Most of my life I consumed dairy, in my childhood, I recall having a stomach ache every.single.day! That was just my normal so I didn’t think I could do anything about it. I was the one with the sensitive tummy, but we never thought that what I was eating could have anything to do with it.

In my college years, I continued eating dairy, plenty of pizza and ice cream during late night studying sessions. In addition to weight gain, I got something called Cystic acne. This was not very attractive for a college student and I wanted to just hide my face, I would get red spots on my chin or nose with a large bubble underneath the skin. I had no idea what it was and it was the first time in my life I had ever experienced acne. Dermatologists gave me antibiotics and it seemed to help some but the acne always came back. After college, I got a job with good health insurance so I went to the dermatologist who then suggested Accutane. It’s a very harsh drug that dries out your sebaceous glands to clear up severe acne, however, it cannot be used long term and you must be monitored closely by your doctor, including monthly blood tests and required 2 forms of birth control to prevent pregnancy because birth defects are so severe.

I ended up needing a second round of Accutane a few years later for 6 months. I have to say that if I had removed dairy from my diet all those years ago, I would have been able to avoid using Accutane altogether. Also, I started getting headaches daily and had gastrointestinal issues like severe diarrhea which I had never experienced before.

At the time I had no idea that what I put into my body or on my body had an effect. Even today when I consume unknowingly something with dairy, a small cyst will form on my face within a day or two so I know dairy made it’s way into my body. It’s unfortunate to be so sensitive to any type of food but I’m happy that I do know and can avoid it as much as possible.

With my now toddler daughter, I’m very cautious about giving her dairy because I don’t want her to go through what I experienced. We give her a dairy free pea milk called, Unsweetened Vanilla Ripple Milk– it’s high in protein and has an excellent nutritional profile including Calcium and Vitamin D.

She has tried dairy cheese and yogurt and seems to tolerate them well but I hesitate to make that a regular part of her diet so we use dairy free substitutions. My husband consumes dairy regularly otherwise she would probably be completely dairy free.

Bottom line, what goes in your body does effect you and every food available may not be the best food for you.