I feel strange being the anti-dairy blogger. ha! Never thought this would be me. I actually ate dairy my whole life and don't even have a traceable allergy to dairy. But, I cannot help but pass on some of my experiences now that I'm dairy free. It has been life changing.
And what does dairy have to do with love & relationships, you ask? In some cases, A LOT!! :) Keep reading... :)
Here's the deal...DAIRY MAKES ME A BIT CRAZY. Literally. It now does something to me mentally if I have even a smidget of it. Remember those new probiotics that I've been taking? Well, it turns out that they had MILK in them. (oops!) Within 24 hours, my mood went sharply south. I knew something was up, because since going dairy & gluten free, mood swings and pms of any kind have literally been NON-EXISTENT for years now! (I need to write about this. That is one of the most amazing effects of being dairy & gluten free.) And yet, all of a sudden I felt irritable, short, angry inside for literally no reason, anxious, distant, and just blah inside. Danny was as sweet and patient with me as could be. I was good at keeping it under control, but I sure felt something trying to take over. Also, my face had broken out with acne, pores increased in size, and my face looked rough, red patchy and less glowy. Sure enough, over a week later, I finally discovered the hidden dairy (I figured it must have something to do with dairy as I now have the same reaction to it every time). I stopped taking those probiotics immediately and about 48 hrs later the mood lifted completely and I returned to feeling as cheerful and happy as can be. My skin also returned to being what I would call (for me) dewy and glowy - which still shocks the heck out of me that this is even possible.
This dairy stuff is nuts. Oh, how I love cheese and cream and yogurt. But seriously?!??! Even a smidget of it is capable of doing something THAT drastic to my brain and my body??? It's just crazy!! If it's affecting me this much, I figured I couldn't be the only one. Who knows what it was doing to me all those years that I ate it. If any of you (or your children) struggle with moods or irritability - or suffer from skin problems - it might be worth it to try going dairy and/or gluten free (100%) for about 8 wks to see if it makes a difference. It may not be a cure all for everyone, but MANY people have had extreme improvements so it seems worth a try. (FYI, it takes awhile to get it out of your system - and in fact, my doctor at the time said that going off dairy might feel like a drug withdrawal and I would say that it did...much like the symptoms I described above. It lasted a few weeks. I never knew or noticed that dairy had so much control until then.)
So - cheers to being dairy free and happy about it. Life is really still so good with almond milk, coconut milk, and coconut cream.
And how about for any of you?? Has anyone noticed these internal/mood like symptoms in relation to dairy or the lack thereof? I'm so curious to hear. You certainly can't get this info. from most doctors. And, could you give up dairy to say good-bye to PMS?
P.S. Here's an article about the connection between dairy and mental health. And here's some more details from Dr. Frank Lipman about why the processing of dairy foods might be so bad for us. There's plenty on google about the connection between PMS and Dairy.
(Images: via Grey Likes Baby / The Phraseology Project / Oh Joy
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