I recently discovered that I can't tolerate dairy. I can barely handle it in small doses so I've switched to soy milk and avoid dairy products. Anyone else having to avoid dairy? I'm finding it hard to eat foods without it in!

You can always get lactase pills, though they are a little on the expensive side. I've found that I don't have symptoms if I limit the amount of dairy I intake. Also, there are milk and ice cream products that have lactase added to them so that people like us can digest those products.

Look up advice for new vegans, you're not the only one in this situation. Find a margarine you like (in the UK, the Pure brand is good), find a plant milk you like (they vary), find a soy yoghurt if you like yoghurt as they are usually pretty good. If you're not sure about, say, a soy milk, try it in different ways. The same soy milk can be cardboardy in hot chocolate but perfectly nice on cereal. Get to know the ways of the tofu. Start thinking about things like pine nuts to garnish pasta with tomato sauce instead of cheese. There are decent non-dairy ice creams out there if you can afford the categories (again, they vary, ask around or just try some). Chocolate - dark is often dairy-free, there are "milk" chocolates made with plant milks which, again, vary! You may find the Uncheese Cookbook to be helpful. I haven't tried many of the recipes yet, but the fake parmesan is a staple of mine and I've tried a few others which are good.

I can't have dairy milk or soy. I really like almond and coconut milks. The coconut yogurt is good.

For dairy-free recipes the vegan sites are good also some paleo sites have dairy-free.

After I found out I couldn't have dairy I eliminated it for about 2 years. After that long I found I could tolerate small amounts of aged cheeses (aged 10 months or more) or cultured dairy (like yogurt and kefir).

Hi! I can't have any dairy at all, not even a drop. I have severe bowel issues and can't tolerate even lactose free products if they have dairy. I drink almond milk and forgo any type of cheese. When I am doing well, I can tolerate some soy cheese in small amounts but usually just skip it altogether. It was hard at first but now I feel so much better that I wouldn't touch it if it could. Hope you find ways to encourage yourself without it. Coconut oil makes a great butter substitute by the way.

Some say that goat's cheese and milk are more tolerable; hard cheeses and yogurt products (including ice cream and cheeses) are better as well. Sometimes, it is the amount you eat at one time. You will have to do some trial and error to see which products your body can tolerate. Lots of good ideas on this thread.

I thought was the other way around. Those who can't tolerate milk is because of the lactose and they use lactose free dairy products.