Growing up I was always super tiny - healthy, but tiny. I was active, always happy and I could eat literally ANYTHING I wanted and as much of it as I wanted. Once I got to college, I was still moderately active and my size did not really change until I became a junior in college. I was put on a few medications that made me gain weight, feel tired and one of the worst things I started getting was headaches! My dad always had horrible headaches when I was a kid but I never thought of getting them myself. The headaches started becoming a daily occurrence and I knew I had to do something to help it.
I knew I was not eating the best so I tried eating healthier. That didn't help. I started working out more, that didn't help. I also got off all of my medication, and it still didn't help. The doctors told me that if my headaches were that bad that I may need to get on medication to help them for as long as I needed. I hate medicine, so I started researching. I found that going dairy free sometimes helps with headaches so I told myself I would slowly start to become dairy free. It was rough at first, but it was also exciting trying to find different alternatives for certain foods.
Another benefit to going dairy free was to help with my acne. I have NEVER had acne on my forehead or cheeks and in the last couple of months, I have been breaking out everywhere. Going dairy free is infamous for helping with acne so I told myself if I could get two benefits out of one, why not, right?
Lastly, I wanted to feel less bloated. Cutting dairy out of my diet is said to have helped with my digestion and helping my metabolism regulate which could in the end help reduce bloating. I am always bloated and I always try to cut out my sodium intake or drink more water but I could never figure anything out and my bloating always stayed the same.
To conclude, cutting dairy out has 100% helped all of these things. I have been dairy free for 3 weeks and I have not had a headache in about two weeks, my acne has cleared up along with my skin feeling more moisturized, and I am less bloated than before. One of the biggest things I was doing this for was my headaches because they were becoming so painful that they would interfere with my daily activities and I would not get as much done as I should have. In the end, I got to get rid of my headaches and feel a lot better about a number of other things, I naturally changed my body for the best and I have also lost 8 pounds since going dairy free as well! If you ever want to try something like cutting a certain thing out of your diet, I say do it! Take the challenge and research what you need to do and get your mind and body right, I promise it is worth it.
