<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> I posted about my need for beneficial bacteria (probiotics) found in goat milk kefir & yogurt to be greater than my need to be dairy free and how I'd found that 3 oz. of kefir or yogurt was sufficient to keep candida overgrowth under control w/o significantly triggering allergy sysmptoms. I also mentioned my dissatisfaction with the many non-dairy probiotic foods & formulas I'd tried. I received suggestions for various non-dairy probiotics, but I chose not to post them. Below are a few of the responses I received from people who've have experiences similar to mine, both past & present. [As usual, my obnoxious comments are in brackets.] ~Valerie in Tacoma -------- I, too, have found great help with homemade yogurt, despite my belief that I am mildly allergic to milk protein. I eat every day some of my homemade yogurt-- I make the 24 hour cultured yogurt recommended by the SC diet. http://www.austinscdfriends.com/articles/article/3691414/53685.htm Supposedly the long incubation kills the lactose and changes the structure of the protein. Don't know, but I do know that my overall health improved with eating it every day, and I most often also take a probiotic capsule, although I've found as the years go on, I can dispense more and more with the pill. The yogurt is so darn good! CurtissAnn -------- Funny to see your e-mail. I have come to the same conclusion myself recently. I am dilligently taking my kefir every day (thanks to your info you passed on to everyone about kefir about a year ago--which I truly appreciate--it's worked so well for my whole family), staying way low on carbs and just can't do sugar anymore. Even a little gets me way off. I came to the same conclusion about dairy too! I'm better off sticking to kefir and not worrying about dairy. I just watch it somewhat in other foods and not go crazy. Thanks again for your kefir info. I've passed it on to many friends and one called back to say I changed her life with that advice! --------- I found your experience interesting. I have to take probiotic pills and enzymes because I cannot tolerate dairy at all in any way shape or form. I'm glad you found something that works for you. I think we all have to find our own way. Sometimes I wish that I could have one day of a reprieve. Of course that is wishful thinking on my part and it will never happen, but sometimes I think about it. Actually since I have been taking the enzymes and the probiotics I have been healthier, my immune system seems to be staving off the colds and flus going around so I guess I must be doing something right. I think you are right, you need to keep on drinking Kefir and eating yogurt if your system can tolerate it. I know for me it is a necessary part of my regiment. Stay well, Judy H [I was the same way for two or three years. Any dairy, even a little pat of butter, would trigger a headache, foul mood & uncomfortable urinary track sysmptoms. But gradually as I got better, I found I could tolerate butter. Then when I started drinking goat milk kefir, everything got better very quickly. ] --------- Water buffalo-milk yogurt -- [Who, pray tell, would milk a water buffalo???] -- I just heard about this type of product and bought some yogurt a while ago which I tolerated for a while. The cheapest source was through my United buying club. I have forgotten the name of the company but I bet google would have it. I bought my first containers of this yogurt at Whole Foods Market in Bellevue.... I am still intolerant to most foods and have just begun using a frequency generator (Dr. Hulda Clark) to zap whatever type of fungal infection I have. I suspect the type can’t be determined because it has metamorphosed during all these years of free rein in my body. My sister swears by this treatment for anything and everything. I have tried so many other things, I think this is the last of the many woo woo medicine therapies. If this doesn’t work, I don’t know that anything will. I had been taking a quadruple dose of an antifungal for almost a year. It helped but seems to have lost its potency to rid me of the fungal infection. BG ------------ ... you've aptly described the measures I needed to take following going GF. just going GF was not enough to control the yeast overgrowth (which caused all sorts of leaky gut symptoms too). I too had to cut out sugar and refined GF products. It was suggested that a milk allergy might aslo be going on, but I didn't believe it. I drink a juice daily called Oasis Health Break that has natural yogurt with live cultures in it- it seems to really regulate my digestive tract. Other than the yogurt it is made up of fruit juice with no added sugar. seems to be refined sugars that are 'bad' for me- natural sugars don't induce cravings like carbs and refined sugars do. Dairy on its own is ok for me. Add some chocolate to the milk though and watch out! Congrats on getting things figured out! :) With love, Darcie ---------- I noticed your comment near the end of your post noting that kefir and goat milk yogurt offered more effective relief than [commercially prepared, non dairy] probiotics. For me it's just the opposite. I'm so sensitive to dairy I can't even handle goat's milk or goat's milk yogurt. There are only three probiotics on the market that I can handle that do not contain dairy and work wonders for me. --Clarisa [My heart goes out to anyone who is that sensitive to dairy. I've never really missed gluten foods, but the few years I was dairy free, I felt so deprived, I nearly went nuts!] ---------- My goodness, my experience is just as you describe your own. I do take Culturelle also, daily. I consume at least two cups of goat yogurt/and/or mixture of yogurt and yogurt drink each day. Could not do without it. Makes me feel less lonely and "odd" to hear of your experience. Thanks. Miriam (NYC) ----------- [I'll add here that I used to work for a holistic MD who recommended his patients get beneficial bacteria from as many sources as they can. He said you can never tell which strains will colonize so getting a broad spectrum gives you a greater chance of finding some that can thrive in your gut. I occasionally eat small amounts of different brands of cow's milk yogurt including Nancy's, Dan Active and Dannon Activia and add them to the yogurt I make at home. I don't use a yogurt maker. My yogurt maker is a quart container of goat milk sitting on a heating pad for 24 hours. I also make kefir from Yogourmet Kefir starter at home. I don't make real kefir from grains anymore because I found that I can't consume enough kefir to keep my real kefir grains healthy & active. So ... sniff, sniff ... my kefir grains passed away.] *Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List* Archives are at: Http://Listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?LIST=CELIAC