Top 5 Lactose Free Foods - How going lacto-free doesn't have to be difficult

Little Miss P spent the first few weeks of her life screaming. She was sick. A lot. You expect some milky overflow, but it seemed to really upset her.  I'd sit up at night listening to our tiny baby girl in her Moses basket gagging, spluttering, snorting, grunting... Every time I picked her up to feed her, I discovered her baby grow sodden with sour milk.

But that was normal right? Newborns don't sleep well. Babies are always sick.

Then one night she screamed all night. She was inconsolable. Everything she ate, came back up. She wasn't just upset, it was like something horrendous was happening that she couldn't explain. Mummy cuddles couldn't make it better. She was distressed, I was in tears. I woke Hubby sobbing, totally powerless to help my little girl. In the end she screamed so much that she pushed her belly button out.

At our 6 week check our GP diagnosed her new 'outie' as a small umbilical hernia and for the first time raised the suspicion  that she had a lactose intolerance. I was primarily breast feeding so an intolerance hadn't crossed my mind... I was told to exclusively breastfeed for two weeks, and to cut dairy out of my diet immediately. Having never had any need to watch my diet (aside from a highly successful spell at Slimming World) I became a fanatic label reader overnight... And slowly my little girl started sleeping more soundly, her tears dried up, and my washing machine wasn't working as hard.

Four months down the line her belly button has settled back in and I'm really in the swing of lacto-free. 

I know it can feel like a minefield when ylu suddenly have to avoid foods so I thought I would share the top 5 products that have helped me to transition to a world without lactose.

1. Arla Lactose Free Semi-skimmed milk

When I first left the doctors surgery I thought that lactofree meant I needed to essentially go vegan. I swapped out all my milk, yogurts, cheese for soya and nut alternatives. Whilst the yogurt was good, it quickly became clear to me that I hated almond milk in tea... I was desperate.  I then discovered Arla. Real milk that has somehow had the lactose removed!  My tea no longer had the tell-tale oily residue at the bottom of the mug, and my morning coffee was back to normal. That small change made a huge difference psychologically - I could do this.*

2. Arla Lactose Free Semi-skimmed UHT sachets

(Okay, so maybe this should be 1A as this is essentially the same product, but I think it deserves its own shout out.)

One of the lovely things about maternity leave is making new friends. Taking your babies for playdates and grabbing 5 minutes for Mum with a quick coffee and natter.  Whilst the big coffee shops have soya milk, there's always the time when a lacto-free isn't available, or when you're visiting another Mum and they only have 'normal' milk in the fridge. I keep these little sachets always in a dedicated pocket in my changing bag - UHT so they don't need refridgerating they are always on hand to add to one of those much needed coffees.

3. The Foodie Market Almond and Raisin/ Peanut and Chocolate Chip Cocoa Brownie Bars

The thing that I've missed out on the most since going lacto-free are puddings. I was always someone who would flip to the back of a menu in a restaurant to check out the desserts before selecting my main meal. Whilst I've found that a lot of the big chains suck at catering for dairy-free, some independent coffee shops make their own stock and often have an option available, but sadly I've found that I've had to miss out a lot.  And when you're breastfeeding you want that extra calorie hit!

So these bad boys have been a life saver. I actually make a special trip to Aldi for them. They aren't in their free from section, but they are shelved with their healthier bars... they are nice and chewy and chocolatey with a satusfying crunch from the peanut/almond. Yum yum yum.

4. CocoLoco Coconut Oil

I've always loved baking. But it took me a little while to realise that being lactose free meant I'd need rethink my usual baking habit. How do you cook without milk, butter, yogurt etc... coconut oil had worked amazingly for me. It can be really expensive, but again Aldi has come to the rescue with a large jar for just over £3. Since switching to the coconut oil I've had 3 people ask for my brownie recipe! If you're lucky, I'll write up the recipe and will share on here too.

5. Oreos and PartyRings

So technically these are two different things but what I love about these classic biscuits is that they are not specifically dairy free! They are found in the 'normal' aisle! Hey, and it's not a party without Party Rings!

* It should be noted that lacto-free and dairy free are not the same. Having lactose free products may not be sufficient if a dairy intolerance is suspected. Always work with your GP

Recipe: Slimming World Scotch Eggs

I'll be honest - the title of this blog says it all really.  Scotch Eggs.  That you can eat whilst dieting.  It's like heaven.

My absolute Achilles heel in the whole dieting shenanigans is a buffet.  Sit me in front of some mini sausages, a quiche and a pile of salted peanuts and the idea of counting syns/points/calories just flies out of the window.

Just last week I attended a baby shower, and came face-to-face with temptation, with all these golden treats calling to me.  Being really early in my return to Slimming World, I exercised all the self control I could muster and physically sat as far away from the bite-sized savory snacks and firmly kept tucking into carrot sticks.

