Yep, I made it!
Two weeks ago I took a no-dairy challenge from my husband, and yes-I made it. I went a whole 7 days without milk, lactose, cheese, whey, yogurt, cream cheese, milk-in-my-tea, and CHOCOLATE. It actually wasn’t that bad; I had a few positive take-aways.
One of the first things I noticed was that I had more energy. I literally still had energy at 10 o’clock at night instead of feeling drained and worn out. Also, after about 4 days my husband mentioned that my skin seemed clearer. With my fair skin I can have issues at times (boo!) and my face did seem to lose some redness (yeah!!). I noticed that I ate more fruit and vegetables, also, instead of sweet snacks. On the 7th day I bought some almond milk (I needed my before-bed bowl of cereal, people!) and I loved it. Seemed like an easy transition for me. I also lost almost 2 lbs for the week, and that’s always a positive, right? And the best news-I didn’t end up with my face in a bowl of triple chocolate brownie ice cream. ; )
On the negative side, I did find myself scavenging at times for something sweet in the house and found not-quite-worthy chocolate substitutes. I even resorted to opening a can of vanilla icing and smearing it on graham crackers. Let’s just say that the one last lone Dove dark chocolate miniature that I hid from myself at the beginning of the week was well received and much appreciated after 7 days.
So what now? Well, I think for the future it would be good for me in terms of calories, energy, and weight to eat or drink dairy in limited amounts. I am not going to have a strict rule that I will NEVER consume it again, but I am switching to almond milk, and I am cutting it back even more. If anything, it just makes me more conscious of food labels and what I am putting in my body. What could be so bad about that?
Now if only I had hidden one more chocolate . . .
P.S. Come into Miracles and join us for the Share and Shop Thirty-one Party, September 4-6. Buy some great products for yourself, enter to win a great Purdue bag, and donate a bag to a teacher! This is one way we will be helping teachers at Murdock Elementary this month.
