Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Quitting Dairy

I've learned something in the past few months that classification can be meaningful to people, so in full disclosure I'm just going to blurt out what I eat now and why I'm somewhere between Vegan and Vego...I don’t eat dairy, I don’t eat meat, I do eat honey and I do eat our chicken’s eggs. I still wear my leather shoes, am certain I have a woolly jumper tucked away somewhere and a bunch of cosmetics I have no idea on how they were tested – I’m transitioning, let’s say.

Pot Pie and Oblina - our backyard chickens

I've spent 30 years of my life eating meat and dairy, I've lived with vegoes and probably quietly scoffed or looked shocked when someone said they were vegan. Stuff like “what can you eat?” or “I could never ever do that” definitely came out of my mouth at some point. I'm pretty open minded but I used to think vegans were quite odd and now that I'm somewhere on the other side of the fence, it's really funny to look back because I think for most of my life I was probably the odd one. 

I didn't wake up one day and think “gosh you're odd, lets change”. It's been instead, an interesting past year, worthy of sharing (at the very least for its story value). I don't expect you to change how you eat by the end of this, I don't even want you to feel guilty about what you eat – because what you eat you probably enjoy and is also probably super delicious, I just wanted to share my story :) 

How it all began (prepare for a bit of gross-ness) 
Around a year ago I started to notice a rash on my ring finger which at its peak even spread to the opposite ring finger (still slightly baffled by that).  As someone who has sensitive skin, allergic reactions are the norm for me but this existed on the extreme end. I'd be woken in the middle of the night, unable to stop the itch, which led to raw hands and tiny blisters (sorry grossness!!). I was super self-conscious and started googling ways to mind-play it out, I figured, if I could just stop itching my hands all would be good. After failing the mental game I lathered on steroid creams (the usually fix) and yet found myself back at square one, solution-less. I decided to pay attention to when the irritation flared. It quickly become obvious the culprit was dairy and just as obvious that I was going to be in denial about it. 

The first step - cut out milk. 

Dairy free milkshakes, almond milk and a soy coffee :)


This was easy, I'd simply substitute almond milk into my morning chai or when a recipe called for cow's milk. Almond milk is a lot thinner than regular milk but I found simply using all almond milk in my tea was fine rather than using a water/milk ratio :) A year later I'm going to bold and say I even enjoy almond milk more! Butter was also pretty easy because I was never the hugest fan, they also have butter substitutes in the supermarket and of course my favourite thing ever avocados! 

Next was all those sneaky (and less sneaky) food that dairy is in. I would say my overall consumption of packaged foods has since decreased because of this, probably a good thing but at the time only managed to seriously bum me out. Thinking I could no longer have things, made me resentful and angry and just like some sort of diet I 'd break down and buy some cheesy corn chips knowing the ramifications :P I've never really been on a diet but I imagine it has a similar, denial, indulge, face-the-consequences cycle. 

I then became reduced to scouring the health food section paying far too much for a 5 piece bar of ‘dairy free’ chocolate. It tasted horrible and I found myself eventually stopping eating chocolate. Probably a good thing but when you’ve already lost so much, it sucked. Had younger Fee done a bit of research she would of found that a lot of dark chocolate over 70% is dairy free *gasp* so I’m happy to report that delicious chocolate is back in my life:)

delicious chocolate and some randomness because I wasn't sure what photos to put in here :P


Prior to this I was also one of those people proclaiming “Ahh I don't eat that much dairy”. I want to seriously backhand younger Fee because when faced with cutting out cheese I quietly wept inside. Actually I'd only cut back my cheese consumption to about 80% because god damn if anyone was going to deny me a cheesy pizza! So the itch wasn't completely gone but I'd reached a pretty good compromising place. 

Spoiler alert! I am now 100% dairy free and the last 20% was really easy, or much easier than my brain had convinced myself otherwise and simply came down to making a commitement to myself (and finding some yummo substitutes).

