Eating well deliciously!
We hear a lot these days about antioxidants and how they are important for our health and well-being. We even get recommendations on what foods we can eat or which supplements we can use to get these coveted antioxidants. The fact remains that even though Read more
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I’m on Quora a lot because I find it to be a great platform to learn about all manner of subjects and hear from people all over the world. I get a lot of questions on my feed about lactose intolerance and lactose-free alternatives for milk and cheese. To this end, I decided to write a post about some of my favorite lactose-free cheese alternatives. You can read my article on non-dairy milk alternatives that you can use as lactose-free substitutes for dairy milk.
Yes, it is entirely possible to find and enjoy lactose-free cheese and cheese substitutes that are just as delicious as lactose-containing cheese. Read along to discover some of my favorite lactose-free cheese and cheese substitutes.
Before we get into lactose-free cheese and cheese alternatives, we need to learn about lactose intolerance or lactose sensitivity. Lactose intolerance is essentially the inability to digest the sugars found in milk known as lactose.
As children, we naturally produce the enzyme lactase which is used to break down lactose into smaller molecules that our bodies can use. However, many of us, especially ethnic minorities, stop producing lactase at the age of 5-7 and thereby lose the ability to properly digest milk and other dairy products made with milk including soft cheeses, ice cream, yogurt, and butter.
According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), there are three main types of lactose intolerance:
The symptoms of lactose intolerance vary depending on the amount of lactase an individual possess as well as how much lactose is consumed. Some of these symptoms include flatulence, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and bloating.
According to NICHD data, there are about 30 to 50 million American adults who are lactose intolerant with primary lactose intolerance occurring as a genetic component among specific populations:
Lactose intolerance is least common among people of northern Europe descent who have a lactose intolerance prevalence of 2% to 5% of the population.
Now that we have an understanding of lactose intolerance, let’s get to the part about lactose-free cheese! Keep in mind that most hard cheeses have little to no lactose so I’ll be focusing on soft cheeses and other substitutes that are either lactose-free or dairy-free.
Here are the ingredients used to make their lactose-free cream cheese:
Organic Pasteurized Cultured Cream (Milk), Lactase Enzyme, Sea Salt, and Live and Active Cultures.
As you can see, Green Valley Creamery products are made using organic cow’s milk with lactase enzymes added to help consumers with lactose intolerance digest their products.
I am here to testify that Green Valley Creamery dairy products taste as good as, if not better than, the same products made with regular milk. Their cream cheese is absolutely divine and I use exclusively it to make my keto cheesecakes. Next up, vegan lactose-free cheese substitutes.
I especially like the Miyokos vegan cheese wheels which are made with a cashew cream base fermented with live cultures. Here are the ingredients in their vegan cheese wheel as listed on their website:
Organic Cashews, Filtered Water, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Chives, Organic Rice Miso (Organic Rice, Water, Salt, Alcohol, Koji Culture), Sea Salt, Nutritional Yeast, and Cultures.
These all-natural ingredients are deliciously seasoned to produce several flavors including:
These are all semi-firm vegan cheese wheels and they are creamy, tangy, and full of flavor. You can enjoy them spread over crackers or bagels or served with fruit. Miyokos also produces other lactose-free products including vegan butter, vegan mozzarella and vegan cream cheese, and vegan roadhouse cheese spread.
Miyokos is one of my favorite vegan cheese brands because the products are carefully crafted with whole, natural ingredients that are healthy, delicious, and reminiscent of real dairy cheese products.
Filtered Water, Coconut Oil, Potato Starch, Tapioca Starch, Sea Salt, Vegan Natural Flavors, Tricalcium Phosphate, Pea Protein Isolate, Xanthan Gum, Cane Sugar, Lactic Acid (vegan), Konjac Gum, Fruit and/or Vegetable Juice (Color), Inactive Yeast, Vegan Enzyme.
These are all natural ingredients but they are highly processed in order to create Daiya’s vegan cheese slices. I have personally found Daiya’s cheese to be just an okay alternative to regular cheese slices. While the flavors are similar to regular dairy cheese, I find that there is also a slight after-taste that is off-putting. This is remedied by using their vegan cheese products in conjunction with other ingredients which can help to mask the after-taste.
Daiya currently has the following styles and flavors of lactose-free vegan cheese slices:
I only recommend Daiya’s vegan cheese slices if Green Valley Creamery or Miyokos products are not available. They make a decent stand-in for when you need lactose-free cheese slices.
Dairy products like milk, yogurt, and soft cheeses are nutrient-dense and contain minerals and vitamins including calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamins B6 & B12, Vitamin D, and zinc. These are essential nutrients that lactose-intolerant people are missing out on simply because they can’t digest lactose. It’s a good thing that we have alternatives that taste just as good and are just as nutritious as lactose-containing cheese products.
If you’re one of the millions of Americans who cannot digest lactose, know that there’s no need to deprive yourself of dairy. There are a lot of lactose-free options available as I’ve presented above. You can even purchase lactose-free whole milk, cheese, and yogurt.
