Reluctantly going dairy-free

When you are fighting years of damage to your body done by processed foods and the ravages of time, things you used to enjoy eating can turn on you. Along with eliminating grains, most starches and refined sugar, I now find myself betrayed by my old friend dairy. Coming from Wisconsin, dairy has always been a part of my life. If you have ever had cheese curds fresh out of the vat or a cold glass of fresh raw milk, you know I feel about my moo juice.

After clearing up a lot of my health issues from pre-diabetes to high blood pressure by going low-carb and ditching grains, I still had one remaining problem. Chronic constipation. Now before you start saying "That's what you get for not getting enough fiber you meat munching weirdo! Eat a whole-grain cracker!", keep in mind I had constipation issues years before I went low carb. In fact, I can trace my issues to formerly following a very high fiber diet, which contrary to popular thinking, actually causes damage to your insides.

I tried supplements, vitamins, cleanses, etc.. in an effort to get things moving and nothing seemed to help. Once I discovered kefir and began eating it daily, I did get some relief, but the plumbing was still far from top notch.

It wasn't until I got a stomach virus that I figured out what my underlying problem was. After 4 days of hardly any food at all, my constipation issues were gone. When I felt better I started reintroducing foods like bone broth, soups and stews. Things were still fine in the gut region. Cool. Then, feeling much better and back to my old self, I ate a piece of cheese. Ouch!

I could feel that piece of cheese moving through every inch of my system. Then the constipation returned. A light bulb went off in my head and I dropped dairy again. A week later I wanted to see if I would have the same problem with some good raw dairy. Through a series of covert operations including secret handshakes and a decoder ring, I was able to score a gallon of raw milk. I tried dairy again. Again the constipation returned.

Well crap! Seriously. If I want to be able to go to the bathroom without pain, I have to give up cheese, milk, yogurt, kefir..... AAARRRGGGHHHH! After feeling sorry for myself for a few minutes, I got down to business and started revamping my recipes and making them dairy-free. While I may possibly be able to reintroduce dairy at some point once I have had time to heal, I am not going to stand by and deny myself yummy low-carb food in the mean time. I will be posting new dairy-free recipes, recommended substitutions, and revised old recipes. There will still be general low carb recipes I get from friends, and dairy-free alternatives if I can swing it.