Reintroduction Day 12: 02/28/14

I have been thinking about my long term plans after finishing this diet. Honestly, I don't really have cravings for dairy or anything that I have been avoiding. Maybe that's just because they have been out of my diet for so long. I don't know how to get back into eating normally.

This situation is kind of funny! Before I started this diet, I could not imagine my life without cheese, yogurt and ice cream. They were seriously a main part of my diet. I didn't want to try a diet like this because I didn't think I could make it without them. Now I am wondering if I should even eat them anymore. I'm asking how do even start eating them more often? And do I even want to? Who would have thought that I could go from dairy every day to not even needing it anymore. I'm just so completely surprised with how much this diet has changed my eating habits. I'm scared to go back to eating dairy whenever I want. I feel so good now and so energetic and clear-headed all of the time. I'm worried that it might stop if I actually reintroduce foods long-term. How do I know I really can tolerate dairy?!

I guess I will just have to take it all one week at a time, like I have with the "challenging" parts of this diet. I'm not really sure what I want to do, maybe one week I will want to try making zucchini noodle lasagne and use ricotta cheese. Or maybe on my birthday, I'll want real ice cream. I guess I'll just have to see when I get there. I will definitely continue to be really tuned into my body and how I am feeling though. That is definitely one of the most important things I will come away from this experience with. I have become more in-tune to how my digestion works and what sets off my headache and what makes me feel groggy and what slows down my digestion. So, while I am taking things one week at a time, I will continue to note the ways that I am feeling and listen to what my body is telling me. Isn't that the point of this whole exercise, to really understand what makes me the strongest, healthiest and best I can be?

After sleeping on it last night, I am reconsidering my statement that I can tolerate dairy. I definitely can digest it alright but I think it has otherwise effected my system. This week I have felt more negative and less balanced than I have in the past few weeks. I am thinking it has to do with eating dairy again. I have also gotten some acne this week and my knees and joints have been hurting more. I think that this means that I will be avoiding it most of the time. I will still probably have lasagne once in a while, or baked mac and cheese but I think my days of eating diary every day are over.

I realized last night that I won't ever go back to the way I used to eat, there is no more "normal". For the most part I will be creating a new normal way of eating that hopefully will leave me feeling strong and balanced. I almost don't want to test corn next week because I don't want to feel the depressed symptoms I felt this week. Hopefully the two are different for my system...

Reintroduction Day 11: 02/27/14

Today was my last day testing dairy! I had ice cream in the evening and it was yummy, I love the flavor of vanilla so vanilla ice cream is definitely my favorite! In all of my recipes I almost double the vanilla because I just love the taste! I want to start cooking with real vanilla because the flavor will be stronger!!!

Anyway after a week of testing dairy I think that I can say with confidence that I had not bad symptoms and I will be able to eat it more. I'm questioning my decision with eggs though and wondering if the sugar in the bread and maple syrup may have clouded my judgement of it. I mean it's not too hard to eliminate them from my diet, but baking is definitely easier with eggs. Although I have been enjoying the challenge of baking almost vegan. JJ says to keep looking for symptoms days 4-7 so I guess I will be looking for the after effects of dairy this weekend...

Reintroduction Day 10: 02/26/14

I am definitely enjoying testing dairy! Although, its not all as good as I remember it being. Maybe since I haven't been able to eat it for a while I have built it up in my head to be amazing. Cheese is still just cheese, which is good but not as heavenly as I had been imagining. I had Amy's gluten-free mac and cheese for lunch today. It was good but my favorite lunch is still refried beans on a rice tortilla!

I haven't been doing any interesting cooking this week because I have had three exams. Maybe I should tell my professors that I can't do my midterms because I have to keep up with my blog...haha. I have some good plans for next week though, I'm going to make more paleo granola and also I think I want to make spaghetti squash chicken lo mein. I still can't have soy though so I will also have to use a soy-free soy sauce recipe. I'm not sure you can still call it soy sauce if it doesn't even have soy.. My favorite flavor in Chinese cooking is definitely the scallions though, those make every recipe so I will at least be starting with something tasty! I also want to try and make those egg-free macaroons again but this time make them with no honey (or any sugar), so they will be vegan! I really love the taste of coconut so I think I will still like them! I'll let y'all know how they turn out!

Reintroduction Day 9: 02/25/14

Today was day two of dairy and I had string cheese with my lunch, again all is well and I am not having any bad symptoms!

People seem to be most interested in my other post about my daily nutrition, so I thought that I would share another day. Here is what I ate today: 

 

As usual I began the day with my usual breakfast smoothie and my vegan and paleo breakfast muffins! Rice tortillas with refried beans is my absolute favorite thing to have for lunch! It is just so filling with the tortilla and the beans and I love it! I look forward to it every week! I had it with my usual salad with a little bit of apple on top. I started dinner with green beans and spinach that I cooked in coconut oil and then had one of my stuffed peppers! It was a very delicious day and all of my nutrition was right on track!

Reintroduction Day 8: 02/24/24

Today was the first day of dairy! I had plain greek yogurt with my lunch and I'm happy to report that I felt fine afterwards. I am so happy because I love yogurt and I definitely want to be able to eat it. I made sure to get plain yogurt because I didn't want sugar to confuse my system with the yogurt. I am starting to wonder if really it has just been sugar all along!

When I think about it that kind of makes sense. In all of the foods that I have questioned over time there is also sugar! Yes, ice cream has dairy, but it also has sugar! Tomato sauce has sugar; maple syrup is sugar! It makes so much sense now!

Reintroduction Day 7: 02/23/14

I have four different types of dairy ready to test next week: yogurt, string cheese, mac and cheese and ice cream. I'm nervous but also very excited to be able to eat dairy again!

For my dinners this week I made stuffed bell peppers and they turned out very well! I put in black beans, rice and ground beef with some tomato sauce. It was actually very easy to make them all and now I have all of my dinners made for the week! I made a total of six stuffed peppers and froze one of them for some night in the future.

Reintroduction Day 6: 02/22/14

This week I am back to my regular kale smoothies!

(The fruit looks a bit sad because it has been defrosted from the freezer over night)

I usually alternate my Breakfast Smoothies switching from kale to avocado. I pair these smoothies with Vegan and Paleo Breakfast Muffins or Paleo Granola. Together they give me a well-rounded breakfast with plenty of protein and fiber to get me through the morning until lunch time!

When I went grocery shopping last night I bought everything I need to test dairy next week. I am very nervous and excited! I hope that everything goes okay and I won't have any problems!