Goodbye Bread & Dairy: Day 1, Week 1
So long, dairy! So long, bread! I’m taking you off the menu. It’s been great and really, I think you’re wonderful. But I’m thinking that we’re at a point in each other’s lives where we have to find new things.
Well, for a month anyways.
So yeah, as part of an experiment, I’ll be going off of bread and dairy products for a month. In the meantime I’ll be recording the results as well as the progress and failures I’ll have throughout. There are a few reasons why I want to do this, the primary one being “just to see if I can do it”. Another reason is that I’ve felt inspired by the increasing amount of vegan friends I have and their creativity with recipes that don’t involve anything from our friend the moo-cow. The list goes on, one including freeing myself from addictions that got some snickers from my vegan friend Cheryl, but the big thing is just to see if I can do it.
At first it seemed to me that getting rid of dairy would be the easy part and bread would be harder. After all, I don’t really eat that much bread at home, I’ve been drinking soy milk for two years and have a slight intolerance towards certain cheeses. But for the two weeks leading up to the launch of this experiment, I realized just how much of the two I consume on a regular basis and it suddenly became much more of a daunting task. It’s amazing how much of a product you can eat without realizing it.
Right now, Day 1, I’m just getting used to the small changes. Grapefruit for breakfast instead of a bowl of cereal and toast, I’m thinking a chickpea vegan curry from Fresh might be on the menu for lunch AND dinner (Such huge portions they serve) and some Sweet Chili Triscuits and hazelnuts as a snack. A bit of a change since I normally have a burger, hot dog, sub, pizza or any other kind of meal featuring bread and cheese for lunch and bread with honey as a snack.
WHAT I EXPECT TO GET OUT OF THIS
Hahahaha what?
The most I’d expect to get out of this is some health-related results that I can write up, print off and throw on J. Jonah Jameson’s desk with a defiant smirk because HE FUCKING DOUBTED ME.
Or you know, maybe just some results. Good or bad. That would be nice.
CHALLENGES
I’ve come to terms with the fact that I am going to fall off the wagon on this a couple of times, either accidentally or intentionally. Going off something cold turkey is something I’ve failed at in the past and I recognize that this is going to be a bit of a transition and I will at some point, give in to the sexy allure of a double-cheese pizza or the seductive wink of a cupcake with cream cheese frosting. But I’m going to try my best not to succumb to these temptations and will also try not to be discouraged if I do.
WHAT YOU SHOULD EXPECT FROM ME
Because you just have to fucking expect something of me, don’t you?
At the very least you should expect a weekly update. Either it will be accounts of going through withdrawal or more likely recording the alternatives to bread & dairy I’ll be having as well as a recipe or two. Perhaps some update on general well-being as well. We’ll see where it goes.
So yeah! Here we go…Wish me luck!
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[...] is cross-posted on to my food-related blog The Hungry Bitch. For more updates on this topic go [...]
Godspeed Robin. I shall try not to talk about cheese boards and home made bread too much.
Good Luck, Robin! You have more willpower than I…. I know I couldn’t do it. Not so much the bread part (a single loaf of bread can last me a month and a half with ease), but the milk…. I like my half-and-half. And as someone who has been working the midnight shift for the past two years, I couldn’t manage without my beloved coffee. And I cannot drink coffee black. Blech. I like my coffee nice and white. I hope you succeed. And I will congratulate you a month from now when you do.
I’ve been going through a similar experience myself. I’m seeing a naturopath, and did some tests which indicated that I may have mild allergies to rice, yeast, and diary. I went off of yeast and rice on July 1st, and just started back on rice a few days ago (with no ill-effects I’m quite happy to report!). The naturopath also had me go off of dairy about 2.5 weeks ago, so starting tomorrow I get to overload myself on dairy for 3 days to see what effect that has. And lastly, next week I get to overload on yeast to see what happens. I can’t wait to eat a fucking grilled cheese sandwich. 2 months is far too long.
It has definitely made me more aware of what I eat, and just how much bread I used to eat. I’d already cut down on dairy a lot simply by switching to almond milk with my cereal, but now I’m discovering that things I never expected to be dairy are forbidden. Like Tim Horton’s French Vanilla Cappuccino, which is basically just sugar powder and water, but does contain milk ingredients. Or that many pre-made pasta sauces contain Parmesan cheese already.
On the upside, I’ve discovered the wonders of quinoa, and it’s been kinda nice to have an excuse to eat bacon and eggs for lunch!
Admittedly, that’s been the daunting thing about going off of dairy – finding out just how much stuff has dairy products in it. I have to say, at first I thought that going off dairy would be easy, since I’ve been drinking Soy milk for about two years now and cutting out cheese seemed easy enough. But damn, most chocolates contain dairy sources, so long certain pasta sauces and most cookies are now forbidden. There are substitutes (as I’m learning from friends and will be posting on this thing soon enough) but god DAMN, the temptation to eat dairy is fucking everywhere!