Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free

     I've known for some time that dairy doesn't exactly agree with me. But my stomach has been so out of whack for so long that I really couldn't be bothered to give up my favorite foods when there was going to be so much else still to fix.
     My father used to work for a company that dealt solely in milk products and he was very adamant that my brothers and I drink our milk. When my brothers were in their teens, our family went through EIGHT GALLONS OF MILK A WEEK. We drank milk with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As a midnight snack, and a cure to heartburn. It helps that we lived in a rural, ranching and dairy area so drinking milk was supporting our local economy and the lifestyle that our friends and family have chosen and taken pride in for generations. As a kid, drinking milk at a friend's house involved unscrewing the lid on the metal milk pail and using a ladle to dip under the cream and get the fresh, warm milk before it was put in the fridge. To paraphrase Barbara Mandrell, I drank raw milk before drinking raw milk was cool. I tell you all this to underline how prevalent milk and the dairy culture was in my life.
     It's sad and superficial to admit that the only thing that started me on my dairy-free lifetstyle was a possible correlation between milk products and acne. I am delighted to say that being completely and truly dairy-free has eliminated like, 90% of my acne! I still get some when, shall we say, my hormones are at their most rambunctious, but most of the time my skin is smooth and flawless. The unfortunate part here is that lactose isn't the problem - it is the natural hormone that cows (and all mammals, in fact) produce while they're lactating. So lactose-free alternatives don't do a thing for my acne. I consumed lactose-free versions of my favorite foods for two weeks before researching the acne link further and finding out the unfortunate truth. To add a wonderfully ironic twist, I found out that the lactose intolerance was a large part of my heartburn. So I cut dairy out and My Husband The Viking was very helpful, pointing out foods that I may not have realized had dairy and buying everything dairy-free. Although my stomach got a bit better, I was still definitely in the sensitive-stomach category. I went home for my brother's 30th and talked to my cousin's wife, who told me that she went gluten-free and her stomach got better, her moods evened out and (BONUS!) she lost 20 pounds! She's only five feet tall so 20 pounds is substantial. She and I have always had similar digestive issues as well as anxiety issues so it was a remarkable thought to live my life without pain or anxiety. So when I got back down to So-Cal, I pitched the idea to The Viking and he agreed immediately.
     We've been dairy-free for two months, and gluten-free for only a week. Already my digestion is 100% better and I've lost two more pounds. We've mostly just eliminated the things that usually have gluten, instead of replacing them with gluten-free options. We HAVE tried gluten-free beer and gluten-free, dairy-free pizza :-p Stop laughing, it really wasn't that bad, once we added some pepperoni!! It's really easy to trip up - wheat is everywhere!! Some of my favorite Asian foods' flavorings have wheat in them, not to mention soy sauce. We've switched to low-sodium, gluten-free Tamari and haven't had any problems.
     Now we're gluten-free, dairy-free, and movin' to Norway!!! :-D