Need sustainable option for lactose intolerance

[freemotion]

The beauty of kefir (one of many advantages) is that it is cultured at room temp and there is a lot of wiggle room as to what room temp is! So as long as you don't leave it in the car, it will be just fine. I culture mine through temps over 100 F and down to 50 F or so. It gets thickest at 80 F or so, but still cultures at the other ends of the scale. So you can bring a supply with you and just use it by the spoonful if you think you might be stuck for a few days.

I have some dehydrated grains in my freezer in the off chance (ok, I've done it a couple of times now) that I misplace my grains by mixing up which jar they are in. Anyone with goats knows how many jars and bottles of white stuff can be in one's fridge at any given time!

 

[big brown horse]

If you can make yogurt taffy (yogurt leather) with yogurt, why not with kefir?

I'm going to be doing some experimenting with my kefir and the dehydrator this week, I'll let ya know.

eta: http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7398

 

[lwheelr]

That just might do the trick.

Have to make sure the dryer doesn't get too hot, and kill the critters.

Also, round dryers don't work too good for leather. Of course you only get one leather tray with them, and what good is that? They really need to come with a full set. I've tried plastic wrap, it makes a mess, doesn't air well. Foil might be better, maybe not.

You can cut plastic yarnwork mesh, or metal window screening to make extra fine screens, but haven't found a way to make leather trays as easily.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm lactose intolerant but I can drink buttermilk 'til the cows come home without any ill effects. I love the taste but I realize it isn't for everyone.

My aunt has cancer and has had major problems with chemo and such and the only thing she can tolerate is buttermilk. She claims it saved her life and the doctors are quite impressed with how well she has done on it.

It also has the enzymes and cultures you may need for your bowels.

I've used it for my pups and for a calf with scours and it works wonderfully.

We call it the Buttermilk Cure around here!

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

One thing that Free mentioned is digestive enzymes. You might want to look at trying the desiccated Pancreas that Dr Ron's sell.
The Pancreas is responsible for not only insulin, but it produces the digestive enzymes. The raw pancreas does wonderful things for diabetics, because of this. They are also excellent for anyone else that is struggling with malabsorption.
www.drrons.com look under the organs and glands page.

Keep up the good work! I helped a gentleman suffering with Crohns, make the switch to whole real foods, with an emphasis on raw milk and Kombucha. Hy husband saw him a year later and he said to tell me that for all intensive purposes, he was healed!

 

[me&thegals]

Oh, and I had my morning wheatgrass, milk, and banana shake with some yogurt stirred in. I have not yet had a bellyache from it, so I think that your idea of using Kefir in the place of lactase may work.

Hi--Would you mind explaining this further? I have wheat berries, so is the wheatgrass the entire grass or the grass juiced? TIA

 

[lwheelr]

Well, you can grow wheatgrass - just plant your wheat berries (regular old cheap hard red wheat, hard white, soft white, spelt, anything wheat will do as long as it hasn't had something else done to it first). I use a plastic planting tray filled with soil, and sprinkle a bit over the top of the seeds after wetting things down good.

Takes about a week to get it tall enough to cut anything. I'm always impatient, cut it too soon, mostly because I forget to replant until the old tray is almost done for, and I can't wait any longer for the new batch! But it grows faster than I use it, so its all good! A pair of kitchen scissors to give it a haircut helps, though my son prefers a knife - I think its a guy thing.

I use a good sized handful, and throw it in the blender with a cup of milk, and a banana, and blend the heck out of it. It takes a LONG time to get it smooth (the older the grass, the longer it takes to break it up). If it is a soft limey green color (a little lighter than mint ice cream) when you are done, you got it right - it turns greener the finer the grass is blended. If you can still see pieces, it is not done.

Wheatgrass can be used basically two ways... Juiced, or masticated. Traditionally was either juiced or chewed well. So blending it to death in a shake is the equivalent of being well chewed up. I know other people who do shakes the same way, because we were all too cheap to buy a wheatgrass juicer. Takes less grass this way too.

The stuff tastes like you are grazing on the lawn (not that I ever have, but you know...). You do get used to it. Milk and banana are about the best combo I've found, I don't like it so well in fruit juice, and it blends up better in something sort of thick, seems to trap the strands better so they get cut instead of just slipping past the blades.

I've been using this for about a year (one of the first major things I did to counteract nutritional deficiency from malabsorption). Counts as two veggie servings, is very cheap, and gives you a lot of nutritional punch, in a form that even I can get something out of.

Of course, if I'm pregnant, I do sometimes have to take a breath and chug it and then hope I don't chuck...

I plan on putting kefir in it instead of milk - If I don't end up liking the kefir, I figure it won't make the wheatgrass shake taste a whole lot worse, and I can just chug it every morning until I get used to the stuff.

Wheatgrass is also good for rabbits, chickens (cut it up fine so it looks like chopped chives - chicks can have it from a week or so old), ducks, goats, and probably anything else I'll try to raise.

 

[freemotion]

Ooo, I'll have to try this! Sounds yummy, actually....new-mown lawn shakes....mmmmmm!

 

[lwheelr]

Hmmm. Store-bought "kefir" is not really Kefir (I read labels). It is just yogurt with a few more bacterial cultures. I got some anyway, because it has some cultures that yogurt does not have, which are better for lactose intolerance.

I've got it on top of the fridge. Every morning I take out half, and add in some more goat milk, warm from the goats. Leave it on top of the fridge where it is warm.

It is keeping going that way, just enough to allow me 2 cups a day to mix with milk (about half and half), and seems to be doing the job ok, as long as I get enough in each milk serving. I expect it will give out in a week or two, or get too many other unwanted bacteria or yeast cultures in it, so it is only temporary, but still helpful.

No belly aches, so it seems to be enough to get by, though I could not travel very long using this method.

Real Kefir will be better, since it has more of this stuff, so it will take less of it to do the job, and it helps heal the bowel so that it will produce lactase on its own eventually.

I've had this in my shake each morning. It hides the flavor of the wheatgrass very well, though I'm not so sure it is any better itself. The banana isn't QUITE sweet enough to balance the yogurt taste.

 

[Blackbird]

Does this mean I can eat my Obama head chia pet???