Recently I cleaned out a stockpile of paperwork that dated as far back as 2002! Mixed in with a lot of funnier paper items (a pamphlet for a face book of incoming freshman at UT in 2003 designed to help you “meet your new best friend!” made me feel old for remembering life before Facebook) were a few things I thought were still really helpful.
Most notable was a letter from my gastroenterologist from college reporting that he urged me to give up all milk and milk products to manage my gastroenteritis and overall health. I remember that summer well actually and felt pretty good!
Well, enter last weekend when I had dreams 3 nights in a row of meeting with my doctor and being asked to go completely milk and dairy free again. After 1 night I chalked it up to the letter I found. After 2 I gave it a bit more thought and after the 3rd dream I decided to challenge myself.
Last Sunday I decided that I wasn’t going to have any [significant] milk products and have challenged myself to see how long I can last. I’m still eating an egg or egg white at breakfast but swapped the sprinkle of cheese on top with salt and pepper. Salads have been topped with extra beans or hummus in lieu of cheese. I have to say that 8 days in, the only real concern I have about not eating dairy is wasting the fresh Parmesan I bought when I arrived home.
I haven’t shifted to scouring labels and banishing small traces of dairy yet but most of the things I eat are fresh, whole foods which are naturally dairy free or are gluten free products that are parve (a kosher certification meaning 0 dairy whatsoever) or have extremely small traces of dairy.
As a reward for sticking to the “new” program, I picked up this little delight and can’t wait to try some of the recipes. I love Mama Pea‘s blog and can only imagine how delicious the recipes in her book are! The bonus – it’s all dairy free!
(source)
Breakfasts these days look primarily like this (Food for Life English muffin with PB&J, cinnamon, and chia seeds plus a bit of fruit and an egg white)
Lunches and dinners are mostly a combination of lots of vegetables, beans or hummus, and / or beef or chicken.
My desserts have been a variety of strawberry fruit bars, dry cereal or a rice cake, or more fruit. The best part – I don’t feel like I’m missing anything and am completely satisfied. Mmmmm!
Have you had to cut something out of your diet recently? Do you miss it?
