I'm allergic to dairy products. Dairy can produce a immune response in some people causing all sorts of health issues. The doctors suspected I had food allergies growing up, but nothing was ever pinpointed. At the very least, my allergy was mild and did not cause any life threatening effects, so no further testing was ever pursued.
This is my recollection from when I was young: I was sick a lot. A lot. I had painful ear infections as a small child, and I would screaming so loudly I would have to be rushed to the hospital. I took the pink bubble gum antibiotics quite frequently for upper respiratory and ear infections. I probably should have had tubes put in my ears. I remember one year having tonsillitis so many times, that I ended up with mono. I was on and off of antibiotics for more than a month. When I had my tonsills removed, the doctor told my mom I had the most infected pair he had ever seen. I've had sinus surgery, twice, but I still got sinus infections. One of my tonsils grew back. Yes, I grew a third tonsil. I wish I was kidding.
I always suspected I was lactose intolerant at times, and I mentioned this in passing to a friend. She has issues with dairy so began telling me of her symptoms and experience. Another friend suggested I read this article:
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/anti-allergy-diet
I was convinced I had a dairy allergy. At the time, I was fighting another ear infection that was causing me to experience symptoms of vertigo. I had been fighting basically the same infection for five months that moved from ear to sinus then back to ear. I blamed my busy schedule and lack of sleep. I took four or five series of antibiotics. I had pinpointed my vertigo to happening after breakfast and after lunch. Once, I had to lay down in an empty office at work because I was so dizzy. I also suffered from migraines which I thought were brought on by chocolate, coffee, and sometimes processed cheese. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was suffering from bad reactions to dairy. I can recount several of those now that I look back.
So when I read this article, it was clear that for my body to heal, I needed to give up diary. I have not gone to the doctor to get allergy tests because I've had inconsistent results on them in the past. I do not need a doctor to confirm what I already know. I will avoid dairy for the rest of my life.
I took Dr. Oz's advice, and cut dairy out of my diet. I didn't get migraines from chocolate or coffee; it was the milk in the chocolate and creamer in my coffee. I experienced the vertigo after I had coffee and a yogurt for breakfast, and almost everything I ate at lunch had some sort of milk or cheese content. I also chose to cut out soy based products and any processed foods made with soy, but I'll discuss that in more detail later.
After about a week of my new non-dairy diet, I ate some breaded chicken from Chick-fil-A(r) at the student center. Thirty minutes later, I was sick to my stomach, and I ended up with a migraine. DING. Light bulb. Epiphany. Diary had to go from my life for good.
I've since experimented with dairy and soy. My dairy-free friend suggested to keep a little bit of diary in the diet so when you have a reaction, say from eating out and unwittingly encountering dairy, the reaction won't be as terrible. My lovely friends made a beautiful spinach and mushroom fritatta on Easter with a splash of milk and some hard grated Parmesan cheese. How bad could it be? It wasn't terrible, but I did get a congested sounding cough about my third bite in, and I coughed through the rest of brunch. On Monday, I woke up with a headache. Survivable, but definitely not something I want to experience on a regular basis. Sometimes I still get cravings for cheese, but I'm just too darn scared to try a little!
My husband has been really supportive trying out our new way of eating. We used to eat out almost every night, but now we cook at home. Many of our old standby recipes and cooking methods had to go. We used a lot of butter and cheese. Since we aren't vegan and did not cut out gluten, finding dairy-free/soy-free ideas has been quite an experience. All of the recipes I post here will be DF/SF and some are GF as well. We eat tacos and salads for dinner often because DH, my hubby, can add cheese until his heart is content!
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