Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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I'm curious to hear how folks have fared enduring different levels of dairy elimination. Specifically, for those who had success eliminating dairy and solving problems as a result, do you find fermented dairy to be problematic as well?

How are things like kefir, in y'all's experience, different from milk, cheese, butter, and yogurt?

EDIT: I should clarify that I know how fermented dairy differs, literally, from non-fermented dairy. What I'm interested to know is how it affects folks differently, whether or not it causes the same sorts of problems, whether you find that eliminating it does you more good than the kefir itself did (kefir still being dairy and thus potentially problematic), etc.

How does YOUR body deal differently with kefir than with other dairy?

edited May 4 2012 at 16:19

asked Apr 29 2012 at 4:36

interrobung
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Nance · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-29 15:30:43Z UTC

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I WAS lactose intolerant, all my life, so I was shocked when drinking water kefir altered my gut flora so much that I can now eat yogurt. After successfully eating commercial "lively-ish" yogurt for a week I started making my own.

I use 3 parts whole milk to 1 part heavy cream and the resulting yogurt is very thick and luscious. I eat some every other day and I've found it moderates my blood glucose response to sweet fruit.

I also use heavy cream in my coffee and on frozen fruit plus occasional butter. I haven't actually tried drinking milk itself because I have no need/desire.

answered Apr 29 2012 at 15:30

Nance
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	Nance - just wanted to let you know that I got water kefir grains a week ago based largely on your recommendations! Third batch brewing now... the finished product is still tasting pretty sweet but I'm being patient. – Violet9 Apr 29 2012 at 18:01
	If you've been off sugar for a while, it will taste like fresh cider--at least mine does because I use rapadura. But if you have someone on SAD try it, they'll make a face and say it tastes like vinegar. I know. :-)) – Nance Apr 29 2012 at 18:21
	Hey Nance how long did you drink water kefir to experience increase digestion of lactose? – paleoguy11 May 4 2012 at 17:27
	I'd say I was able to eat both yogurt and ice cream comfortably within a few weeks. I can't be more specific than that because it was a few weeks in that I discovered I could eat ice cream safely and decided to try yogurt. – Nance May 4 2012 at 19:58

Bilge · Answer 2 · 2012-04-29 07:41:29Z UTC

I believe that because the kefir feeds on the lactose in the fermentation process there are lower levels than in unkefired milk.

I believe I read somewhere as a rule of thumb it has aprox. half the lactose that the orignal milk had. however, as the kefiring process is highly variable (how long its left to kefir, the ambient temperature, how many grains etc...) the end result is also highly variable

that being said im no lactose intolerant so im not sure how somehow who is would react. i drink kefir made from whole non-homogenised milk and love it, nice taste and help regulate digestive health. I realise its not technically paleo, but in the scheme of things i figure i could be doing worse

42 · Answer 3 · 2012-04-29 17:14:58Z UTC

In addition to lactose intolerance I also suffer from some kind of other reaction to unfermented dairy. I don't drink milk and haven't for decades, but was able to tolerate cream and half/half in my coffee until about six months ago. I used to get a heavy-cream latte almost every day on my way to work but increasingly suffered painful cramps and awful diarrhea about an hour after drinking it. The last time I had to bolt out of the class I was teaching and barely made it to the can. I thought maybe I'd drunk too much wine the night before, but a few days later I had one in the afternoon and shortly after had to race home for the toilet. So no more lattes.

Maybe it's casein? I didn't think heavy cream would have much of that nor lactose. Whatever it is also caused sporadic outbreaks of the itchy rash of Grovers disease. That's gone now.

Cheese I can eat all day, though. I don't like yogurt or kefir so I can't comment on them.

Dairy v. Fermented dairy

3 Answers