I'm going to put a pause in the story and place the next stage (the meat part) into another post because it’s a tangent all in itself. I wanted to start at the beginning and the beginning was a rash and next time is the story involving our cat Gremlin!

If you want to go straight to my beginners guide for eating vegan you can pop on over here!

20 comments:

  1. this is so interesting to me. i love food, so i'm always a little wary of "restrictions", but lately I've noticed that my body also reacts unfavorably to certain foods (especially when consumed in excess) so I've been thinking about cutting back on those foods at the very least. dairy and wheat seem to be the primary culprits. I've been vegetarian for almost ten years but i eat fish, dairy, and eggs. the dairy is particularly beloved by me (cheese and ice cream!) but it's kind of not worth it sometimes when i don't feel so good after I eat them. I'm realizing that is more important to me now than the instant gratification of some of those culprits. ;)

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    1. I felt exactly in this position especially being someone who loves food and loved what I was eating and even thinking of giving up dairy seemed so crazy! My only advice is to say there are lots of yummy substitutes! Maybe at the start you'll feel somewhat cheated but a few months in I honestly do love everything I'm eating, for breakfast I had this amazing nut bread, avo and cashew cheese and I felt like I was back eating dairy again :) It feels overwhelming at the start because you have to change up a few things but if you take little steps, it's not quite as bad! It's funny how our bodies just decided for us one day what's good and what's not :p

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  2. How interesting Fee. Thanks for sharing. I used to think vegans were weird too and perhaps over the top but now that I've read the reasons behind your going dairy free, I have a better understanding. OMG the cheese would be the hardest to give up eh!! But thank goodness for dark chocolate (woohoo!)

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    1. Cheese is soo good and especially because there are so many yummy varieties but there are a few companies out there doing amazing things with nut cheese (using things like creamy cashews) being in Melbourne at the moment I'm in food heaven!! I keep thinking cliched lines like "I can't believe this isn't dairy" he he he

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  3. Loved this post. I've been vegetarian for most of my life and finally made the jump to vegan nearly 3 years ago. I learnt, saw and did to much as a veterinary nurse and just couldn't consume and use animal stuff anymore. I laughed so hard when you mentioned the expensive chocolate. I did the exact same thing until I found lindt. hehehe

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    1. You know what I still remember reading your vegan blog post and even though I was far away from changing I have no doubt it got me that one step closer - so a big thank-you! I actually feel like a bit of a jerk now for my previous thoughts to vegan and vegetarians, I wish I could back and instead say a big thank-you to all of them. Yay for Lindt! It's really not that hard is it? I was so shocked at how easy I have found it all! Now if only Disneyland made cute character food in vegan :p

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  4. Have you tried raw chocolate Fee? I not a massive chocolate eater but when i fancy some I like it to be super yummy. This stuff is dairy and refined sugar free and sooooooooo yummy: http://www.consciouschocolate.com/

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    1. I'm not 100% sure if I have or haven but being down in Melbourne I was at a shop yesterday with my friend who pointed out some raw chocolate, next trip I'm definitely going to buy some :) I love being in this awesome food whirlwind, I feel I'm actually eating way more things than ever before (oddly enough!) Raw chocolate here I come!!

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  5. Oh no your poor fingers! Glad you figured out the culprit, and that you've found some awesome dairy substitutes :-) seriously that soy peanut butter milkshake at the green edge cafe was one of the yummiest drinks I've ever had, definitely need to head back for another sometime :-)

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    1. That cafe is awesome, I've been really impressed with all the substitutes I've found too, which has made everything easier. Oh and I'm super glad I don't have to hide hands in shame anymore either :)

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  6. I am allergic to some enzime in milk, not exactly lactose, so i can relate to your story...
    i only eat meat if i go to some friends house or my parents and cheese..well let's say i am still in the 80 per cent off use.don't drink milk in 7 years or butter or yogurts.
    Eating outside home is more challenging but i dont want to make myself paranoid, so i try to do my best choices :)

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    1. I think that's awesome Sara about how much you've been able to cut out and for how long you've been doing it - do you still feel like you miss milk, butter or yoghurt? Actually just the other day I bought some cashew yoghurt and it was pretty darn close to the original thing. My friend I'm staying with at the moment and I have our own batch brewing, can't wait to see how it turns out :) Everything I learn makes me feel how unscary it can be.

