I weighed in at 178.4 this morning, so I should make my March goal easily - knock on wood.



I should have a look at that book. I have a relative with schizophrenia, and one of the treatments that gets floated occasionally is a gluten-free, casein-free diet. So I knew there was some similarity in the molecules.

I should say that my dairy-free diet is also mostly gluten-free. I seldom eat anything with gluten.

There's a lot about schizophrenia and gluten in "The Gluten File". Other psychiatric diseases as well.

I just heard about a lady in San Fran. who has a cafe whose specialty is serving toast. She's got some form of schizo. I thought... "Of all the things she shouldn't be eating, it would be toast." So sad.

I heard that piece too. This American Life?

Seems like I read that mucus strings are caused by candida. I wonder if it could be die-off by your going so low carb?

My father in law had some form of schizophrenia. He got cancer, and then was on a very limited diet that did not include any gluten or other grains. From that point on until his death, he no longer had any symptoms or evidence of the schizophrenia. I've always found that very interesting.

I ended March at 176, for a 6 pound loss over the month. I'm hoping to take off 4 more pounds in April.

Great job, Costello! You exceeded your goal by 50%!

Are you still following the guidelines you said above?

I've carefully read all of this thread and decided to go dairy free again in March (except I confounded my experiment by going full AIP so dairy was only one of many things I got rid of). Still, down over 5 pounds for the month. Will try to reintroduce butter but otherwise stay away from dairy for the forseeable future.

That's fantastic!

Oh geez, just when I think I'm getting all of this info down and proper in my head, you guys say we should LIMIT heavy cream? AND cheese? But I love cream and cheese! I could not do LCHF w/o those things! What to do? ? ?

Take a look at the high-fat, dairy-free thread.

Here is a link to the story about the toast cafe, if anyone is interested. I wanted to know, so I googled it: http://www.newser.com/story/180848/...oast-trend.html

And mucous threads are caused by candida? Wow, I'm going to read up on this. I am shocked at all of the good changes that have happened to me since I quit eating wheat products! I miss them terribly, and will indulge every so often, but wow, it's shocking!

PS--forgot to add, for 14 years I've suffered with awful painful horrible MRSA blisters and pustules and when I quit eating wheat by going LC, I only had one more outbreak, during the first month I went LC! When mom and I went to Disney World and I ate everything, in moderation, remember I said I had the throat clearing problem come right back? Well, I forgot to tell you guys that I ALSO had another outbreak of painful MRSA boils! AND 3 fever blisters on my mouth, in 3 different places!!

You'll never stop missing them if you keep eating them. Cave = Crave.

I would say that dairy can be different for everybody, so figuring out what works for you is worth the effort. Cut it all for a couple weeks (although butter is usually ok, as the lactose is pretty much gone by the time cow juice becomes butter) and then add things in slowly. Hard cheese, then cream, softer cheeses, etc. See if it makes a difference. I find everything from cream cheese to sharp cheddar is fine for me, but I can't go near cream without gaining. Go figure.

My advice about going dairy free has evolved (in large part after I ready this entire thread).

Last year I did 3 weeks dairy free except I did continue butter. Several people chimed in that 3 weeks might not be long enough to judge, and also that butter itself could be problematic - while it doesn't have lactose, it does have dairy protein casein which some people are sensitive to.

I went dairy free again in March, this time also cutting out butter. I made a bunch of other changes so I can't know what effect the dairy free has had, but I'm glad I had a clean slate to test reintroductions. Right now it seems like butter will be ok for me (although I am talking about exceptionally high quality butter, not supermarket stuff).

Molly - if you're new to low carb just keep doing the basic rules, for as long as that keeps working for you (working meaning you're happy with your rate of weight loss and what you're eating). When you stop being as happy, reducing or eliminating dairy can be one of the changes you try as you start to fine tune. But no need to fine-tune until there is a problem, in my view!

I did for most of the month. I had some trouble keeping the protein down toward the end of the month. My recordkeeping has gone to pot too, so I can't give you any numbers, but I'm sure it's easily exceeding 100 grams most days. The weight loss slowed too. I'm back on track the last couple of days, though.



Confounding the experiment is something I do too. I suspect that for some of us, we need several interventions. For example, dairy-free alone wouldn't help me. I was a vegan for four years and I gained 50 pounds. It has to be low-carb plus dairy-free plus moderate protein. That's how I lose at least.



Good job!



Butter's going to be the first thing I'm going to add back in - some day. For now I don't want to tip the apple cart. I hope to eventually get to the 150 to 155 range (that sounds so tiny to me, I fear I'll never see it!). If I get there, I'll see if I can add back in a little butter.