don't try this at home

My friend made a facebook group called 'LIA' a few years ago. It stood for 'Lactose Intolerant Anonymous.' I thought it was funny so I joined since I have been lactose intolerant, or at least discovered my unfortunate condition junior year of high school. That was a sad and embarrassing day to say the least.

Fast forward... whoa a decade already? I can't believe it's already 2010. It's been 9 years since I graduated from high school! It's amazing how time flies. I briefly heard some facts about lactose intolerance recently and I thought the blood glucose testing to determine if you were full blown lactose intolerance or just lactose mal-absorptive were interesting. Since I'm a nerd and a dietitian, I've taken part in diabetes fairs and have a glucose meter. I decided it'd be a neat experiment to see if I was full blown lactose intolerant. Part of me told myself this probably wasn't the best idea in the world since milk generally gave me terrible side effects, but alas, once I get an idea, I usually (literally) run with it.

So here I sit, 37 minutes into my experiment (I worked the weekend so I have a day off today and I'm flying home for my dad's birthday on Thursday after work). I took my first glucose reading at 8:33 AM EST and it was 79mg/dL. Usually they use 50 grams of straight lactose in water, but I don't have pure lactose so I drank about 48-50 grams of lactose in milk within 5 minutes and took my glucose reading again at 9:03 AM. This time it was 74mg/dL... it went down. When I was reading the information on how doctors determine whether patients are lactose in tolerant or not, it stated that a person with enough lactase in their bodies would have a rise blood glucose more than 30mg/dL after 30 minutes. If the person was indeed lactosee intolerant, their blood glucose would not rise more than 20mg/dL. There are some margins for error in my case: 1-I used milk instead of pure lactose, milk slows down digestion rate and could contribute to the slower breakdown of lactose to glucose, 2-I exercised briefly this morning during my fast and you're really not supposed to exercise or eat anything for 8-12 hours. Either way, my stomach is making funny noises, but since I started this ridiculous experiment, I might as well see it through and take my blood glucose reading again in 16 minutes.

Remember GI Joe? Well, knowing is half the battle. If you think you're lactose intolerant, don't drink a whole bunch of milk. Duh. I know I will regret this later, but in the name of science I will sacrifice my health and well being for a day... Don't try this at home kids. What a silly idea. I'm definitely full blown lactose, my stomach's going to pay today!

- run for life
ps. I did the Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge earlier this month (Jan 9-10). I was disappointed because it was in the 30s and raining/sleeting on Saturday when I ran the half marathon and in the 20s when I started the full marathon on Sunday.








I accomplished my goal of taking a picture with every Disney character during the race and had a lot of fun making new friends and hanging out. It was my slowest marathon to date, but it had the most photo opportunities. I got to take a picture with Mr. Fredrickson and Russell from Up. :) ...Not to mention some pretty nice bling to go with my pictures...
Edit: Yup, I'm definitely lactose intolerant. My blood glucose an hour after drinking the milk was 59mg/dL... and then after 90 minutes it was 32mg/dL. I quickly retrieved my banana and had my usual breakfast-1/2 cup Fiber One (Original) cereal with a banana and 1/3 cup soy milk (usually vanilla). I can already tell I'm going to pay for my curiosity. Ah, well, it was in the name of science... ha ha.