I will probably be the only person on this challenge....which is an experiment of sorts. It's simple, really: I plan to spend the month of November diligently avoiding ALL dairy products.

Here (randomly) are some of my reasons:
My doctor said "So, how's that working for ya?" when I protested his advice to "quit eating dairy". I mentioned that 3 servings of dairy per day is supposed to give me the calcium I need and help me burn fat, right?? THAT'S when he asked the Dr.Phil-like question. He's right, ya know. I don't think my dairy consumption is helping me burn fat. I think it only puts me at risk for a stomach ache since I am extremely lactose intolerant.

He advised I drink soy milk and take calcium supplements...."this will eliminate the calories you are taking in when eating dairy products. Calcium tablets have no calories. You're lactose intolerant: you don't NEED dairy." I protested this also. I told him I'd heard that "soy products tend to cause suppression of the thyroid function". THAT'S when he told me he'd send me for a thyroid test and that "a low thyroid level (and subsequent treatment) will not be your salvation". He was right. "Normal" levels of TSH are between 0.40 and 5.50 for a non-pregnant woman my age. My level is 1.82.

But, I cannot seem to lose weight. I eat right, take supplements, I'm sleeping more, I'm exercising more, and I'm drinking water. Maybe I do need to cut back on my calories and make more effort in these other departments. MORE sleep, MORE exercise, MORE water, etc.

Also, a friend of mine suggested I have an Immuno 1 Bloodprint test done. This test checks you for food sensitivities. A lady I went to church with saw a nutritionist that advised her to cut out certain food groups (eggs, wheat, and something else.) The result was amazing. She slimmed down almost "overnight". Seems the sensitivities cause inflammation within the body. The symptoms vary. One of them is weight gain/inability to lose weight. Hmmmm.

Last night at dinner, a close friend of mine (who works in a lab) was looking over my recent lab results. "They look good" she said, "but your eosinaphils are on the higher side of midline. This COULD be an indication that your body is having a response to something you're exposing it to."

My absolute Eosinophils count is 360. Normal range is 15-500. A site I checked on the interenet put the norms at "less than 350". Interesting. It also lists several other reasons my "E" level could be a tad high.

She assured me there is nothing to worry about, but to try cutting out different things such as the ususal suspects: wheat, nuts, dairy, eggs, etc. and see if my weight started coming off any easier.

Her concern, along with not only the advice of my doctor, but the basic idea that I cannot digest milk anyway, makes me think this is the way to go.

I dearly love Kroger CarbMasters Strawberry yogurt, CarbCountdown milks, and any kind of cheese! But if quitting dairy is going to help me lose weight, I think I should give it a try.

Anyone who wants to, feel free to join me. My plan is to check in here and post about if I have successfully avoided dairy that day, if I feel any different, if I inadverdently had some dairy, if I'm seeing any weight loss, etc.

I think one month should be long enough to give me some idea if dairy is a culprit for me or not. After seeing the effects of wheat products in a child (on Discovery Health Channel) who had Celiac Sprue disease, I know that food can have a HUGE effect on the human body. Think about peanut allergies. Yikes!

Okay, no more dairy after Monday!

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Maxibee:

I love dairy products - but I also have some sense that dairy is sabotaging me (think allergy queen here). I'll be checking in this month to see how you're doing, and I may commit to some period of November to be dairy free.

But cheese - I love cheese O.K., I need to think about this more, but I will be back :jump:

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Tina

Tina, I so feel your pain! It's gonna be a HUGE challenge for me. I LOVE cheese, too. Maybe I get some "carb creep" from it, because I don't really count it as carbs. I don't overdo it, but I eat it almost every day.

I am just trying to track down my problem. Maybe it's dairy, maybe it's calories, maybe it's SALAD that's keeping me fat! LOL! But whatever it is, I aim to figure it out. Join me if you like.....even a week to 10 days without dairy would probably be enough to allow you to notice a difference if you were going to......don't you think?

I'll be back here for my official start on Tuesday.