If you want to take it a step forward and help the environment by reducing the greenhouse footprint of dairy production, you can try the vegan lactose-free cheese alternatives I’ve listed above or explore your local or online supermarket for more options.
Are you lactose intolerant? Do you use vegan alternatives? Let us know in the comments. Until then: Happy Eating!
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A version of this article originally appeared on MadeByHemp.com It’s time again for another post from my friends over at MadeByHemp. Today we are answering a question I hear from people who are curious about hemp oil specifically CBD hemp oil, and how to take Read more
I was recently on Quora and a variation of the same question kept coming up in my feed: “What foods can I eat to lower cholesterol?” Since I am ever the problem-solver and I love the healing power of food, I decided to do some research and write an article detailing the types of foods you can eat to help naturally lower cholesterol levels.
If you already know about cholesterol and how it affects your body, you will learn how you can use food along with any medicine recommended by your physician, to help lower your blood cholesterol. If you only have a vague idea about cholesterol and its role in our health, you will come away with a basic understanding of this natural compound and how we can manage levels for optimum health.
According to the dictionary, cholesterol “is a compound of the sterol type found in most body tissues. Cholesterol and its derivatives are important constituents of cell membranes and precursors of other steroid compounds.” Doesn’t reveal much, does it? What the heck is a sterol? It turns out that a sterol is a type of lipid or fat that is biosynthesized by all animal cells, including ours.
Cholesterol then is essentially a type of body fat that we make naturally. It’s used by our bodies to make cell membranes, tissues, and other steroidal compounds that are essential for us to survive. We make two types of cholesterol that are transported in the blood throughout our bodies:
According to the CDC, HDL makes up most of the cholesterol in our bodies, and having high levels of HDL can raise our risk for heart attacks and strokes. Conversely, LDL cholesterol absorbs cholesterol and carries it back to the liver where it is flushed from the body. Having high levels of HDL cholesterol can lower your risk for heart attacks and strokes.
Some people are predisposed to having high levels of LDL cholesterol which can build up on the walls of blood vessels causing what is known as “plaque.” Over time, this plaque can cause narrowing of blood vessels which blocks blood flow to the heart and other organs and consequently cause a heart attack or stroke.
Cholesterol plays a very important role in our lives, but as in all things, care must be taken to maintain optimal levels of both HDL and LDL cholesterol.
Now we know that our bodies naturally make cholesterol, is it possible that some of the foods we eat can also raise cholesterol levels? The answer is both yes and no.
We do know that eating foods that are high in saturated fats and trans fats may contribute to significantly raising cholesterol levels and the concomitant diseases that arise as a result. However, research has also shown that dietary cholesterol does not significantly impact cholesterol levels in our bodies, and studies do not support the association between dietary cholesterol and heart disease in the general population.
This means that when we consume high levels of dietary cholesterol, our bodies compensate by synthesizing less natural cholesterol. This does not mean that we can consume any high-cholesterol foods. Some are beneficial and others are extremely harmful. Some healthy high-cholesterol foods we can safely eat include foods like:
Below are some of the unhealthy high-cholesterol foods we should avoid:
This shows us that some care and discretion must be taken when consuming high-cholesterol foods. We can and should consume healthier high-cholesterol foods as they have no negative impact on our blood cholesterol. However, unhealthy high-cholesterol foods can increase blood lipids which can lead to higher levels of LDL or “bad” cholesterol.
Now that we know that some foods can help to increase “bad” LDL cholesterol, what foods can we consume to help us combat this condition while increasing the “good” HDL cholesterol? There are several foods we can eat that will help regulate and normalize cholesterol levels in our bodies including:
As we can see from this list, there are a variety of foods that can help our bodies regulate and maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Proving yet again that there is indeed something to the age-old advice to eat your veggies and lean protein for optimum health.
While food can be the cure for a lot that ails us, there are times when food is simply not enough. This is where supplementation or at the extreme, pharmaceutical drugs, can help some of us to maintain healthy cholesterol levels. So what are some of the supplements or drugs can we use to help regulate cholesterol levels?
Proven supplements that help regulate cholesterol by reducing HDL levels include:
When diet and supplementation are insufficient to significantly lower bad LDL cholesterol, doctors employ a class of drugs called statins to help. Statins are medications that lower lipids in the blood, and decrease LDL cholesterol while helping the body to make good HDL cholesterol.
As with most medications, there are side effects that can occur when taking statins, so it’s best to consult with a doctor about the pros and cons of taking these types of medications.
I hope I’ve shed some light on cholesterol and what we need to do to maintain optimal levels of both HDL and LDL cholesterol. To briefly summarize my findings, simply follow these tips to maintain healthy cholesterol levels:
By following these tips, you and your loved ones can help optimize your cardiovascular health by maintaining healthy levels of LDL and HDL cholesterol.