Back in 2017, I was experiencing constant stomach pain, bloating, indigestion and overall, did not feel well. After months of enduring it, I finally decided I needed answers.
First, I went to a GI doctor who advised me to try completely removing lactose from my diet and see if I felt better. I spent a month lactose free and actually did feel better. I was excited that my stomach wasn’t hurting every day. Since those results are in line with being lactose intolerant, my doctor gave me a lactose test to confirm. The strange this was, the results came back negative.
This was confusing because I had felt better. The doctor realized though, this was likely a case of a rare condition he sees in people when they are not lactose intolerant but are intolerant to aged cheese. He explained this reaction is due to an amino acid that forms during the aging process. I could still have fresh cheeses like mozzarella, cream cheese and cottage cheese but no Parmesan, cheddar, and many others.
This condition is so new and rare that there isn’t even a name for it yet, so for the past five years whenever I get asked if I’m lactose intolerant, I respond with “No… just aged cheese,” which I will tell you is a great conversation starter because most people have never heard that response!
So, my diet had to change when I found out because I ate cheese A LOT. Luckily, I was still able to have fresh cheese, but it can be less flavorful, doesn’t cook as well as aged cheese and you have less options. Over the years, I learned how to adapt my recipes to either not have cheese in them at all, or to use fresh cheese (or nutritional yeast) as a substitute. I have grown to enjoy the fresh cheeses not only because they do taste great with the right recipes, but I have also found them to be less greasy when cooked, ultimately making me feel better.
The story doesn’t end there, though. Over the past six months, I began to realize that this cheese solution wasn’t the complete fix to my problems. I was still experiencing stomach pain and bloating after eating, so I started researching symptoms and different types of foods because I couldn’t identify a trend between how I felt and the foods I was eating.
Eventually, I read about gluten sensitivity, which seemed to match up to my situation. I decided to test a gluten-free diet out and after one month, I was not mentioning to anyone around me that my stomach hurt, which was so encouraging!
I was curious if my aged cheese issue was not really the problem all along. Was it actually a gluten intolerance this whole time? I started testing some aged cheese with initial success, but noticed if I ate too much, I still felt the feeling I had prior. Today, I eat aged cheese in moderation, but stay completely away from gluten. This process seems to continuously evolve, so take this ride with me and enjoy my healthy, gluten-free recipes!
