Cheese and your body

If you search the internet, you'll find a lot of research pointing to why dairy products are unhealthy for human consumption. Whether you believe them or not, I ask you two questions...

1) If it was so great for you, why is there a national campaign (got milk) trying to convince you to eat more and more of it, begging you to think that it's incredibly healthy for you? You don't see commercials for broccoli out there. Why? People know broccoli is heathly, you either eat it or you don't, and there's not a huge investment made in its production. There is a huge dairy industry the US is trying to sell (just like corn and how corn syrup has infiltrated our food market to the demise of our nation's health). Question your food choices, and do your own research. (and from my research, I have found that plant-based foods are much better for your body than anything that comes from a cow!)

2) Human breastmilk is what we need in our most important stage of development - the first year of our life. Why would you consume something heavier than that, with more protein, after this period of development? How does that make sense? Cow's milk is meant to make a baby cow gain hundreds of pounds quickly. Why are you drinking the milk of an animal that grows to 600-2500 lbs?

And, an article about sinus problems and dairy.

Food Lion Chocolate Chips

I had forgotten to do this, but I wanted to put in a plug for Food Lion brand Semi-sweet Chocolate chips. I try to find mainstream, cheap options and so far had only found Ghiradelli for chocolate chips since Kroger and Harris Teeter didn't cut it. But Food Lion came through and has vegan chocolate chips as their store brand, at a much cheaper price. Try them out!

Mexican Food for the Dairy-free

So, I promised to write about Mexico and never did. So I will!

First off, my visit to the doc was uneventful in the allergy area :( but they did do a lot for my asthma, and have gotten it under control a lot better. Here's hoping, I have another appointment in May.

So, Mexico! The food in Mexico was great, and let me tell you why. They stick to natural, fresh, local ingredients. There was a place there that was our favorite for the homemade Pico de Gallo. This is a type of salsa that is tomato, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and Mexican magic (because I can not make it as good as it was there!!). Also, I had some very tasty guacamole while I was there. Some corn tortillas, guac, pico de gallo and lettuce and you have a filling, healthy, non-dairy meal. I ate many other delicious dairy-free meals there too, including a pork and pineapple dish, so good! I also got to gorge on fresh bananas every day (which in Mexico look like they just came off the tree ripe to eat, as opposed to the US where they are picked weeks early and are still green!)

Now, as most of you know I am a busy girl and I am not known for cooking much. So I try to find easy, cheap ways to eat well. So I want to draw your attention to Wholly Guacamole and pre-made Pico de Gallo. I get my Pico de Gallo from Food Lion. It's in the produce section, and I think it was a little over 3 dollars. Even Cricket likes it.

You can pair it with all types of things. It's great. Get some today.

I love guac, and I always have a hard time finding perfectly ripe avocados. Wholly Guacamole solves this problem for me. This package was around $4 I think, and it has 2 7-oz packets. Previously I would have though $2 a serving was a lot, but I have to say that my health and the time I save not having to make the stuff is worth that money!! The "pico de gallo" flavor means that it has little chunks of pico instead of being smooth, which is how guac should be anyway.

Also, it was not difficult to avoid cheese in Mexican food like I thought it was going to be. They add cheese to everything in the US to make the food more appealing to Americans but in reality, Mexican cooking is not as dependent on cheese as you would think, coming from America. Sometimes I would ask for something without the cheese on top, but in general I had no problem finding something that didn't have a dairy ingredient in it.

I am pretty sick so I'm going to go back to resting, but happy eating.

Doctor soon

I am going to the allergist Thursday for the first time in a year! I'm excited, and a little nervous to explore problems more. I always say every time you go to the doctor is like dating a new person - you have high hopes that things will work out this time and it'll all make sense, but you're usually left confused about something else in the end and just have a new problem to tackle.
I will write about Mexico and the food there later!

food and traveling

I went to NYC about a week or so ago and I found it hard to eat. Many places my mom took me made me sick and didn't have many dairy-free options. Also, I don't eat red meat and most seafood, so factor that in too. Basically I don't like meat that much, besides bacon and some ways of cooking chicken, and I can't eat dairy, so that significantly reduces the amount of things I can eat.

