Why I cut out Dairy....

It all started with my ear, believe it or not. WARNING: it may or may not get a bit TMI. Hehe

Anyways, I started getting ear infections and blocked passageways from excessive liquid, essentially ear wax. Which was causing temporary hear loss and congestion in my nasal ways. Leaving me feeling lathargic. Mainly just my left ear was the one getting blocked, may be because that's the side I sleep on often. Not quite sure. 

I would have to get my ears irrigated at least once every year or two. Having blocked passageways caused me to have really bad vertigo episodes. At night I would hear liquid in my ears when I switched sides to sleep on. Also, suffered from bad allergies every change of season. I knew there had to be a reason why this was happening and I started seeing an ear, nose and throat specialist. Which they just let me know that some people get waxier than others and really there was never a definite reason for why this was happening to myself. Never had a definite answer, leaving me clueless still as to what was the exact cause.

I tried to take it further, by seeing a natural-pathic and he did let me know that sometimes people stop producing certain enzymes to break down certain foods as dairy. So he gave me enzymes to help break down this process. Which they helped, but because I am a huge fan of cheese and ice cream, I don't think it was enough to solve my problems.

This past year and half, my ear problems had gotten really bad and for a week straight I lost hearing in my left ear and feared causing permanent damage, so I decided to test my own hypothesis. Which was: "that consuming dairy was causing my ear problems." After four months of giving up dairy, I stopped producing excess ear wax! Not only that, BUT, I hadn't had one vertigo episode and didn't have allergies that season. And this is a HUGE plus, I lost my belly fat!! NEVER in all my 30 years have I had a flat stomach, until now. That's right. I started dropping inflammation and water weight without even trying or doing one sit up.

And, to add extra proof for all you pessimists out there, I tested this theory. Every now and then I will have one ounce of dairy, and within that minute, my ear and throat start itching AND I wake up with fluid in my ears. I have to take allergy pills and when I do the liquid goes away. Coincidence...I think not.

Again, in no way am I offering medical advice, what I am telling you is that for myself, I have conducted my own test, that I am in fact allergic to dairy. Not everyone is allergic to it! I am, so for that reason I cut it out. Maybe there is something you are allergic too. It really came down to just listening to my body and noticing what was causing me inflammation.  

It's been a year without dairy, and YES sometimes I just want to eat a normal pizza with regular cheese because lets face it, vegan dairy is not the same. However, I am so so thankful for vegan dairy and it does the job. AND, For the sake of my health and my flat stomach, I will NEVER go back to the real stuff. :(