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  7. I stopped eating chicken years and years and years ago. just literally couldn't smell it anymore from one day to the next. I blame all the antibiotics and chemicals and shit that's in there. somehow, my body started responding to it. I still eat other types of meet and fish but rarely. ok. ever since I moved to France it's gone up again. dairy seems fine though. thanks god. the idea of no more ice-cream alone is killing me. in general I get you though. I think our food has changed so much, is so processed and removed from its natural sources, it's ridiculous. I'm glad you are doing better.

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    1. I honestly have no idea why my body just out of the blue decided to be allergic to dairy, it wouldn't surprised me if it is a result of being a less pure product these days. I'm lucky that I was never a big icecream fan definitely a cheese and chicken fan though. I have noticed these days when I walk buy a butchers or a deli that I find the smell rather off putting when before I don't think I ever noticed. Some smells are definitely not off putting though like smoked salami :)

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    2. I go through phases with ice cream. some years I don't eat any, others I eat it every day. and yes, I think the kind of food we are eating is changing so much that a lot of us are developing weird reactions and allergies. all kind of twisted when you think about it, no?

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    3. I'll admit I definitely did and still do to some extent eat my food blindly - not questioning what's in it or how it was made. I only became that odd supermarket shopper reading labels when I had to work out if diary was in things. I wonder if the future is going to be, all of us becoming our own farmers? I guess the whole planet is on a food journey

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  8. I am also one of those food lovers out there that find rather difficult to add restrictions as long as my body feels good with this. I think the most important part is to feel good, to know that your body is healthy and eat what you think it's best for you, without anyone looking down on you & having to give any explanations because you have decided to don't eat certain meals. I rather prefer fish over meat any time although I have to admit having burger craving from time to time ;) and also love cheese, one of my favorite things, but it's also true that sometimes my body reacts weird with certain types of them so I'm only eating what leaves me afterwards with a good sensation. I think I am not making sense at all :) Also agree with other comments that food is heavily (wrongly maybe?) processed and more and more allergies and food intolerance are raising in consequence. Oh! and also I had been with stomach flu for a week, so haven't eaten almost anything, maybe this is also affecting my brain while writing all this ;)

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    1. I think you're definitely right everyone is going to find their own food path :) It's crazy to hear that a lot of schools are nut free due to some kids having severe reactions - I honestly can't remember anyone having a severe allergy 20 years ago, we would even bring in food to share. I guess the ideal would be to grow/raise all your own food and then you know how it's been treated. I'm sure we would all be much healthier too :)

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  9. I have been slowly trying to change as well but somehow I always end up craving meat after going weeks without it. But then as soon as I have a certain amount of meat I end up feeling a bit sick. It's weird. With dairy I have found that I enjoy soy milk more and so we have switched to that. it was an easy change. I'm not that big on cheese but we also buy cheese made with soy. Egg is a different story and we have been buying cage free eggs from the grocery store because heading out to the farmers market has been tricky lately but after reading up on eggs and the different labels I am thinking that making that not so convenient trip out to the farmers market is worth it!

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    1. Are you able to keep your own chickens Jane? I think there are rules in place where we live for how many you're allowed to have based on the land you have and I'm just thinking you guys probably have a huge road block with your doggie pals. I can't wait to blog about all the amazing food I got to eat in Melbourne, of my gosh, I've been craving chicken and fish like a madman and got such awesome fake meat fixes! I definitely struggled so much with the idea of missing out and I'm not completely sure why I don't feel that way anymore. I feel like you've made such huge changes already you should definitely be feeling good about it :) So lucky not to miss cheese to much and the milk thing is easy hey! I remember cow's milk always upsetting my stomach since I was little but I always drank it because it came mixed with my favourite things like chocolate flavouring! he he he

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