Confessions of a Wannabe

So the two week trial run of no dairy has come to a close, and I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed it. I did pretty good at watching what I ate, checking all the labels and having no cheese added to my meals. The only exception I made was this past Sunday when I had a piece of of my mom and stepdad’s wedding cake. It was their one year anniversary and my stepdad wanted to save the top layer of the cake to eat. I wish so much he could have had a slice with us. I also think that the restaurant we ate at to celebrate the day cooked my stir fry in butter instead of oil. I thought stir fry would be a safe bet! At least I tried.

Overall, I feel bit better. I don’t really notice a drastic change, but I do feel like I have a bit more energy. I don’t feel weighed down. I definitely noticed a difference in how I felt Sunday night. My stomach felt heavy and my insides felt sluggish.

I know the two week trial is over, but I really don’t feel like eating dairy that much again. Yes, the cheese cravings were almost unbearable in the beginning, but now it’s not so bad. Who knew that you could go through cheese withdrawals?

Apparently, you can go through withdrawals. The main protein in milk is casein, which breaks down into casomorphins in your body. Casomorphins are opiates. Cheese has the highest concentration of casein of any dairy product, and therefore the most opiates. That’s why cheese is so freaking good. And that’s why cheese can make you constipated, just like opiate painkillers. I never would have guessed that, but biologically it does make sense. Babies should always want to come back for more of mama’s milk.

But I’m not a baby, so I don’t need milk or it’s soothing opiate effects. I have high-impact cardio, yoga and meditation for that. Which reminds me, I really need to start meditating on a daily basis. Permanently breaking the dairy habit will be hard, but I’ll eventually get there. I think I’m going to start off with no dairy on weekdays, but weekends I won’t be as strict.