I feel bloated and sick when I eat ice cream. Why? ?

Question

Every time I eat ice cream, even just a fudgesicle (no sugar, low cal) I feel sick (stomach hurts) and I feel bloated. I don't think it's lactose intolerance since I can eat milk, cheese, & yogurt w/no problem. Why do you think this is? Is there something in ice cream that other dairy doesn't have that I may be reacting to?

Answer 1

You still may have lactose intolerance. Cheese and yougurt have comparatively small amounts of lactose, because the lactose is partially "digested" by added bacteria; as for milk, you may not be drinking enough milk in quantity to be intolerant to the amount of lactose in in. Many people who are lactose intolerant can consume a cup of milk with no difficulty.

Many ice cream manufacturers add extra lactose to their products to intensify both flavour and texture. Read the ingredient list; lactose is usually right up there. Even if extra lactose is not added per se, extra whey may be added, which contains a huge amount of lactose, thus the problem of being intolerant to ice cream and not milk.

If you are eating low-fat no-sugar items, you may be intolerant to sugar replacements, like sorbitol, which is an alcohol sugar that some people are intolerant to. Sorbitol is actually used as a laxative, although that's comparitively larger volumes than you would find in a sugar free item. These sugars cause large amounts of water to be pulled into the large intestine, giving you diarrhea.

*I quickly checked the Popsicle website at www.icecreamusa.com and see that sorbitol is the second ingredient on Fudgesicle brand No Sugar Added pops - so I would suspect you are intolerant to sorbitol* You can find the ingredients to quite a few popular brands of cold desserts on this site.

The simple answer is to avoid ice cream and similar deserts, and maybe have sorbet (which contains no dairy) and juice based popsicles. Of course, these aren't as yummy as ice cream and fudgsicles.. but they usually come without the unpleasant side effects.  

Answer 2

Might be some of the additives/artificial sugar...maybe nothing to do with lactose intolerance

Answer 3

You may be sensitive to artificial sweeteners. I have the same problem so I try to stick more natural products or use products with Splenda as a sweetener in stead of Asparatame .

Answer 4

Could be related to food combinations.  For instance, dairy & fruit don't combine well, even though I do like blackberry cobbler with ice cream.  Try just having a small bowl of vanilla ice cream by itself in the afternoon.  A fudgesicle sounds like junk food to me, & the no sugar ones probably have a lot of chemicals.  Maybe you have a more pure & sensitive system than you think.  

I do like Breyers, as someone mentioned.  I think that's the one that doesn't have corn syrup, which is in so many processed foods & is worse than sugar for contributing to the high rate of diabetes in this country.  Otherwise, I pick a local brand of low fat vanilla with as few chemicals & added coloring as possible.    

Answer 5

Read the label on the packages.  Most ice creams have a ton of ingredients that you can't pronounce, and don't know what they are.  Try buying BREYER'S.  It's all natural (sugar, milk, fruit/flavoring).  In fact, you could even try their Lactose-Free Natural Vanilla, that tastes just like any other great vanilla ice cream.....