Got my Entero results, can someone help me decipher?

[Gloria]

What a great list! Thanks, Linda.

Gloria

[Linda in BC]

You are welcome , Gloria.
It must be fairly complete because by following it for the past seven years I was able to test negative on my Enterolab Casein test! And I am definitley casein intolerant!

Linda

[Robbie]

Wow, Linda - that's a great resource. Thanks for posting it for us!

[Rosie]

Thanks, Linda! I noticed on the list of "safe" foods is the company "Chocolate Decadence". They are located in my home town, and were one of my favorites for a number of years when I didn't eat dairy. I would go to their factory and pick up an order...they really don't have a retail store, as they are mostly web-based, but had a pick up spot for locals. It's a small family-run business and the owners are vegan. And you are correct, they only make dairy-free chocolate so there is no worry about cross-contamination. The chocolate is also gluten-free. Unfortunately when I developed MC and got tested at Enterolab, I was soy intolerant, and their chocolate contains soy lecithin......

Rosie

[Linda in BC]

Hi Rosie;

Too bad about your losing that chocolate from your diet.. another "staple" gone

For those of you new to a casein intolerance, a good rule of thumb I have found is this: cream is less bad than milk. I have always been able to tolerate a small amount of cream as opposed to absolutely no milk. I figured out on my own that the higher the fat content of the cream ( eg 35% for whipping cream as opposed to 10% coffee cream) the less I reacted, and I concluded it was because heavy cream has more butter fat, and there is little casein in pure butter fat, just what is in the milk solids left in it. It is the whey, or the actual milk, that carries most of the protein, not the fat. So those Dream whip type of toppings , made with milk , are 100 times worse for me than a dollop of real whipping cream. Of course , there is still that 65 % of the cream that is not fat, so none of it is good, but if you are between a rock and a hard place, ( e.g. you are standing in a dessert factory with all your friends and it is your birthday, and you know you are going to break down and cheat on your abstinences) go with the fattiest, richest thing you can find.

(Not that I would ever endorse anyone " caving in" .....)

Linda

[Rosie]

Linda, I was really motivated to find another source of chocolate after Chocolate Decadence was no longer possible, and now eat Theo Chocolate, half a 3 oz bar almost every day. They are located in Seattle and both my kids live there so on a visit I took a tour of the plant with my daughter and asked lots of questions. I feel pretty comfortable with their set-up, as they actually have separate lines for the dairy-free dark chocolate and milk chocolate. However, there are a few items, like cookie pieces, that sometimes go into the dark choccolate line. But they clean the lines by collecting the "between" stuff from the lines when they change products and get rid of it by either donating it to food pantries or using it to make huge decorative molded chocolate centerpieces (eagles, Santas, etc). You can order from their web site, and they have little icons that indicate dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free and vegan. I've never had a problem eating their chocolate. They are a pretty cool company, as they are into fair trade and organic. The founder got started after he returned from the Peace Corps working with cocoa bean farmers in Central America. They are one of only 3 companies in the US that make their own chocolate straight from the beans. All other chocolate makers buy the chocolate from a central manufacturer and just remelt it for their products. You can even buy "single-sourced" chocolate from various parts of the world.....gee, I'm beginning to sound like a "chocolate nerd"!

But you all can understand how exciting it can be to find a substitute that is even better than what I had before MC.

rosie