Holy Cow

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I've never been a milk drinker, barely touch the stuff. Though I go in and out of phases where I like and don't have any desire for ice cream, I largely stay away from it. Even when I enjoy it, my stomach often doesn't appreciate it as much as my tastebuds. I'm not lactose intolerant, it just doesn't always agree with me. Almost a year ago, I completely quit eating yogurt. As much as I enjoy it, especially Greek yogurt, I determined that it aggravates my allergies. So there you have it. I had gone virtually dairy-free... Not really. Not even close. The one thing I hadn't been able to cut out was cheese. I knew I was eating too much of it. In fact, in our house we often can be heard laughing over the phrasethere's no such thing as too much cheese.  I was probably eating more cheese than all the other dairy products put together.

 But recently, I started to become more aware of my need to cut back. Cheese is very high in fat, and it has the same properties as all the other dairy products I was so easily able to cut out. I read a couple of articles about the addictive properties of cheese (most of which are false), and made the decision to start by reducing not eliminating. Everything in moderation, right? Maybe not.

The past six months, my allergies have gotten progressively worse. The past two months they've gotten to be debilitating. Let me clarify. I don't have the kind of food allergies that can cause life-threatening symptoms, like peanuts and shellfish resulting in anaphylaxis or respiratory failure. But I do have tons of environmental allergies, like various pollens, grass, molds, dust., and cat dander. I get horrific sneezing attacks, congestion, sinus headaches, sore throats and terrible eye irritations. My eyes will be uncontrollably watery or dry. They get swollen and red, and they itch to the point of insanity. Usually one of these attacks will come as a result of an obvious and immediate exposure to an allergen. For example, if I'm in a home with a cat, bam! Watery, itchy eyes, sneezing- you name it.

What does this have to do with the cheese and dairy thing? I finally broke down and decided to go to an allergist. Over the counter allergy remedies were no longer working and my symptoms were becoming extreme and long-lasting. I won't get into the whole treatment and testing, but I will say this. He put me on a modified dairy-free diet for at least a month, while I go through testing. I left there thinking no sweat. I barely eat dairy anyway. We didn't even raise our son drinking milk, and sort of subscribe to the notion humans don't need dairy anyway. Oh yeah, then there was cheese. I am absolutely amazed at how much I miss it.  It's been four days, and as I went grocery shopping and planned meals for the week, I am in disbelief about how much cheese we have in our diet.  I found myself thinking, can't make that or I'll have to make that without cheese. I'm just blown away.

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I'm okay with the dairy free diet. I have high hopes for it improving my allergy symptoms and my overall health too. If I find I'm allergic to any of it, I'll sadly pass it all up and stay dairy free to stay allergy free. But, I'll tell you what. When the testing is done, and the if the doctor gives me the okay to have dairy again, I'm going to limit how much cheese I put back in my diet. Rather than eat it as a staple, I'm going to think of it as a treat. Pizza on the weekend, or a night out for Italian or Mexican food, sure. But I'm really going to try to keep this going. I'm hoping I'll drop a few pounds along the way. I feel like the increase in allergy symptom was my body's way of waking me up. When your physical health is in question, it's time to start listening. And this time I'm paying attention.