Day 19

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Kashi Shredded wheat, almond milk, 1/2 banana
Lunch: Sweet & Sour chicken w/ white rice, root beer
Dinner: Steak, baked potato w/ df butter & ketchup, broccoli, almond milk
Dessert: Oreo Minis

Day 18- Paying the Price

Caleb's checkup was today, and he was such a good little patient, I took him for ice cream (ok, frozen yogurt) afterwards.  And I could not just sit there and watch the kid eat alone, so I got a cup for myself.  And now I am paying the price.  But it is worth it.  It was really good, and Caleb loved it.

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Mimi's corned beef hash, scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, OJ, carrot muffin
Snack: Oreos
Dinner: Spaghetti Noodles, salad w/ 1000 Island, almond milk
Dessert: Wheat Thins, Dew, Banana

Day 17: Sneaky

I'm thinking that somewhere, someone snuck some milk in on me.  Not sure where, I made all of my food today, except for the pop tart.  Hmmmm....

What I Ate Today

Breakfast: Fried Egg Sandwich on white
Snack: Pop Tart
Lunch: Egg Salad on white, baked potato w/ ketchup
Dinner: Beans & Weenies, green beans, almond milk
Dessert: Not sure; not eggs, I promise.

Day 16: Munchies

I had a little attack of the munchies this afternoon when I had to go pick up C.  Luckily, I found 2 yummies lacking the milk.

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Kashi shredded wheat cereal w/ almond milk
Lunch: PB&J
Snack: Oreos and a Moon Pie
Dinner: Chicken & Rice, peas

Day 15

Pizza for dinner tonight.  I pulled off as much of the cheese as I could.  Somehow just not the same.

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: PB&J on white
Lunch: Hot Dogs on buns, potato salad
Snack: Rice Krispy treat, Starbucks Soy Caramel Frap
Dinner: Pizza w/ out cheese
Dessert: not sure yet...

Day 14: Week 2 down!

This has certainly been a more challenging week, but I made it through.  Yay for me!

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Pancake House swedish pancakes w/ lingonberries, orange juice
Lunch: PB&J on white bread
Snack: Snapple sorbet bar
Dinner: Ruby Tuesday salad bar & turkey minis

Day 13:

I took a little break from the 'net last night, so I'm having to catch up.  Having a little trouble remembering what I did yesterday...  Give me a moment, it will come to me.

What I Ate Today:
Breakfast:  nothing, I think
Lunch: Soup, Salad and Breadsticks from Olive Garden, raspberry-peach tea
Dinner: Ale House crab legs & baked potato
Dessert: Oreos

Day 12: Yeah, it's milk...

So, I didn't chug a glass of milk, but I did have something I knew had milk in it.  And, yeah, I'm still milk free...

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Boston Creme style doughnut, Cherry Coke
Lunch: Hot dogs w/ slaw, Oreo (1)
Dinner: Rot. chicken, baked potato w/ DF spread and ketchup, broccoli
Dessert: Oreos

Day 11: Questioning...

I have eaten a couple of things over the past couple of days that I am pretty sure had some amount of milk in them (okay, it was the muffins) and I have not had any tummy issues.  I'm beginning to question whether milk was, in fact, the source of my ills.  Tomorrow, I might just chug a glass of milk and see what happens.

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Kashi Vanilla Island cereal, almond milk, 1/2 banana walnut muffin
Lunch: PB&J on white
Dinner: Hamburger on white bun w/ ketchup & pickle, fries, green beans, almond milk
Dessert: Pure Decadence DF Ice Cream

Days 8-10: Offline

My wireless router died Sunday night before I got a chance to post, so I have to catch up..

Day 8: Sunday was my mommies group birthday picnic.  I can't guarantee that everything was DF, but I did my best, considering.  A huge piece of fried chicken was the most likely place milk was hiding.  I made some awesome DF cupcakes: lemon-filled lemon cupcakes with vanilla frosting.  Very yummy!

What I Ate:

Breakfast: skipped
Lunch: fried chicken, pasta salad, deviled eggs, DF cupcakes, sweet tea
Snack: cupcakes
Dinner: Chicken broccoli stirfry w/ ramen noodles, almond milk
Dessert: Cupcake

Day 9: Ice Cream Social!  Tried a couple of new Pure Decadence DF Ice Creams: Peanut Butter Zigzag & Turtle tracks.  Very yummy!

