In my family, milk was deemed the main drink of the household. It went with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And any snacks in-between.

My mother was a firm believer in the fact that milk helped build "strong bones." The calcium was "necessary" for my brother and me to consume to be strong, healthy children.

I drank milk, ate cheese, devoured ice cream, and consumed baked goods like it was nobody's business. Dairy was a staple in my family's diet, and nobody ever questioned it. I never questioned it.

Throughout my childhood, I incessantly had stomach aches. Every day. If a day went by when I didn't bloat or cramp, it was a miracle. Honestly, I'm shocked that my family never took me to a doctor to test for allergies or something more serious.

I would oftentimes wake up in the middle of the night with horrible stomach pains, and I had absolutely no idea why. When I was very young, if I had an episode, I would make my way into my parents' bed and sleep there for the rest of the night. As I grew older, I kind of just grew accustomed to being uncomfortable during the night.

Then, at the age of 47, my dad found out he was lactose intolerant.

In reality, a large majority of the world is lactose intolerant, since about 75% of the world's population lose their lactase enzymes once they pass infancy. In other words, humans really shouldn't be consuming lactose past the nursing phase.

My father's absolute favorite dessert of all time is vanilla ice cream. You can only imagine his disappointment when he discovered his body literally resisted it. It took my father 47 years to figure out he shouldn't be consuming lactose – so I guess I'm pretty lucky I found out after 18.

I became a vegetarian at the very beginning of college due to moral and health reasons. Then, slowly, I started to remove dairy from my diet. And it was like I actually started living for the first time.

My stomach aches were gone.

Crazy stuff, right? Wrong.

As you grow older, your body can begin to produce fewer lactase enzymes, resulting in an intolerance later on in life. This is what happened to my father.

Ever since I began to omit dairy from my diet, I've felt like a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I began to get full nights of sleep. I could carry on throughout my day without feeling like my stomach was bursting at the seams.

I will admit though, sometimes I crave a nice "Like It"-sized Sweet Cream ice cream at Cold Stone every now and then. I just have to mentally prepare for what's to come afterward.