Painful mistakes

So, every once in a while, I think to myself, surely, I must not have THAT much trouble with dairy...I mean... come on... it's delicious!

As you may know I gave up dairy for LentAl (read here for more on that). This means that since February 6th, I have been avoiding all dairy products to the best of my abilities. In that time, I have made a few missteps- one of my student's had a birthday, and I chose to partake in her cake, which obviously had a fluffy dairy like filling, and there have been a few occasions that I have consumed butter- oh and one day I was faced with flan, and well, you can imagine how that ended (picture me, stuffing face, flan gone).

But mostly, I have really tried to avoid dairy...and mostly it hasn't been THAT difficult. I haven't gone out to eat much in that time, which has certainly probably helped.

The few times that I have fallen a bit off my nondairy wagon, I have been reminded gently by my guts why this is not a good idea.

Well, tonight, I got a very, very clear, not so gentle, "stop freaking eating dairy!!!!" message.

I was eating quiche before I even thought about the fact that in addition to loads of eggs (which I would have been fine with, hence my decision to eat it!) quiche is also made with heavy cream! I tend to eat pretty fast, so I was half way through this quiche before I even thought to myself, "Self, this probably has dairy in it". I was done with it (I'm telling you though, this was like 6 minutes after the first bite) when my the first gut cramp hit. It was about another 3 until I blew right up like a balloon. And it was about 5 more until I was repeatedly racing to the loo. I'll spare you the details but will say, it was painful (the cramps are the worst!), it was unpleasant, and even though the quiche was very, very good, it was NOT worth what it cost me.

I've had a couple of people sort of poke a bit of fun at me over the fact that I have given up dairy (well, this is practically unimaginable in Latvia- you should SEE the amounts of dairy products in the stores, and in people's shopping...unreal!) for Lent. I've tried to not let it bother me, because I know that people who do not understand what I go through when I eat dairy would think it was silly.

But this is about my quality of life now. Stomach cramps, bloated guts and mad racing to the loo do not a good life make. This is not about saving the cows (though it is a little) and it's not about saving the environment (though of course it is), and it's not even about my health because I found out on the internet tonight that lactose intolerance is not a harmful to your health condition (although of course it is also about my health)- this is about quality of life, about enjoying what there is to enjoy, and not missing the things that happen because I'm doubled over from cramps, or sitting in the dunny (as it's referred to around here).

Can I tell you how excited I am to go to the States in just 12 days (!) and enjoy soy ice cream, soy sour cream and soy cream cheese!!! Oh I cannot wait! :)

If you ever see me trying to talk myself into being able to handle any substantial amount of dairy again, please direct me back to this post. Here's to not making any more of these painful mistakes!

(And here's to some happy cows! :) )