What I Ate:

Breakfast: Strawberry Pop-Tarts w/ peanut butter, almond milk
Lunch: Steak & Shake Chili 3-way, cherry Sprite
Snack: DF Ice Cream
Dinner: McD's grilled chicken classic, Dr Pepper
Dessert: Cupcake

Day 10: Muffins....  We had Mimi's for lunch.  Finding a good DF entree was a challenge, but I did the best I could.  My downfall was the muffins.  I am pretty sure there was some milk product in there somewhere, but some things are worth the consequences.

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Starbucks Brown Sugar Oatmeal, Iced White Mocha w/ soy
Lunch: Mimi's Beef Dip on Sourdough, cole slaw, strawberry lemonade
Snack: Snapple sorbet
Dinner: pork chop w/ apple sauce, white rice, peas, almond milk
Dessert: 1/3 Mimi's carrot raisin muffin, 1/2 banana walnut muffin

Day 7- One Week!!

Wow!  I can't believe it has been a whole week since I embarked on this little experimental journey.  I have been amazed at how relatively easy it has been.  I am learning so much, and feeling infinitely better.

Today was interesting.  I had to miss out on lunch on the road (I was driving, and the only thing at Wendy's I would have gotten would have required a fork), but I had the pizza Caleb didn't finish (less the cheese) at my sister's house, plus a PB&J.  I also had to pass on the cupcakes my sister made for my niece's birthday.  They looked good, with homemade butter cream icing and chocolate filling.  But it was easier than I thought it would be.  That could have something to do with the dairy free cupcakes I'm making for a party tomorrow.

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Starbucks Chi Latte Frap w/ soy, rice crispy treat
Lunch: half slice pizza w/o cheese, PB&J on white, Dt Dew
Snack: Oreos
Dinner: Beans & weinies, green beans, almond milk
Dessert: Snapple sorbet tube

Day 6- Chocolate!

Picked up another great milk-free find at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville: Divine 70% Dark Chocolate.  So good!

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Starbucks Caramel frap w/ soy, protein plate (no cheese)
Lunch: Miller's Ale House potstickers, chili w/ out cheese, sweet tea
Snack: Divine chocolate, mixed nuts
Dinner: Ruby Tuesday salad bar w/ honey mustard dressing, mini-veggie burgers, root beer
Dessert: Oreos, Dt Dew

Day 5

Thank God Oreos are dairy-free!

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Egg sandwich w/ mayo on white bread, almond milk
Snack: blueberries, Sierra Mist
Lunch: PB&J on white, blueberries, Oreos, almond milk
Dinner: Gene's Cold Platter (cold boiled shrimp, shrimp salad, crabmeat salad & club crackers), applesauce, baked potato w/ non-dairy spread & ketchup, sweet tea
Dessert: Snapple sorbet

Day 4- Frustration

Yeah, I knew it wasn't going to be all peaches and cream (non-dairy, of course).  My first frustration today:  I wanted to take Caleb for some ice cream this afternoon after getting home from the water park.  Went to 2 pretty major chain ice cream places only go find that neither once carries sorbet, except some nasty dacari ice stuff, blegch!  I got C a cup of chocolate, but I had to pass.  I was a little pissed.  Next time I'm at the mall, I will be stopping at Maggie Moo's for a scoop of mango.

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Starbuck soy white mocha, protein plate (less the cheese)
Lunch- peanut butter and jelly on white, blueberries
Snack- Wheat Thins with peanut butter
Dinner: steak, baked potato w/ Smart Balance Light & ketchup, peas, almond milk
Dessert: Snapple sorbet, Diet Dew

Day 3

I am attending an Ice Cream Social with some mommy friends next week.  Which means I need get to locate a couple of really good non-dairy recipes.  I'm thinking maybe either mango or watermelon sorbet, and/or an alternative ice cream.  I found a couple that use soy or almond milk.  I am really excited!  Homemade ice cream is one of life's little pleasures, and I really hope I can find a way to continue to enjoy it.  I'll post my finds.

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: PopTart (brown sugar & cinnamon), almond milk
Snack: Junior Mints, Cherry Coke
Lunch: Miller's Ale House snow crab dinner, plain baked potato w/ ketchup
Dinner: Sloppy Joes, Arnold Seeded Sandwich bun, peas w/ Smart Balance Light, almond milk
Dessert: Purely Decadent Mocha Almond Fudge non-dairy frozen dessert, Hershey's chocolate syrup, diet Dew

Day 2- Bonus!

I am finding out that there may be a bonus to going milk-free.  I can't eat doughnuts.  Ditto for cookies and cake.  This is all stuff I have tried to cut out in the past, but have not had the will power.  But I can honestly say that in just 2 days, I can already feel a difference.  If my problems really are caused by an allergy or sensitivity to milk, I don't want to go back to being as miserable as I have been for the past year or more, when my stomache problems started.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to stay on track to eliminate the milk, and as an added bonus lose some weight.

