t o p   1 0   d a i r y   f r e e   f a v s

There are copious amount of reasons for which a person may choose to eliminate dairy from their lives. For me, I first cut it out in 2008 after reading Skinny Bitch (find it here) and going vegan overnight. I remained a vegan until late 2013 when I got pregnant with Isabella and essentially developed a frat-boy mentality about food – which I highly recommend against doing …

#oops

When Isabella was 3 months old, she was diagnosed with a milk protein allergy. From 3-12 months, while she was exclusively breastfed, I was fully dairy free. 

Cutting dairy is 100 million times easier when it’s for your baby, that I can promise you. 

I stopped the moment she was diagnosed, riddled with guilt. I felt as though I had been poisoning her all this time. Obviously that’s not the case, but mother’s guilt is fierce and knows no bounds. 

** If your breastfed baby has a milk protein allergy – please know that you are not a bad mom AT ALL for their pain. You are not a bad mom if going dairy free is out of the question or not working out for you. But I do urge you to try, and maybe you’ll find that YOU TWO feel a lot better after ditching the dairy! **

I was told an infant milk protein allergy is very uncommon and occurred in under 5% of babies.

Fast forward 3 years and I can say, without a doubt, ALL babies  - scratch that -

ALL HUMANS  

HAVE A MILK PROTEIN INTOLERANCE *

some just don’t exhibit drastic visible effects, like:

IBS

weight gain

bloat

increased cravings

sinus issues

allergies

poor sleep quality

diabetes

c a n c e r

oh wait....

don't worry, there's more on that, later …

My experiences in life, and particularly as a mama, lead me to a very low dairy diet.

We never have cow's milk or cheese in the house, but we all enjoy some pizza 

I mean hello we live in NY!

ice cream, and Mexican Food on occasion. Before getting pregnant again, I did a round of Whole30 (get it here!), which is totally nondairy. I always felt so good when not eating it! Of course, Baby D has a major issue with dairy, along with MANY other GI issues. So dairy free I am yet again!

Without getting too much more into the WHY behind Ditching the Dairy (blog post coming soon!)
I wanted to share my Top 10 Dairy Free Favs to help ease you into it, without feeling  deprived! 

I hope you enjoy the list and hope it helps you!
(links provided below!)

 -6- Enjoy Life Chocolate Chunks 
 -6- Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Morsels 
-6- Enjoy Life Mini Chips
 -7- Vegan Shakeology

-8- Lara Bars
-9- Nutritional Yeast 

* I am in no way a medical professional and do not attempt to make medical claims. My opinions are my own and you should consult a medical professional when making any decisions about your own health

NERD ALERT: I love nutrition/health/wellness documentaries. 

Oooooh but I love them so much! 

Once my girls are in bed, this is what I do. 
I love learning.
I love hearing different ideas and opinions.
I love hearing/seeing/reading something that sparks me to do my own research. 

I also love disagreeing with information presented to me 

and being able to back up my reasoning with sound research. 

(insert What The Health here)

*     *     *     *

So much of my life I can look back on and see how nutrition and environment plays a part. 
Over the last few years, I personally have been able to successfully manage a litany of health issues that I have. 

candida

anxiety

depression

migraines

CFS 

postpartum hormonal shifts 

weight gain

blood pressure

My dad lived for 12 years after being diagnosed with stage IV Hodgkin's Disease - a feat unexplained my his oncologists other than nutrition and wellness. 
Now with Baby D having so many issues with her gut health, food intolerance, and infant colic - my thirst for knowledge has expanded even more.

Lucky for me (& for you if you're into this sort of thing!),

Netflix has some awesome & fairly easy to watch documentaries in their que! 

I wanted to put together a list for anyone looking to get their Know-On from home without feeling overwhelmed by the heavily scientific nature some films take on. I hope you get a chance to watch these & please let me know your thoughts!

ASHLEY'S TOP 5 NETFLIX DOCUMENTARIES ON HEALTH

1. That Sugar Film


2. In Defense of Food


3. Food Matters


4. Fed Up


5. Forks Over Knives




like this post? watch any of the films?
Comment below and let me know!