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Max,

My initial reaction to this is: if you know you are lactose intolerant, whether it is by a test or just by your body's reaction, it can't hurt to cut it out for a little while to see if you get any results. I know I would miss dairy completely if I cut it out. I am one of the lucky ones that doesn't have any dire reactions to it. But if your body is telling you it doesn't like it, it's prolly fighting you. I have always believed we HAVE to listen to our bodies. And they do tell us a LOT. I know I am refined carb intolerant because it gives me terminal heartburn. And when I cut it out, I lost the weight and the heartburn.

I hope this gives you the answer you are looking for. IF it is successful, you will have a powerful key to unlocking the mystery of your difficulty with shedding pounds. And if that's the case, how wonderful you will feel!!!

So I would say, GO FOR IT. If you DON'T lose any weight, then you will still have some sort of an answer..............it wasn't the dairy. (then your hunt will have to continue.)

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Maxibee - when I saw Barb's post here I had to just say - I first met Barb on another board -and I was stuck on 173 and rising fast! I had been there for about 2 years - and had been eating NO dairy. Barb mentioned a few things about dairy - so I added a few lowfat dairy products - only shaved parmesan, lowfat fetta and lowfat ricotta or cottage cheese. It made all the difference to how I felt and also to my weight - I still eat those items - and am so pleased I saw Barb's posts on that other board. I do hope you get some good results for you with this challenge - I'm going to be watching with great interest. Best wishes

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The fox is wild!



5'3" Maintaining 121-125
Original weight 198 +

Thanks for stopping by with your experience, Beachie. I am done with the dairy for now. There is still some cream cheese/yogurt topping I made for our fruit salad, and alot of cheese in our fridge, but none for me after today.

If I don't feel any different but I lose weight, the possibility may exist that it was cutting the calories and not just a dairy issue. But I don't know what will happen yet. It's just a wait and see thing. The doctor gives a pretty strong argument about my not needing to eat dairy. We'll soon see if he's right.

Tomorrow is day one. I'm so glad eggs and mayo aren't dairy! I'll post often.

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best of luck to you. i'll definitely be interested in seeing how you do with this challenge. i also admire you for trying it! there are lots of alternatives to dairy out there now, especially with soy. good luck!

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Max, I am in love with Soy Slender Chocolate "Milk". I don't remember from any of our earlier conversations if we've talked about it in the past. It's sweetened with splenda and is oh so yummy. I have a box of the plain in the frig, but haven't opened it yet. When and if you add dairy back, homemade kefir might be a good alternative to yogurt subbing. It's more time consuming than buying premade yogurt, but it's way healthier. I know people who have had problems with dairy can use small amounts of "soured" milk products. It's supposed to be much easier on the digestive process because the souring does some of the digesting already. (food for thought)

I hope you get some solid answers with this!!!!

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OMIGOD people! I never knew 99.9% of everything I normally eat has DAIRY in it! I have some cheese hot dogs at work for "emergency" lunches....I guess I'll bring them back home! I have a can of l/c Slimfast left....it has milk protein. My Land O'Lakes "butter" has cream in it. DD's Country Crock has "whey from milk" in it. My beloved Cardini's Caesar dressing has Parmesan cheese in it, and my Ranch has buttermilk. I may starve to death!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Like THAT would ever happen. With my metabolism, I could NOT eat for 6 months and still be fat.

I drove thru Jack-in-the-Box and ordered a Meaty Breakfast Burrito, no cheese, please. And a Breakfast Jack, also no cheese. (I was hungry.) I won't say I didn't miss the cheese, but it was still good.

Lunch was leftover baked chicken, leftover cauli salad and some fruit salad. Yummy and non-dairy.

Dinner was a hamburger patty topped with ham and a horseradish/mayo mixture. No cheese. I also had my usual salad with red onion, topped with Zesty Italian. And some green beans.

And green tea. Thank God tea is not a dairy product. I hate cows.

Barb, I used to drink Silk Unsweetened Organic soymilk in the dark green carton. I dearly LOVE that stuff. Then I read a bunch of stuff about soy causing sluggish thyroid function, so I quit eating soy products.

