It now has been two weeks since I started my Six Week Dairy Free Challenge. It's been an eye opening few weeks. I had no idea how many common, everyday items sitting on shelves in my pantry, refrigerator and freezer contained dairy or dairy by-products.
Over the first week (nicknamed my transition week) I threw out, gave away or cooked and gave to my room mate to bring to work with him tons of food. Some were obvious like frozen cheese ravioli and cheese blintzes, others surprised me. Here's a short list of foods I had no idea contained dairy or dairy by-products.- Quaker Instant Oatmeal
- Nestle Instant Hot Chocolate Mix
- Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars
- Progresso Recipe Starter Cooking Sauces
- Campbell's French Onion Soup
- 4C Bread Crumbs (!!)
- Cheerios
- Krustaz Pancake Mix
I also discovered that I could still eat fast food as long as I was careful. No more cheeseburgers at Burger King and Mickey D's but I could eat Whopper Jr's and Grilled Chicken Sandwiches. The local pizza joint became the equivalent of a meth den for me. Once my favorite place to stop and grab a quick, relatively inexpensive, lunch it is now "storefront non gratis" to me.
Subway is the friendliest dairy free fast food restaurant. There website has a breakdown of every sandwich, vegetable, cheese and sauce for allergen and dietary sensitivities and/or restrictions. To see a larger image of the chart on the right click here. Many of Subway's selections are dairy free or can be made dairy by removing the cheese or the sauce. My favorite sandwiches at Subway, the Black Forest Ham & Turkey, the Sweet Onion Teriyaki Chicken, and the Roast Beef are all dairy free if you remove the cheese.
Panera Bread also has some good dairy free options if you like salad. I met a few friends for dinner there the other night and got the Thai Chopped Chicken Salad. It was delicious and could have fed the entire state of New Hampshire!
As for non dairy substitutes for cow milk there are a bunch of choices: soy, almond, rice, coconut, hemp. After reaching out and asking for opinions I decided to try almond milk and I'm hooked. It has a creamier texture than the others and a nice nutty aftertaste. The vanilla almond milk stands up great to raisin bran and coffee! It's consistency is somewhere between 2% and whole milk. Overall, a very pleasant experience. And then I discovered liquid crack! Better known as chocolate almond milk. I could drink a container a day of the stuff.
This challenge has also stretched me as a cook. I needed to step out of my comfort zone and learn to cook differently and try different foods. An unforeseen byproduct of this challenge is thinking healthier about myself and my food. I started to buy fresh vegetables from the green grocer or the local farmer's market (yea, Union Square Market!!) and fresh fish to prepare that night. I have started to juice my own juice. Today I tried a combination of apples, red grapes, a banana, baby spinach and honey. It was a bit thick but very good.
Now for the vitals:
- So far I've lost seven pounds! I have not changed any other aspect of my lifestyle. Before I started the challenge I did daily light calisthenics and stretching. I have not increased or decreased my morning routine.
- I am sleeping through night. Before starting the challenge I regularly had bouts of insomnia. I would sleep for an hour or three a night and then wake up, toss and turn and try to get back to sleep. Since switching off dairy I'm sleeping like a baby. Well better than a baby actually. A baby wakes several times during the night. I slept like a baby before, not now.
- My digestive health has improved. This is a delicate subject so let's just say the pendulum I used to swing no longer applies. I no longer need bran, Metamucil, or Pepto. 'Nuff said.
- I have more energy.
- I seem to be eating less. This is mostly an observation and may be biased but it seems like I am not snacking between meals and am eating smaller meal portions and not going back for seconds or thirds.
Until the next update, thank you for stopping by!!
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