The whole trip I was hungry. When I got home, I went to my favorite diner and had french toast, hash browns, and eggs. It was so good. Hunger will drive you crazy.

Christmas was ok on the food front. I ate a good amount of ham and dressing. Ham biscuits are pretty much the greatest ever. I got a whole bag of Hershey's candy in my stocking, which is bad, because all their chocolates have milk in them. Even the dark. And I hate dark chocolate anyway.

I will be going to Mexico on a vacation in the near future and I am hoping that eating won't be took difficult there due to their obsession with cheese in so many foods.

The allergy I'm most irritated over for this trip though is my salt water and sweat allergy. No ocean, no swimming unless it's in a pool. No getting too hot. At least my friends are understanding. I just wish I could snorkel. Fish are totally gorgeous! Knowing me, I'll probably risk it once and will be like 'oh I'll be fine' and end up being a speckled spectacle.

Thanksgiving success

Thanksgiving was better food-wise than I expected. Everyone cooked with almond milk and best life butter.

I had:

• ham
• turkey
• scalloped potatoes made with manchego and pecorino cheese (both from sheep's milk)
• sweet potatoes
• dressing
• pound cake
  
• lemon chess pie
• chocolate cake (made by my mom's cook who made it dairy-free)

I had way too much left over and brought it in to work and had a second Thanksgiving for all my friends. Here are some pictures of the food. You can see my scalloped potatoes at the bottom right with the regular cheese kind on their left.

The pound cake (far left) was apparently a little difficult to make dairy-free. I think she had to make a second or third to get it to do right. We also had to cook the lemon chess pie (far right) longer than usual.

Dairy-free chocolate fondue

I meant to post this a while back but forgot so I should now! I made dairy-free fondue last month and it was great!

ingredients:

• Silk soy creamer
• Ghirardelli semi-sweet baking chocolate chips (chocolate without dairy!!)
• powdered sugar
• vanilla extract
• amaretto

First I put 1/2 cup of Silk creamer in the pot. I had a fondue pot so it heated up very quickly (don't let it burn!). Then add in the chocolate chips (I used a whole 12-oz bag, and it was enough for 6 people or so). Stir continuously. After the chocolate chips are melted, pour in a capful of vanilla extract. Then add in a few teaspoons of powdered sugar at a time to sweeten up the chocolate. Keep adding sugar to taste. Then mix in a little bit of amaretto, (slightly more than a splash) to add some flavor and also sweeten.

Get any dippers you like and go to town! I like to use bananas, rice krispy treats, and marshmallows.

Thanksgiving!

Here comes the event the dairy-free girl has been dreading all year!!!

My mom and I had a talk about what we would do. I told her the foods I wanted, and we talked about how to make them dairy-free. Mainly we have to make sure people use fake butter and almond milk instead of regular stuff. I am hopeful that this will be good!

I have been doing better at learning what I can and can't eat. Ranch is ok, because I don't eat a lot. Cheese is a huge NO regardless. Milk chocolate is ok in small amounts, as are cookies or donuts. Wonka has come out with some amazing amazing new candies recently....two of my favs (only one dairy-free, but I can't resist the other)
Fruit Marvels (I've only had the white grape, and it is amazing)

Scrumdiddlyumptious bar....SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!

That is all for now...I need to either get work done or go to sleep!! Grad school is wearing me out big time...

dear diary, I suck

I've been eating lots of milk chocolate and strawberry whoppers (malted MILK...didn't know that until today). So I've had a headache all day...ugh.

In good news I found that using two types of sheep cheese - one was manchego, like the closest sheep cheese could get to a mainstream cow milk cheese, and the other was an aged cheese similar to parmesan - I can make a version of scalloped potatoes that is rather good, so there is hope for thanksgiving. The cheese is just way more expensive (of course). Now I just have to make sure that this cheese is actually safe, and not what caused the headache, since I ate it the same days I was eating the chocolate and whoppers.

In bad news, my headache makes me not want to study for my midterm tomorrow!! UGH!

Here's hoping some chicken soup can help...

more failure with dairy!

Success: I went to Melting Pot again with some girlfriends for Ladies' Night and I was fine the next day, because I ate less cheese, and less of the chocolate (which was dark and not milk).

