I don’t know how to really name my diet, and I’m not a huge fan of labels. One word I do use to describe my diet is vegetarian. I am a vegetarian for ethical reasons, but also for my health. I am also lactose intolerant. I do eat a small amount of dairy, as well as eggs.
I have ulcerative colitis as well. Some people argue that your diet does not affect how you feel with ulcerative colitis, but I believe it does. Because of this, my diet is low in dairy, eggs, gluten, refined sugars, caffeine, and processed foods. I have not been diagnosed with gluten-intolerance or Celiac’s disease, but I find that eating gluten upsets my stomach and gives me migraines.
I discovered my lactose intolerance when I was a junior in college, when I started getting horrible stomachaches an hour or two after eating breakfast. At first I thought (to my horror) that maybe it was the copious amounts of coffee I was consuming each morning. I was devastated. I was a junior in culinary school, how would I survive without my daily dose of caffeine?? It wasn’t until someone asked if I put any milk or creamer in my coffee, when I realized that maybe dairy was my problem.
So, I decided to experiment, and go without dairy for one week. And what an amazing week it was. (Of course, I spent most of that week eating salad, for some reason I couldn’t comprehend eating something that didn’t have cheese on it- we ate a lot of macaroni and cheese in my apartment) After a few days I felt wonderful. Not only were my stomach pains gone, but also it made me realize how terrible and lethargic I’d felt eating all those dairy products.
It was extremely difficult going dairy free for me. A few weeks after my experiment I started buying cow’s milk once again, (I was living off a poor college student budget) and went back to my dairy consuming ways. It wasn’t until September of 2010 that I finally put my foot down and realized I needed to give this up. I made a delicious goat cheese pizza and it just didn’t settle well with my stomach- I knew it was time for it all to go.
The first few weeks were awful. I felt depressed and all I wanted to do was eat a big bowl of ice cream. I cried over the thought that I would never be able to eat my favorite beer cheese soup again. I spent ages trying to find a suitable lactose free cheese, never finding one that tasted right to me.
But after a while, the sun came out. I realized that I felt amazing, and I started to learn to simply cook things that didn’t need cheese or dairy, instead of trying to find a substitute for it, and I’ve never felt better. I’ve also suffered from chronic sore throats for as long as I can remember. I’ve gotten my tonsils removed, seen an allergy doctor, and nothing really seemed to help. But once I stopped eating dairy, the scratchiness went away too.
I won’t lie to you though; sometimes I do indulge in dairy products. My intolerance isn’t extremely severe, so for me it’s all about balance. A little bit here and there won’t harm me, but I do prefer to stay away. My throat still flares up each time.
I have always suffered from headaches and migraines, and after seeing my doctor and being on several different medications that didn’t work, I decided to give nutritional therapy a try. My nutritional therapist instructed me to go off eggs, refined sugars, as well as gluten, and gave me a variety of supplements to take. After a month, my headaches were gone.
I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in November 2012. I have noticed through elimination diets that my body feels best on a plant-based diet, free, or mostly free of gluten, wheat, refined sugars, and processed foods. I try to stick to these guidelines, but I indulge every now and then.
Disclaimer: Eating like this works for me. I am not a doctor, nutritionist, or dietician. Only you know what works best for you, so don’t try to eat like me, I am not qualified to give nutritional advice.
I fealt the same way you did. I took an allergy test and found out I was allergic to every non vegan food (I was already a vegitarian before that). I was sad, but after a while of finding new a creative ways to eat food, I love it!
Hi Liz! I like your style. I’m eating kind of the same as you, but without the allergies, so I definitely feel for you. Funny that you mention beer cheese soup! This is something I have been meaning to veganize for some time now, and reading this I totally feel inspired to go for it! I’m not sure I have ever even had a real beer cheese soup… but beer? Cheese? Delicious! I’ll keep you posted
Hi, Thanks for stopping by! haha yes… beer cheese soup is delicious, and believe it or not, I learned how to make it in a high school cooking class! Although… if I remember correctly we made it with non-alcoholic beer then, but still delicious all the same. And yes, if you do veganize it, PLEASE let me know. I’m dying to have it again!
Beer Cheese Soup, veganized! Although I can’t guarantee it’ll taste like the real thing, having never tried the cheesy version! If you do try it, let me know about any tweaks that could improve it
http://thekeenkitchen.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/vegan-beer-cheese-soup-with-potatoes-and-cabbage/
I’m lactose intollerant too! I found out I was lactose intollerant from eating yogurt as a snack. I would eat it every afternoon — I really looks forward to it. Through my younger years, I would get stomach aches after eating something — but I could never pinpoint what it was. I then, with the yogurt, I noticed that I was getting a stomach ache after it every day. So I cut out dairy. The stomach aches vanished. For me, since I wasn’t much of a milk drinker, it wasn’t that hard to cut out dairy, with the dairy alternatives. Though, I don’t really care for the fake cheese — it just doesn’t taste good too me. I’m so glad for Banana “Ice Cream,” Almond milk, Soy milk, Coconut milk, Soy yogurt, and Tofu! They saved me! I’m so glad that I’ve found someone else in my same situation!
I’m sooo thankful for all those milks too! Now that I’ve been lactose-intolerant for a while, I’m almost thankful. I’m so much healthier now, and I’ve gotten to try out so many new and amazing products I never would have even looked at if I was still eating dairy!
Cool! I am a vegan also, though i suppose you said you are a lacto-vegetarian, so i suppose the word “also” is not fitting. Nevertheless, eating this way is awesome and I can certainly agree that I no longer feel sluggish and drugged! Amazing how far we have come from what we were meant to eat!
I have just become a Vegan, and admit, giving up meat, after watching ‘forks over knives’ was not hard, but giving up Goat Cheese has been VERY hard! lol, but having lost 90 pounds while having a total knee replacement, I already eat really well…so this was just another step along my journey. I do love your blog, I have just started this whole experience, I am a newbie, and love seeing what everyone is doing, and not being a wonderful cook, but decent, I love seeing what everyone else can do, so thank you! I am enjoying all the people I am meeting and all I am seeing, it has been fun, if not a totally new experience, lol!
xoxoxo
Traci
Hey Liz, just found your blog
I will be following along now as I LOVE IT 
!!!!!!!!!!!
awww Thanks Meg!
How did you make your blog so fancy?
How did you make your blog so fancy? I really like it?
I like your blog it’s always nice to see how I can have sweet things that are healthy