No Dairy Food Challenge Update

Ten {okay, maybe 13} more days and this month's food challenge will be over. I am having the hardest time this month and I cannot wait until it is over. Finally. I have been a good girl though. I have to admit there were a few instances where I failed; I realized too late and ate something with dairy. Oops. Then again, I chose to do this challenge to see if I am strong enough, and I didn't do this because of health issues. Failing is okay. I am a human being after all. A human being loving her cheese apparently.  It is not the end of the world. 

What I have learned is that vanilla almond milk definitely saved my life. Yes, the sweetened one. It is not my favorite but it does its job well. However, almond milk with my gluten free cinnamon flavored cereal is downright disgusting. I cannot explain how awful it is. So, I switched to eating more gluten free bread with different toppings for breakfast. Also I made gf oatmeal with water or almond milk, cooked up eggs and hash browns and ate a ton of fruits for breakfast. Smoothies were fun too, and I have to say I like smoothies with vanilla almond milk.  I learned to be more creative in the morning that is for sure.

As far as the rest of the day goes...well, I made sure none of the dishes I had planned for the month had or still have any dairy in them. If they did I would either eliminate it {at least for me, and make another batch for the man of the house} or change the menu. I am making zucchini boats tomorrow and technically it asks for cheese, but I have bread crumbs and that will be just fine. It worked for my stuffed mushrooms I made two nights ago. Also, by eliminating dairy calcium and certain protein are missing. I googled, pinterested, and what not...and well, learned that it's easy to find substitutes that work {for me}. If you are a picky eater this may not work for you though. Here's what helped me out what to incorporate more into our March Diet {thank you, Pinterest}:

I have eaten a ton of spinach, broccoli, romaine, mushrooms, quinoa, avocados, kale, onions, almonds, and what not. I love it all. Making my morning smoothie with fresh spinach was so much fun.

Now, if you were wondering if I felt anything different when it comes to, you know, using the daily bathroom ritual...well, let's just say in the beginning my stomach was pissed off. It reminded me to when I had to go gluten free. Oh man, my favorite word was constipation. And then, after about two weeks {yes, right about now} it all went back to normal. Changing a diet, or just challenging your body to adjust to something new or different for a while is definitely interesting and will always add some sort of challenge to the digestion routine as well. That is how far I go with this topic. Ha!

Ten more days. I can do this. I am so sick and tired of this month...this challenge really got on my nerves {yes, even with my spinach smoothies}. It is interesting to see me and my body go through this. Knowing I can do this gives me personal strength. Never thought I could do this but oh my I have become stronger and more determined for sure.

"Ten" more days!

xoxo

image via here