There were times when I would miss actual dairy, like Pizza Rolls, or when eating out with friends, or going places where the only food available was covered in cheese and I had to wait until we left to eat. It has been many years since I really thought about it at all. When I first quit dairy there were no where near the options we have today. Soy milk was non-existent in my small town and rice milk was my only option. I became so used to eating certain items without dairy that even though there are soy or rice alternatives I don’t always use them.  For instance, pizza is an item that I very rarely add soy cheese to as I am so used to it without that it actually seems odd when I do add cheese.

People sometimes seem to give me a look of pity when I explain that I cannot eat dairy or say “I could never do that!” or “Can’t you take a pill for that?”.  I didn’t really make a decision to quit, it was more like my body made the decision. And no, I can’t take a pill as I have an allergy to casein, an enzyme found in dairy, and not an intolerance to lactose. Besides, I have a friend with a lactose intolerance and she’s taken the pill and still had issues.

And you don’t have to feel sorry for me because I cannot have dairy. If you really feel the need to pity me then pity all those years that I ate dairy and was sick and rashy and grouchy and uncomfortable in my own body because back then many doctors didn’t know much about food allergies. Don’t pity my dairy free life as life has been a lot better without it!

In no particular order and the actual words used:

Me: Dude, did you hear about the 3D football game thing?

Him: Dude! I’d pay 25 bucks for that!

Him: Dude! I just opened up a new song on Guitar Hero!

Me: Dude. (said in a defeated tone when later he totally gets booed off the stage)

Me: Zoe just got mud all over the bed. Dude, are you listening? (Zoe is our youngest child dog)

Him: And I told him, I said dude, that sucks, we should just go play paintball.

We also call each other baby and babe. Because we’re sweet like that.

Speaking of Guitar Hero, we received the microphone this week. Now we can play at the same time. We take turns singing and playing the guitar. Neither of us can sing but its fun anyway! It is somewhat of a work out as it often helps to stand when playing the guitar and then you can’t help but move to the music and with the mic you can dance all over the place. Which I did.

Thank goodness no one could see us.

The hostess said she thought she could work us in. It was 5:30 and there was only one other couple in there. Ha!

I got a chicken sandwich (grilled and not the fried! Go me!) and the hubby got the steak sandwich. We couldn’t afford anything else! The food was good and I got a glass of Columbia Valley Riesling. It was sooo good. I just may have to get me a bottle! I hope you all had a good evening as well!

Being so sleepy has really affected how I feel about my dairy free diet. I’m dragging so much that I have no desire to get on the treadmill. I know I don’t have to, yet I have been doing so good I hate to break the habit and at the same time . . . ugh. I did have a really great dinner that involved a large amount of veggies so I feel really good about that! I have to keep reminding myself that I do not have to do everything in one day, one week or even one month!

I also get dry skin in the winter so it is times like this when I begin to look at everything I am eating to see if I am just having winter dry skin or dairy allergy dry skin.  I am pretty sure that this is winter dry skin as we are poor and have fallen back on our basics which means no new products.

If you are experiencing dry skin you may want to look at the products you are using. A new product may have slipped through or an old product may have changed its ingredients!

I don’t think the cookies would be that bad if I only cooked two or so at a time but that is not always very easy to do when the dairy free chocolate chip cookies are so good!

I have been trying to think of some dairy free diet desserts but all I’ve really come up with are frozen chocolate covered bananas. Or chocolate covered strawberries. Or blueberries, covered in chocolate. What is weird is I’m not a big chocolate eater, yet just saying I’m on a dairy free diet has me thinking about chocolate. And McDonald’s.

Do you have any ideas for dairy free diet desserts? This is not only important for me but because the hubby is a sweet addict and he has to have something sweet in the house.  Dairy free desserts I could freeze or that would be shelf stable would be the best!

Sooo, anybody want a dairy free chocolate chip cookie?

I am working as a guinea pig for my mother on a dairy free diet she wants me to try. I am more than willing to be a guinea pig so I will be trying a dairy free diet and hope to lose some weight! I had tacos for lunch with just plain hamburger, no seasoning, just meat, shell, lettuce and onion (I know, not the best dairy free diet meal), as I’m trying to be easier on my poor stomach and we had homemade potato soup in homemade bread bowls. mmm! They were so good. And, best of all, I did thirty minutes of exercise (mostly the treadmill then a bit of stretching)! I am so proud of myself.

I’m going to take a picture of myself but I’m too ashamed to show you all the before. Let me lose the weight then I can show a before and after of myself!

Check back often to see my progress on my dairy free diet!

A dairy free diet is a little different than some diets you may find. I see that commercial on TV for yogurt and the chick has a fridge full of all these great sounding yogurt flavors. There are dairy free yogurts you can purchase, soy yogurts that are really good but they don’t come in all those flavors, you basically get banana, peach, blueberry, or raspberry. All good, but not that Key Lime Pie flavor that chick keeps bringing up.

I will be working out the details of my dairy free diet this weekend so check back to see how well I am doing!

The hubby and I have decided to try and eat better and exercise more, we even pulled the treadmill out of the office and placed it in the living room! We are hoping that having the treadmill in the living room will make us get on it more as we can see it and we can get on it and watch TV at the same time! So far it is working for me, I have been on it about four or five times in the last week and even the hubby got on it a couple times.

I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions but I have set some goals for this year. I will have more fun. I will get into better shape so that I feel good about myself. I will organize my work schedule so that I am not working until all hours of the night (like, I don’t know, 11 PM on a Friday night). I will spend more quality time with my husband and dogs.

These are my largest goals but my goal for the rest of January is to do a post for this blog and my dairy free recipes blog every day for the rest of the month. Check back throughout the rest of the month to see how well I am doing on my dairy free diet (and I mean diet in the worst since of the word!) and with my goals!