I'm going to be honest right now. Becoming completely dairy free has been a pain in the booty. It doesn't seem THAT hard, until you see someone eating that ice cream or having that cake. Ugh. It has definitely been a challenge. Sometimes, I think that I can handle just one small piece of cheesecake or one bite of cheese bread until about 30 minutes later when the pain hits me. And trust me, the pain is NOT worth that piece of cheesecake. My sister is always telling me "Megan you don't NEED that stuff. You need to learn some self control." Ha! Those of you who know me really well, know that sweets ARE MY OBSESSION. It's a horrible obsession but they are just too freakin tasty. Needless to say, I have never had a 'self control' when it comes to sweets.
Anyways....my point here is that I am now teaching myself to be disciplined. I can't have dairy. It's not a choice, it's a fact. Unless I want to be in pain constantly (which I don't). For the first little while, I would get really frustrated. Jackson and I would try to go to a Mexican restaurant and I would go down the menu saying "Can't have that, can't have that, hmm a burrito, oh wait, can't have that either." There is very little I can have in the Mexican food world anymore. Upsetting? Very much so. As all of you reading my blog know, I am working on my personal development. I was starting to notice how negative I was being with the non-dairy situation (which really doesn't sound like a big deal, but I was making it a HUGE deal).
Luckily, I was around my sister Nicole and friend Erik for a while during this time. They both don't eat dairy, and would make AMAZING meals without dairy! I was shocked. I didn't think it was possible to eat dairy free and have it taste amazing. Since I am trying to become a very positive person, I started to flip the situation around. Instead of having the negative thoughts about what I can't have, I started thinking about what I CAN have. And quite frankly, there is plenty I can still have, and pretty good substitutes for what I can't have. These past couple of weeks I have started to embrace the situation, and make the best out of it. I have been trying to look for the bright side of my situation. And guess what? It's working. For example, my little brother had a birthday this week and everyone was eating cake and ice cream. I knew this was going to happen, so I ran to Harmon's and picked up some Coconut Bliss. Coconut Bliss is the closest I'm going to get to ice cream. It's a non-dairy frozen treat make out of coconut and coconut milk. It's delicious! Doesn't really make me miss ice cream at all. So while everyone enjoyed some cake and ice cream, I enjoyed some chocolate hazelnut Coconut Bliss. I made do. On another positive note, I am LOVING coconut and almond milk. I have never been a milk drinker but let me tell you, I can drink this stuff like it's nobody's business.
So, as you can see I have been having to make some adjustments. If you were to ask me now how I feel about being completely dairy-free I would tell you I am excited. I am excited to find out what recipes I can make dairy free, what new milks I can try, new cheese, all of the above. I said bye-bye to the negative Nancy who was pissed about being dairy free. Here's what I learned from the whole experience: Take your challenges and embrace them. Don't battle WITH your challenges, it only makes things a heck of a lot worse. Embrace your challenges and turn it into a game. Ask yourself, "Ok, what I am supposed to learn from this challenge? How can I better myself because of this?". Trust me. It will always work. There is always a lesson to be learned to BETTER yourself, and become a stronger person. So, take your challenges and run with them. :) Beat them to the punch.
No comments:
Post a Comment