Fail: Last night at the bar, I had a Klondike bar (real ice cream). I blame the two people who came in really late. I was ready to leave; all I had left was trash and floors. Then this guy walks in who I've seen before, and a girl comes and joins him. He came in at 12:45 and we close at 1am. She came in at 12:50. They were in the service industry so they should have known better. And even if they'f gotten drinks and left in like 15 minutes I wouldn't have been but so upset. But they got their drinks and sat there until 1:25. I ended up doing my trash and floors in front of them around 1:10, and by 1:20 my manager had enticed me to go get a Klondike bar from the freezer. So I went and got one, and apparently that made them realize they needed to leave by the time my manager and I were both just sitting there eating ice cream and staring at them. I didn't eat all the ice cream, but I did eat a good amount of it. As a result, I slept in way late today with a bad headache, and I still have it a little even after taking some tylenol.

Fail the day before: My boyfriend wanted mashed potatoes and since I made them at his house they were with real milk and not my almond milk - which is amazing and I recommend to everyone (I get original unsweetened, for cooking, baking, and eating with cereal). So I ate about a 1/4 cup of milk in my portion of mashed potatoes...which apparently was too much because I had a headache all day yesterday. Granted, after all that's been going on recently (my money drama and his week-long kidney stone) I've certainly been rather stressed, and that probably contributed.

Lesson: don't eat things you know you shouldn't eat, and stress is not good for you.

melting pot last night

Last night I went to Melting Pot with my most favorite person, my boyfriend, since it was restaurant week and it was a great deal. I knew I'd be majorly cheating with the cheese course but I knew it'd be worth it to have an awesome night. We did have a great time...and then the cheese hangover!

After we left, I felt pretty crappy - tired and sluggish. After a while I felt better, and was ok for the rest of the night...but then this morning...UGH! I tried to wake up but felt to crappy to care. I didn't get up until the afternoon and still felt bad. I was fatigued, my head hurt, and I felt pretty achy. The ache was focused on my lower head and neck area.

After eating some dairy-free lunch and sitting around the house a bit, I feel better. Hopefully it gets out of my system in a day, and I won't feel it anymore. I have to say, this last 24 hours was a pretty direct cause-and-effect!

Interestingly enough, a couple weeks ago I had soft-serve ice cream and was fine. The more I explore this the more I think that cheese is the main culprit.

being dairy free

it's been a while since i posted! some crazy stuff was going on in my life, but now i'm doing better. i only am working one job (whoo!) which means getting the rest i need. i am eating mostly dairy-free, but i cheat in little amounts, like a bit of nacho cheese or a bit of ranch dressing. i don't get headaches like i used to, and i am feeling generally better.

i moved to a house with hardwood floors, and a newer HVAC system, and i think it's done a great deal of improvement for me. i'm allergic to my cats and dustmites, and i think the new house has done great for keeping these allergies under control, much better than the last house. the only thing is that the windows here don't open as well, and keeping the house aired out is essential...i guess i'll figure that one out.

eating out

I've been freaking out about eating out because I don't want to be that girl who can't find anything to eat when everyone gets together.

BUT now I've remembered that there is a shining light - ethnic food! Japanese, Chinese, Thai and such. I went to the Japanese steakhouse last night and it was awesome, I ate so much and wasn't worried!!

Also, no headaches this week!! :)

now time to sleep.

I did it

I ate the parmesan. I don't feel any better, but it was delicious.

What a crappy day.

spoke too soon

I woke up today (Tuesday) sick with a sore throat and cough. I'v felt bad all day and kind of out of it and shaky.

I'm currently craving parmesan cheese very bad right now, and I think I'm just going to go ahead and eat it. I hope it doesn't make me sick. All I know is I don't feel good physically anyway and I'm kind of depressed (not serious, something stupid) so oh well if I feel just a little worse??

long week!

I've been offline a while - I worked 70 hours this week (Sunday-Saturday). It was insane to say the least. I existed on this stew that I made last Sunday....

Sunday Stew
2 cans tomato soup
1 can Bush's beanscarrots chopped into small pieces
1/4 vidalia onion, chopped into small pieces
2 cups (uncooked) rice

cook the rice, and the onions and carrots, then combine all ingredients. Delicious and filling. I made way too much and ate it all week.