What I ate today:

Breakfast- fried egg sandwich (white bread, 2 eggs, mayo), almond milk
Lunch- Ruby Tuesday salad bar (lettuce, tomatoes, edumame, peas, eggs, beets, ham, grapes, croutons, sunflower seeds) w/ honey mustard dressing, ham & pea pasta salad
Snack- peanut butter foldover on white bread
Dinner- Publix apron meals chicken tender fried rice (w/o the stir-fry sauce), almond milk
Dessert- Purely Decadent Mocha Almond Fudge dairy-free dessert, Hershey's chocolate syrup, Diet Dew

I'm not 100% sure about the milk content of the pasta salad, but I doubt there is any milk in it.  There is also a possibility that the chicken in the fried rice, which came from the Publix deli, was dipped in milk.  We'll see if there is any reaction. 

Another good day.  I know they won't all be this easy, but I am glad that these early days have been.  It gives me hope that I can do this for the long haul.

Day 1- Off to a Great Start!

I can tell that it won't always be easy to stay off the milk.  But today was a good one.  A couple of challenges:

1. Eating out... I am determined not to burden anyone else with my desire to eat dairy-free.  Plus, I really hate asking questions.  So when we went out to a burger joint for lunch, I had to think outside the box.  Yes, I could have had a burger, but a burger without cheese is pointless.  Fried chicken should be dipped in milk before breading, so the chicken sandwich is out, too.  Plus, I wasn't sure about the buns, and I was not about to ask whether they contained milk.  What to do...  How about some chili?  Chili-mac to be exact.  Luckily, they sell their chili canned, so I could check the ingredients easily.  And pasta is just flour and water.  And, surprise, it was good!  Like, really good.  Great dairy-free find at Steak & Shake!

2. My mother decided to make spaghetti for dinner, which is cool.  Unfortunately, she didn't check the ingredients on the sauce or meatballs, both of which had cheese in them.  Not a big deal.  I already told her that this is my thing, I don't expect anyone else to have to change anything.  So I had pasta (yeah, again.  Good think I like pasta.) with olive oil and salt.  Again, it turned out the be really good.  Next time I think I will add a couple of tomatoes as well.

Top off the day with a couple of scoops of the Purely Decadent non-dairy ice cream, and it was a very successful day!  I don't know if I can attribute it to anything just yet, but I felt pretty good this morning, stomach-wise.    Yay!

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast- fried egg (2), Publix brand white bread (2), real mayo, almond milk
Snack- Craisens
Lunch- Steak & Shake Chili 3-Way (spaghetti,  chili w/ beans, extra chili meat, chili sauce), saltine crackers, cherry sprite
Dinner- spaghetti w/ olive oil, salad (lettuce, tomato, red and green peppers), raspberry vinagrette, almond milk
Dessert- Purely Decadent Mocha Almond Fudge non-dairy frozen dessert, Hershey's Chocolate syrup

A Good Night (Day .5)

I started this little experiment at dinner last night.  That is to say that last night's dinner was the first meal I had which was consciously milk-free.  Of course, I had not really done any research so it is entirely possible that some milk was there, but it was a start.  My father's specialty, beans-and-weenies, and green beans.  Actually, I know there was some milk, because there was margarine on the beans, and according to the label, there was whey in it.  But it was just the start.  I kind of jumped into this with both feet, so we were kind of going with that we had on hand.

I made my first dairy-free find last night!  I picked up a pint of Purely Decadent Mocha Almond Fudge Dairy-Free Frozen Dessert.  Expensive, but oh-so-good!  And I'm glad.  It gives me hope that I can do this without feeling like I am depriving myself of good stuff. 

I think I might actually be able to do this!

Good Bye, Milk...

Starting right now, my personal journey takes a new path. I have decided to try a dairy free diet to help with my allergy and asthma symptoms, as well as some stomach problems I have been experiencing for a while now (tmi?). I was inspired by a friend, who recently found out that her daughter is allergic to casein, a protein found in all mammel milks. The symptoms she described were alot like what I have been experiencing, so I figure I will give it a shot. It certainly could not hurt, huh?



It is going to be hard, I know. But I just spent a good portion of my evening reading up on dairy-free living and I think I am up to the challenge. Mostly reading alot of labels and asking alot of questions (ugh!). But if it works, it will all be worth it.
 
I started a seperate blog to track this journey, for accountability and tracking my progress.
 
Here it goes...