By: Sandra Vo, Staff Writer
It’s a running joke that for people with lactose intolerance, dairy is their forbidden fruit—one with consequences they are not afraid of. People with lactose intolerance theoretically should have restrictions on how much dairy they are consuming in their diet, although given the widespread usage of dairy within our everyday foods, those restrictions vary greatly from person to person.
For those who don’t limit their dairy intake, it boils down to a very simple choice: does the pain from lactose intolerance triumph over the desire for dairy? And for these people, it definitely does not. One anonymous person explains that, “I just consume as much dairy as I want because it tastes good. Literally have no self control, no regard for my body.” Another anonymous person says that, “In the end, I don’t care if dairy is in my food because my food/recipe choices would drastically go down.”
The line between dairy consumption and no dairy consumption is no longer as black and white as it used to be. Dairy alternatives have been making a greater appearance in recent years, in the form of oat milk, soy milk, cashew milk, almond milk, and many more. So what’s stopping lactose intolerant people from picking this safer, less physically-damaging option?
One reason is that recipes made with these alternatives run the risk of simply not tasting the same. Differences in flavor become more obvious in recipes where the milk is not cooked down or used in a baked good, such as ice cream or macaroni and cheese.
Another reason is that alternatives to milk tend to be more expensive as well. Many cafes will charge more for the replacement of milk for a milk alternative in drinks, and at grocery markets, plant-based milk can go up to double the price of regular milk. And for some lactose-intolerant people, the higher price simply isn’t worth it.
Coupled with its prominence in so many foods, milk is an extremely difficult thing to avoid. Some people find it easier to accept their painful fate rather than go hungry entirely. Then again, some other people don’t necessarily take these reasons into account when they decide to consume dairy despite their lactose tolerance. Their reasoning? “I ain’t no b*tch.” To them, their pride simply won’t allow them to be restricted by their lactose intolerance.
And it’s the accumulation of all these reasons that have resulted in lactose intolerant people developing a tolerance for their lactose intolerance.