Who knows? Maybe after a month (that includes Thanksgiving) I will think soy subs are the greatest thing. We'll see. I'm just a little crabby....okay, alot crabby because I did not realize how hard this would be.

BUT, I am quite the label reader. Lowcarbing will make you that way. I know all the words that mean "sugar", and I'm learning the ones that mean "milk".

I worked out tonight, and I'm drinking some more water now. Water is non-dairy.

More later!

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"Water is non-dairy." LOLOLOLOLOL

You crack me up.

I know, it's EVERYWHERE!!!!

I gave up the soy milk for a little while and didn't notice any changes in my weight. So for me, I don't think it's an issue.

Your menu sounds good. Doesn't look like you will starve!!!!!!!! Keep up the good work!!!!!

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MAX!!!!

I just thought of this tonight. You can clarify butter and take out the milk solids. Just melt a pound of butter on low heat and then let it sit for a bit. The milk solids will settle to the bottom of the pan. Then SLOWLY pour off the clear butter into a glass jar and refrigerate it. It will cloud up when it's cold, but the milky stuff will be left behind in the pan. I can NOT imagine having my veggies without butter. So if you do this, you can have butter. It's called GHEE after it's clarified. I'll try to find a link on the net about it.

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Ok here's one link. It has obnoxious "YOUR A WINNER" crap on it, but ignore it.
Ghee Site 1

Here's another one: Ghee Site 2

Here's one more: Ghee Site 3

I've never cooked mine as long as they say, and I have never strained it through cheesecloth, but for you, this might be a must to get rid of every trace of milk solids.

HTH

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Hey, Barb! Thanks so much for the info! The asparagus I had last night would've been better with the butter. Hey that's my new lowcarb slogan: It's better with butter. I'm quite sure THAT would be taken the wrong way! LOL!

I can't believe I forgot to post my menu yesterday!

Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with ham and 3 pc. bacon. green tea.

Lunch: a hamburger patty w/mayo and 1/2 cup fruit salad. water.

Dinner: 2 thin pork chops, dusted with flour and spices (Oh, give me a break! I'm non-dairy now....) salad with Thousand Island which is suprisingly enough, non-dairy! And an entire can of asparagus. Without butter. :( Then, DD and I had some fresh strawberries.

Snack: sugar free pb & j.

I've grateful for this one thing: fruits and veggies (in their real form) are all non-dairy. Hmmmm!


Todays menu:
Breakfast: cheese-free Jack-in-the-Box again.

Lunch: 2 leftover pork chops, raw veggies (carrots and radishes) and a few strawberries.

Snack: 6 strawberries

Dinner: Romaine salad with shrimp, ham, red onion, and mayo. Marvelous!

Dessert: s/f pb & j


By the way: I was down a pound this morning. And I'm peeing like crazy....could this be my body reacting to no dairy??

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LOLOLOL..............."Better with Butter" I LOVE it!!!!!!!

Well, well, down a pound already. How 'bout that for encouragement, eh? I'm doin' the happy dance for ya!!!!! :bellydanc

I hope this is your answer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Maxi, I just saw this thread. Good luck with this. I hope it provides an answer for you. I have a DDIL who tends to be a bit flaky at times, actually most of the time (lol). Accordingly, I tend to heavily discount anything she says. However, about 5-6 years ago, she was raving about a WOE that was based on your blood type. I don't remember the Dr.'s name, but I believe the book was called "Eat Right for Your Type". I looked at the book to see if it was anything I wanted to try. It wasn't. However, he had some interesting thoughts, and apparently some case history successes to support his theory. If I remember right, his premise was that for each blood type, there are certain foods that should be avoided because they inhibit weight loss, or cause weight gain, others that must be used in moderation, and others that could be used freely. I don't remember much about that WOE, but I think I will look at it again to see if parts of it would be suitable in combination with a low carb WOE. You might want to look at the book to see if a possible reason you might be having trouble with losing weight is because of consumption of types of food that are on the list to avoid because of your blood type. HTH

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Henry