I also realized today that I have not been fainting like I used to since I've gone off dairy. I don't know if the two things are related, but it's good either way.

I've been eating pretty good. I eat an apple a day (on the weekdays).

I think this healthy thing really works well. Despite working myself to the bone, I've stayed physically well and not feeling terribly bad.

I need to sleep soon!

mystery

so the last 3 days: I had heartburn for no reason (like, even when I hadn't eaten anything recently and then when I had eaten 'safe' foods), then today had a headache on and off, and have had an upset stomach tonight. I haven't had any dairy. Why is my body mad at me?? :(

physical symptoms/improvements!

I've been pretty much dairy-free for at least 2 weeks now. Probably longer but the days have been flying by, I don't really know. The big question now is...did it work?

Well, they said that my blood tests showed a slight allergy to dairy and a large allergy to cats and dogs. I also know that I'm allergic to certain molds, dust mites, strawberries, NSAIDS (aspirin and anything like it), heat, sun, saltwater on my skin. Getting rid of the cats is out of the question, though I do hope to move to a less allergy-prone place (hardwood floors).

So, my symptoms.
-frequent headaches: tension, migraine, sinus.
-fatigue
-very sensitive skin - allergy to heat, sun, saltwater (Cholinergic Urticaria)
-asthma

Have these symptoms changed?
The answer is about 40%. My headaches have been significantly lessened, which is amazing. I used to have headaches about 4/7 days a week, so to be headache free for most of the last 2 weeks is prettttty awesome. The fatigue has lessened too - I hate mornings less now, and can work hard all day and not feel like I'm going to die (I actually have no days off!). The other two - skin and asthma - have not improved any. It really was the sun/heat allergy I wanted to solve the most, BUT, I have to be thankful for the fact that some good did come of all this trouble.

I'm really tired now since I've been up since 7:30....so night!

polenta!

Yesterday I went to Kroger before going home and I was hungry for something dinner-like. I shopped throughout the alternative foods section for a while and decided on getting some polenta (mushy stuff made out of corn...replacement for starch or grain sometimes). (I also got some more ZenSoy pudding, Newman-Os, apples, grapes, etc).

So after the grocery store, I made some polenta cakes. I call them cakes because I shaped them into such, but the stuff could have been just pushed around in the pan (like scrambled eggs) because it fell apart really easy. The polenta was pre-cooked so all you had to do was heat it up!

I used some of the polenta, a few strips of bacon, and the drunken goat cheese. I took all these things and just mixed them together well and formed them into cakes. I fried then in a pan with the fake butter I have, and I have to say it was pretty delicious. I probably could do it with just the bacon if I need to eliminate the goat cheese. I highly recommend polenta for those who miss grits, omlettes, or other mushy warm things that contain cheese or milk to make them delicious.

Note on goat cheese: if you remember, the goat cheese that made me sick last time was the 'rawer' goat cheese (wetter, more milk in it). The drunken goat cheesed is more aged, so it should be better for me and it was - no stomachache or headache.

It's interesting, I've been craving more healthy foods recently. Like, I always crave chocolate, but recently I've preferred Luna bars and been super craving apples and peanut butter. So I suppose that's good - wanting fruits and veggies.

Next post: an update on how I physically have been feeling.

the weekend

So once again, in a social situation my not eating dairy causes me irritation...

Last night a few of my girlfriends and I went to someone's house in the afternoon and then we were going to hang out and prepare for having people over later that night. So, we needed to eat something for dinner. The girls had made pizza and breadsticks, both of which had dairy in them. We went to the grocery store to get something anyway, so I had a chance to grab something to eat, but there isn't really a whole lot of food that's quick and dairy free. I got a potato salad, which didn't have any dairy ingredients listed. That still wasn't that much, and it certainly wasn't a whole dinner, so the next time we went to the store (yeah we went a few times) I got this bread from the bakery that was on sale. The bread was totally delicious.

I had enough food to not be hungry, but surely didn't eat well enough and I didn't have variety or really anything nutritious. Then I was super hungry all morning, even though I had my usual Luna bar for breakfast.