All intellectual justifications aside, I have to confess that my efforts to remove dairy from my diet have been hampered by my appreciation for centuries- old food traditions. And when you add to that the I come from a long line of people who not only depended on dairy but improved upon it, I feel like I’m denying my roots every time I pass on the slice of cheese. Half of my family, on both my father’s side and my mother’s side come from the area of northern Italy that invented the Parmesan (the true Parmiggiano Reggiano). There’s also some sprinkling of Dutch (also known for being big on dairy) and lots of Portuguese. When the Italian side of my family immigrated to Brazil, many settled in the fertile lands of Minas Gerais, which is known for its Queijo Minas.

Although it pained me, I was prepared to give up dairy if I felt it significantly improved my health. But after a while without eating any dairy product and being very careful of what I ate, I felt no significant improvement. It was nothing like when I discovered a couple of years ago that I have an intolerance to white rice and a mild intolerance to wheat and actually minimized my exposure to those ingredients. Replacing white rice and wheat for other grains improved my life significantly. I now have lots of energy and feel much more focused. Avoiding dairy did not have a similar effect. In fact, drinking coffee without a bit of dairy in it is a bit hard on my stomach. Even if I replace it with non-dairy milk.

For me at least, looks like cutting dairy completely is not the solution.

I have to eliminate white rice, sheep’s milk, and cola (i.e. coke). White rice might be difficult but she said I can have brown rice, which makes it a lot easier. As for the others, I don’t drink sheep’s milk or cola drinks at all.

I should also reduce (i.e. not have it more than twice a week): soya beans, rye, wheat, grapefruit, pineapple, and yeast (baker/brewers). Hmm, I guess it means I need to reduce consumption of bread. Reducing soy is the harder part since I have been trying to increase my consumption of it recently and I was actually getting used to it. Oh well, I guess it was too much of a good thing.

But like I said before, at least it wasn’t essential foods (for me) like onions, garlic, coffee, nuts or chili peppers!