I’m giving up on consuming cottage cheese (at least for the most part). I drained the liquid and it was easier to digest, but it still gives me problems. As soon as I eat the stuff I start getting a little pain and tightness in my throat…along with a runny nose. It subsides in about a half hour to an hour. If I eat something else along with the cottage cheese the reaction can be much worse and I’m in a lot of pain. I’m starting to think that the stress this puts on my body isn’t worth the protein.
The only way I’ve been able to eat the stuff is when I mix in 1/4 cup drained into my eggs and then scrambled them. When I do that I get no reaction. The thing is, I’ve been following everyone’s advice here and trying to eat the stuff before I go to bed. Now, maybe I should eat eggs + cottage cheese before I go to bed, but eating eggs again in the morning is a bit too much in my books.
I like the idea of eating some protein before I hit the sack. Are there any alternatives to cottage cheese. Would some toast and peanut butter be fine?
I just want to add that I’m worried about the cortisol effect of eating cottage cheese. Now, when I put it in my eggs I don’t get the reaction. Does that mean my cortisol levels are not going up, even though I ate cottage cheese?
If you’re having that kind of reaction to a food, why keep eating it? Consuming a casein rich protein ala Metabolic Drive would work fine. Before bed, you want a high protein, high fat meal that’s going to keep that protein digesting for a while. Eggs would work fine too. Almost anything COULD work–but dealing with an allergic reaction to cottage cheese is probably not the best situation.
I’m leery of protein supplements due to a really bad reaction I had. If you can use the stuff by all means do, but I’m afraid to even try anymore.
The messed up thing is I can eat various dairy products, like yogurt or milk. Cottage cheese seems to bother me. Milk does give me slight discomfort, but it’s hardly noticeable. Does that mean I should avoid milk to? Sometimes I’ll eat a dairy product and get a bad reaction and I don’t know exactly why. Whenever I try a “new” dairy product it’s a bit of a crapshot whether it’ll bother me. My current theory is that it has something to do with the protein composition and that I can tolerate certain types. For instance, hard cheese doesn’t bother me at all, but cottage cheese does. The protein profile of these two is different. I think that’s the problem…although, that’s just my theory.
Considering this, should I be avoiding all dairy products? Just the ones that bother me? I’m worried that even with ones where I don’t get a reaction that maybe they’re having a stressing cortisol effect on my body.
Sounds like you should avoid all dairy products altogether. There’s no sense in beating your body up when you can easily avoid it. My experience with most allergic people is, you may be surprised at how sick you really were, once you learn the proper definition of “well”.
I think that you should still be able to handle protein powders, since it’s mostly isolated proteins and contains very little actual milk. You may have to spend some extra money and get whey isolate, but it’s got to be better than shoving some horrible soy protein into your body or avoiding supplementation altogether.
Yogurt before bed is not a bad idea, actually Berardi recommended it as part of his No Nonsense Nutrition plan for pre-bed snack, as well as a scoop of Metabolic Drive.
I would give the Yogurt and Metabolic Drive a shot.
[quote]Digity wrote:
I like the idea of eating some protein before I hit the sack. Are there any alternatives to cottage cheese. Would some toast and peanut butter be fine?[/quote]
How is that even remotely close to CC in macros?
Have the PB, but on a steak instead of a slice of bread. Or at least some chicken, pork etc…
Personally, I’d try ditching all dairy for a while and see what happens. I think Sabastian’s post is spot-on in this regard. If you don’t notice a difference, you can slowly reintroduce those products that don’t show a negative effect.
The toast and peanut butter before bed is a bad idea - refined carbs, virtually no protein. Eggs, fish, chicken, turkey, steak or a protein shake with some healthy fats added would all be a better option.
I’m going to stop eating dairy once I’m done with New Years dinner (and the leftovers). I’ll try going dairy free for two weeks and see how things turn out.
[quote]Digity wrote:
I just want to add that I’m worried about the cortisol effect of eating cottage cheese. Now, when I put it in my eggs I don’t get the reaction. Does that mean my cortisol levels are not going up, even though I ate cottage cheese?[/quote]
funny - I do the same thing! I never heard of anyone else doing it. I just love the texture it makes. I do not eat any other form of dairy except occassional cheese garnishes. I think my body doesn’t respond well to it. I just couldn’t give up that cottage cheese in the eggs though.
I’ve read that cooking a food won’t make it any less allergenic. For instance, if someone is allergic to peanuts then roasting them won’t help. I guess mixing them in with the eggs softens the effect. Also, I add 1/4 cup into my eggs and when I eat is straight up I usually eat between 1/2 to 1 cup.
Since I’m going dairy free…meaning no whey either…my plan for my post workout smoothie is to add liquid egg whites for protein. What are your thoughts on that?
liquid egg whites are good. You could get a non-soy vegetarian based protein powder as well, don’t know how they taste though, but they are available (pea protein, rice protein, etc)
If you are looking for a pre-bed meal, just have some ore chicken/beef/turkey/etc. with some veggies and olive oil. No biggie just minimize the carbs.