I became lactose intolerant sometime in my 30s. (Being lactose intolerant means my body doesn't produce enough of the enzyme lactase to digest dairy products, leading to uncomfortable symptoms.)
With the help of lactase pills, I can still occasionally enjoy ice cream and pizza, as long as I have some pills on hand. It's not fool-proof, though; I'll still suffer if I don't take the right dose, and there's no clear formula for figuring that out. Usually I just guess at how many pills I might need for a "serving" of dairy.
I never really liked the taste of milk. As an adult, I used it mostly in cereal and hot chocolate. After I became lactose intolerant, I just stopped drinking milk. I'll eat dry cereal as a snack sometimes, and I switched to water for hot chocolate.
But now that I'm looking at the possibility of taking an aromatase inhibitor, which causes loss of bone density (increasing my risk for osteoporosis), I'm thinking about ways to increase my calcium intake. Ken suggested I finally give Lactaid milk a try.
Interestingly, with my chemo-induced lack of taste, when I sat down to eat a bowl of cereal with bananas and milk, the only thing I could taste was bananas. Since I never really cared for the taste of milk to begin with, I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm going to try to incorporate Lactaid into my regular diet.
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