Tag: dairy

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Eight Crazy Nights!

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah.  As with many Jewish holidays there is debate over the original story (not to mention the spelling in English of the holiday itself) but generally speaking, Hanukkah commemorates the triumph of the Macabees in about 164 BCE over the Greeks, and the liberation and rededication of the second Temple in Jerusalem after Judaism had been outlawed there. When the Jews reentered the Temple, they found that their foes had left only enough oil to light the Temple for one day. But miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days until they had time to make more pure oil to light the temple.  

Of course, all Jewish holidays have some food ritual associated with them.  Because Hanukkah celebrates an oil-based miracle, we eat foods cooked in oil on Hanukkah.  The star attractions are fried potato pancakes, aka latkes, and donuts of all kinds as long as they are fried.  As you can imagine these ritual carbs-fried-in-oil make Hanukkah a bit of a landmine-filled holiday for those of us watching our carbs and sugar.  Not only that, we tend to pair our fried carbs with things like applesauce, sour cream, and heavy meats, and we sometimes fill the donuts with jelly or cream. Then we shower everything with “Gelt,” little chocolate coins that I have never ever found in a sugar-free variety. 

So how does a diabetic, much less one with lactose issues, navigate all eight nights of Hanukkah? Other than praying for more miracles, choices must be made and substitutes must be found. Personally, I believe strongly that potato latkes are cheatworthy, especially since I only eat them a few times a year. Lactose free sour cream can be used, and no sugar added applesauce is easy to make or buy.  I just try not to eat too many latkes at one sitting and not to have latkes too many nights during the holiday. I generally skip the donuts. I may have one piece of Gelt (dark chocolate if I can find it).  

What I don’t try to do is mess with the ritual.  Latkes are made with white potatoes and onions. I remember my Grandmother once trying to make “string bean latkes.”  I have also heard tales of “zucchini latkes.”  There may be some use for these things as side dishes in other contexts, but they are not foods to eat on Hanukkah. I bet sweet potato pancakes would be good too, but they have nothing to do with the Macabees and should be left off your holiday table except if you want to get creative at Thanksgiving. In my family, we used to have my mother’s cheesecake for dessert at Hannukah (and other holidays). It was when I tried to make a sugar-free, dairy-free version of my mother’s cheesecake that I learned that my family really does love me no matter what. Thankfully, my niece has since picked up the effort to try to replicate the cheesecake with much better results.  

The bottom line is, in my view, Hanukkah food is one of those areas where “navigating” means eating less, maybe utilizing some hacks to lower your blood sugar (like taking a walk after dinner), or choosing between the ritual foods (like skipping the donuts).  Or maybe, if you can do this and not blow your A1C, you can cheat just one or two days (not all eight!).  I just don’t think – other than perhaps using sugar-free or dairy-free condiments, that changing the ritual is going to be a satisfying solution.  

However, all is not lost.  Your other senses may help you out.  While anyone watching their carbs knows they can’t eat latkes for all eight nights of Hanukkah, anyone who has ever made latkes knows that afterwards their kitchen will smell like latkes for at least eight nights.  So, your nose at least (and probably the clothes you were wearing when you were cooking) will be enjoying those latkes all week!  It’s a miracle I tell you!!! A miracle!!!

A joyous and happy holiday to all my friends and family.  May your light shine brightly throughout the year. 

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A Cat Named Scampi

            I have a cat named Scampi.  I didn’t set out to name my cat after a butter sauce. It just kind of happened. My sister-in-law went on vacation to England and brought me back a tea towel with “The Cats of Canterbury Cathedral.” One of them was named Scampi. I thought it was an adorable name for a cat so I named my tuxedo kitten Scampi, with full appreciation of the irony.  In fact, I am not only digestively intolerant of the sauce for which he is named, I am allergic to shrimp – the protein often served with Scampi the sauce.  But it worked out just fine.  Scampi the cat is delicious and soothes my soul and he and his brother Schuyler (named after the sisters in Hamilton without any touch of irony) rarely cause me agita and never any digestive concern. 

            That I would name my sweet little cat after a dish that would make me sick is not surprising to me.  I seem to be drawn to the things I can’t have even though I can’t have them.  I am a huge fan of cooking shows and my love for the ones featuring desserts has not diminished at all with my inability to eat sugar and dairy.  I call it the “Christina Tosi factor.”  For those unfamiliar, Christina Tosi is the Chef and Owner of Milk Bar, the sister bakery to the restaurant Momofuku in New York.  She is a frequent judge on MasterChef and I just love her.  She is the perfect combo of sweet and smart to balance the male judges on that show and she knows more about desserts than all of them put together and they gladly concede it. I love listening to her talk about desserts I will never eat.  And the Great British Baking Show?  When new episodes come out it’s like a holiday for me, knowing I will soon get to hear Paul Hollywood wax eloquent about sponges and how long to let dough prove.  I can’t even imagine how many grams of sugar that man must eat in a weekend but when he extends his hand to one of the contestants for one of his famous handshakes, I squeal too. Don’t even get me started on my new favorite “Is it Cake???” where baker/sculptors bake cakes to look identical to everyday objects and C list celebrities then guess which ones are real and which ones are cake. 

I’m sure that this is some form of coping mechanism. I still get some satisfaction from the visual sensation of looking at a beautiful dessert.  I also enjoy hearing about what it tastes like and how good it is. I can on some level “taste” it by imagining the flavor based on the description. It certainly has fewer calories this way!!  But I wonder if other people feel the same way or if others say “if I can’t have it I don’t want to look at it.”  I have heard some people say they don’t like to watch cooking shows because it makes them want to eat too much. It sometimes makes me want to cook, to try to make new things, but thankfully it doesn’t make me run to the fridge or the cupboard for a snack.