Now I'm sure you'll agree that I deserved a treat for all that abstanence, so this weekend I decided to roll-up my sleeves and cook up something Slimming World friendly, that wouldn't look out of place on a buffet table - the result: Slimming World Scotch Eggs.

Ingredients
8 x eggs
8 Sainsburys Be Good To Yourself (Less the 3% fat) Cumberland Sausages - I spent a long time researching this.  These are currently (please check if you read this is a few months as syn-values change all the time) the lowest-syn sausages around  (1 syn per sausage).
2 pieces of wholemeal Nimble torn into crumbs

1. Hard boil the eggs, plunge into cold water and once cold, peel away the shell.
2. Take a sausage and squeeze the sausage meat out of the sausage 'skin' - it's a bit like squeezing out meaty toothpaste.
3. Carefully flatten the sausage meat in the palm of your hand, and wrap around you de-shelled boiled sausage.  This can be tricky.  I found it easiest to wrap the sausage meat around the middle of the egg, and then massage the meat up and down so it covers the whole egg.  Another tip is to make sure your hands are cool and slightly wet, as it stops the sausage from sticking to your fingers.
4. Carefully roll your sausage-encased egg in the breadcrumbs - be gentle, otherwise the sausage meat could slip off
5. Place on a baking tray sprayed with FryLight (or similar) and cook in a 200 degree C oven for 10 - 20 minutes, or until the sausage meat has cooked, and the breadcrumbs are golden.

These sausage rolls will be the star of any picnic, or in my case the envy of colleagues when you unearth your packed lunch.  They really won't believe you're on a diet!

Each scotch egg is 2 syns (1 for the sausage, and 1 for the breadcrumbs) - and I don't think you'll find a tastier two syns!

Slimming World Breakfast Ideas

So here's the thing - I normally skip breakfast.  It's not that I try and side-step the calories, I just don't really like it.

I have really vivid memories of conversations with my mother trying to persuade me to eat in the mornings.  I was pretty good as a youngster, but hitting my teens saw my interest in breakfast food just dry up.

Its a bit of a standing joke with my husband that even going into the cereal aisle of a supermarket makes me twitchy.  All those over bright cartoon staring faces seem to be a little bit judgmental...  I can't stay there for long before having to take refuge in the baked-bean aisle.

I know I have to turn over a new leaf if I'm to lose the weight I want to... so I'm trying to persuade myself that breakfast isn't just about cardboard or over-sweetened cereal.  So for anyone else who struggles with the first meal of the day, here are my thoughts for taking on breakfast and staying on-plan with Slimming World:

Fruit

What could be a better start to the day than a big bowl of fruit? Having tried a few combinations of fruit, I have to say that anything with strawberries makes me a very happy bunny.  

I've also been using my daily Healthy B to have cereal with it (in an attempt to get over my distaste you understand...) and make my Healthy A last longer by not having milk with it.  I top it all off with fat free yogurt, fromage frais, sometimes even a Muller Light.  It's really tasty, quick to make in the mornings pre-work, and lot more filling that cereal alone.

I've also prettied this up by serving layered fruit, yogurt and crushed bran flakes in glasses for a super-quick-and-easy dessert.

Sexy Eggs

There's no point beating around the bush on this one.  It turns out that I could eat this every day.  For every meal.  Scrambled eggs (2 minutes in the microwave, no milk), two pieces of wholemeal Nimble bread (Healthy B), topped with flaked smoked salmon.  I mean who wouldn't...

And then to make sure I had my third-of-a-plate of super-free foods, I stuffed-my-face with mushrooms (again another 2 minutes in the microwave) and fresh rocket.  Oh. my. god.  Yes. Yes. Yes.

And what makes this even better? It's totally Syn-Free.

The Classic Full-English

This has got to be one of the major selling-points of Slimming World has to be the fact that you can have a massive Full-English and still be on-plan.

This is the second weekend that I've tucked into an amazing hot breakfast.

Bacon (with the rind removed), scrambled eggs, baked beans, and frozen Quorn Sausages... This breakfast might be Syn-Free, I'm not actually sure... There are many different types of Quorn sausage listed on the Slimming World website, these were the frozen variety... but in an 8 pack, which isn't actually listed, so I'm not entirely sure if these Quorn Sausages are the Syn-free ones or not.  To be on the safe side I counted 0.5 Syns (10 pack), just in case.

For those people who may have tried Quorn sausages in the past and found them either underwhelming or tasteless (Hubby has described them both ways), will find the current packs of sausages much herbier and therefore much tastier.  I'm not suggesting that if you served them up no one would be able to tell the difference, but possibly if they were in something (a casserole, an omelette, a quiche) then you might just about get away with it...