, in 5 minutes, I already had a stomach ache.”
“Stomach cramps were the basic ailment, the distinctive symptom”
As she searched the Internet, Cloé thought she was experiencing symptoms of gluten or nut intolerance. However, these were symptoms of lactose intolerance, not to be confused with lactase intolerance. When you are lactase intolerant, you cannot tolerate any dairy products. Whereas when you can tolerate a few products like brie, for example, (which is a cheese whose lactose content is reduced during the milk fermentation stage), then you are lactose intolerant.
Lactose intolerance is difficult to detect because it is not widely recognized, so it was only in 2021 that the diagnosis was made: “tests carried out with my general practitioner confirmed that I was intolerant to lactose and other molecules present in milk.” A diagnosis that Cloé expected since she had ended up monitoring what she ate. “I had realized by deduction that anything that was cheese, yogurt, cream dishes… was no longer acceptable or less and less acceptable.” In short, her body could no longer tolerate lactose, hence her attacks, the only way for her body to reject what it now perceived as a foreign body.
Symptoms of lactose intolerance erased overnight
As soon as she stopped eating lactose, Chloe’s relationship with food completely changed. No more fear of a “post-meal” crisis, “it was radical”, removing lactose from her meals also eliminated her ailments.
“I no longer had stomach aches or the need to stress about eating. Today I feel lighter.”
The constraints of a lactose-free diet
When asked about the possible constraints imposed by a lactose-free diet, Cloé’s response is categorical. “We don’t necessarily realize it when we don’t pay attention to it, but lactose is everywhere.” Suddenly finding yourself constrained after being used to eating what you want can then prove complicated.
A new lifestyle that is all the more restrictive if it involves going out to a restaurant or going to a bakery. Compared to other countries, “France is less well developed in terms of “specific” dishes for intolerances or allergies. Although we have seen a little more of them in recent years, it is not yet so widespread”. On the other hand, “since 2023, new regulations require restaurateurs and retailers to highlight the most common allergens on menus, which makes going out more peaceful.” Otherwise, if there are gluten-free bakeries, for example, in bakeries, plant-based alternatives to replace lactose are rare, “I can’t eat any cakes/pastries… which is quite frustrating”.
Adapting when you are lactose intolerant
“The lactose-free diet is totally doable. It’s all about adaptation!”
It can be difficult to stop lactose all at once. To gradually adapt to a new diet, without products containing lactose at the start, “I continued to eat certain products like industrial cakes or spreads. I quickly realized that this was not the best thing to do.”
“The desire to feel good in my body was more important than the desire to eat certain things.”
“Fortunately, today, in the supermarket, we find more and more adapted products. “Milks” and vegetable creams, cheese without cheese… “the aisles are diversifying and growing over the years but offer products with a taste that is still so different… a habit to get into!”
How to stop lactose when you live with people who tolerate it?
“I am lucky to have an understanding family, who were willing to adapt to my problem. We have always cooked and prepared homemade dishes, so it was quite easy to replace milk with vegetable “milk”. A small downside at the beginning with the substitute for crème fraîche which is more liquid, “it is cooked differently but it is totally doable. It is all a question of adaptation!”
