Lactose intolerant? Might be something else going on

[some context - I'm not necessarily aiming to be 100% raw, what I AM trying to do is find the combination of foods - very high raw - that is optimal for my body]

One of the first things I figured out on this journey was that dairy was bad for my body. Made me gassy & phlegmy.. two things any guy is best avoiding :)

So, I figured I was lactose intolerant. A huge shame, since I always loved the taste of cheese, milk, cream cheese, you name it. & yes, nut cheeses etc are awesome, but I'm (when it comes to food, often) lazy.

However, I've been doing some experimentation I thought you might find interesting.

Obviously, yes, regular milk "sets me off." It's super noticeable, I get pains in my stomach, plus the above symptoms. It takes a very little amount for these symptoms to arise (think Italian latte sized coffee, not starbucks latte sized). So, that's lactose, right?

However, I've noticed that if I have feta (goat's cheese) that doesn't seem to affect me at all.

The other day, I found some lactose free milk. to be specific, it was homogenised (so milk+cream mixed together), pasteurised (treated to very high temperatures), the lactose removed, but lactase put in its place. How could I not test out something like that?

Bad news, nope this lactose free milk was just as bad.

So what's going on?

Now, I've also tried "raw milk". What is raw milk? generally, this means unpasteurised (but sometimes homogenised). Mixing it up is ok, just not heating it. Raw milk is illegal in Australia.. but (and this is the sneaky bit), you can find it labelled as "bath milk" - ie, not for human consumption. Now, the people selling it know it's ok to drink, you know it's ok to drink, so this is really just an end run around obnoxious authorities.

Oh, and does raw milk bother me? Not in the slightest. I've drunk an entire litre/quart in one sitting & felt totally fine. Umm, yes, I wanted to give it a REALLY good solid test :)

Now, the other day I heard that the pasteurisation process not only kills bad bacteria (the kind that make milk go off), but also helpful bacteria - that help our body process the milk internally.

So maybe that's what's actually going on. It's not about being "lactose intolerant" at all - it's just that pasteurisation (which is pretty much the norm these days) makes dairy much harder for our bodies to process.