I am truly grateful for this phenomenon. I feel like it gives me an outlet for sugar and dairy cravings that I would not otherwise have.  Ironically though it has not yet led to me become an avid baker.  That really should be the next step and perhaps this blog will lead me in that direction. Now that I think of it, that same sister-in-law recently gave me a Momofuku cookbook as a gift. There are some bread and dessert recipes in there and I’ll bet Christina Tosi had a hand in those.  Maybe I will get ambitious, and I will try to make some of them in dairy-free/low sugar versions. I will let you know how it turns out.  I’m sure there will be quite a bit of trial and error involved but hopefully my efforts will not leave anyone asking “Is It Cake?????” 

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“I Guess I’ll Just Eat Dirt”

That was the line I read in a comment on a web discussion by someone who was diabetic and had just found out they were also lactose intolerant. It was, in a way, the impetus for this blog.  I knew the feeling.  By the time I figured out that I was lactose intolerant, I was very used to being diabetic.  I had gotten used to a low carb, low sugar diet.  I was used to being on insulin, detecting the symptoms of lows and staying away from the things that caused my blood sugar from getting too high.  I was consistently getting A1C test results below 7 and even below 6.5.  It had become a way of life for me.  While some might be shocked to hear that I was used to taking three shots of insulin a day, I really am.  

But cutting out sugar was not that hard for me.  Sure I missed chocolate chip cookies and certain sweets, but on insulin I could still have an occasional cookie and that seemed to be enough for me.  I never really had a sweet tooth. I found that I was ok with a single bite of something sweet after dinner and a square of dark chocolate or a piece of fruit was enough to satisfy that urge. But give up cheese????  Stop eating pizza????  I didn’t think that was going to work. 

My doctors told me that everyone has a different tolerance for lactose and that I had to find my level.  They also told me that the pills that were supposed to help this worked for some people and not for others and that I had to experiment with the pills to figure out what dosage worked for me.  I was hopeful that if I just popped a couple of pills before sitting down to a Caprese salad everything would be fine. 

The package on the “Dairy Relief” pills suggested 2-3 pills before a meal containing dairy so I started with two.  Then 3.  I tried 4, 5, 6. I think there may have been some benefit but not much really.  Certainly not enough to enjoy a Caprese salad.  At this point I don’t even bother with the pills.  I have just concentrated on figuring out what level of dairy in my meal I can and can’t tolerate. And it’s not much.  Often, I can get by ok with small amounts of butter in cooking.  But pretty much anything else causes uncomfortable digestive symptoms.  I know other people for whom it’s a question of amount.  They can have a little dairy but not a lot. Or for others, the pills allow them to have butter or at least some cooked dairy.  

The fact is that every person is different and will have different levels of tolerance.  There are no tests to help you figure it out and the only way to do so is by trial and error. You need to pay attention to: (1) ingredients, (2) amounts, (3) means of preparation, and (4) your own tolerance for the symptoms that result.  It’s not a bad idea to keep a food diary and a diary of how different foods affect you at least at the beginning.  That will help you map out the quantities and parameters of what you can eat. 

With respect to ingredients, look for hidden forms of dairy.  There have been many times I thought I ate a meal that did not have dairy and then I subsequently had digestive issues.  I was convinced I had some other form of food intolerance until I learned that something in that meal had dairy hidden within.  For example, some brands of cold cuts have dairy in them.  I had no idea and thought I had some sort of intolerance to nitrates or some types of ham until I did some research and realized that it was hidden lactose.

Quantities and preparation are also important factors.  For me, most baked goods are fine.  I can even eat a croissant.  I have seen how they are made.  I know that they are filled with layers and layers of butter.  But for some reason they do not affect me.  I also know that I can tolerate a meal when a little bit of butter was used when cooking it. But I can’t have something cooked in “butter sauce” and I would never eat a buttered roll.  

I only know these things because of trial and unfortunate error.  As I said, everyone is different and there is no other way that I know of to map out your particular level of tolerance. You need to understand both the timing and severity of the likely symptoms if your meal results in the “error” part of trial and error. This can be very helpful in deciding whether a particular meal is a good time to take a risk (given who you are with, what you have to do, ability to get to a bathroom etc.).  If a meal is good enough, a little discomfort might be worth it.  But if you’ve got a big presentation later that day or you are on a first date, maybe not. 

A couple of important things to remember and myths to bust: 

  • Mayonnaise is not dairy – it is made from eggs and oil.
  • Sorbet does not have dairy – although it does have sugar!
  • Yogurt is dairy but there are now many forms of non-dairy yogurt. You just have to be careful about sugar content.  More on this to come.

The most important thing is to read labels and ask questions.  The more you know, the better choices you can make to eat food that makes you feel good. If you are in a restaurant, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Understanding what you are eating and how it is affecting you is the only way you are going to get a handle on this.  You will get better and better at it as you go along, and you will feel better and better as a result.  Most restaurants are very accommodating about your questions and there are usually at least a few things on the menu that will be fine.  If someone gives you attitude, don’t go back. No one should make you feel bad about asking about what you are about to eat.  Remember, a good restaurant wants you to enjoy your meal.  So don’t feel bad about asking the questions you need to ask in order to make that happen.