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February 04, 2005

Dairy Free - A Recipe for Health

I've now been 100% dairy-free for over four months and I feel great. Instead of craving cheese the idea of it now almost repulses me. How could I have eaten so much of something that is so bad for me for such a long time?

What really gets me is that today I saw a TV ad from the Dairy Council and their new "3 a day" campaign. In the ad they say something like, "Most people don't get enough dairy." Are you kidding me? According to the U.S. Census Bureau, "The average American consumes 23 gallons of milk and 30 pounds of cheese a year."

So the Dairy folks would have us believe that we need MORE than 30 pounds of cheese per year?? Is that what I'm reading here? Oh, right, that's in addition to 23 gallons of milk per year? No wonder Asians think Americans stink of cheese. We're full of stinky, cancer-causing cheese and milk and our government now wants us to eat more.

Exactly whose best interest are they looking after? Ours or the Dairy Council? They can try to push all the studies that link dairy to breast cancer and prostate cancer under the rug because they think we're stupid. Well, perhaps instead of stupid they think we're addicted, and we are. Having given up dairy I can now see with the eyes of an ex-addict. I now see how deluded my thinking was and how brainwashed I was to believe that, "Everything tastes better with cheese."

Guess what? I've discovered that everything tastes better without cheese. I am no longer masking the flavor of my food. I know it's hard to believe, but taking away the cheese really doesn't change much about the flavor. I now enjoy more spices and diverse flavors that dousing everything in cheese was hiding.

"3 a day for stronger bones" - this is such a load of you-know what. What about the studies that show those countries who consume the most dairy have the highest rates of osteoporosis?

Don't believe the hype, folks. The Dairy Council has a stranglehold on this country.

Stop and think - why does the Dairy Council want you to eat 3 servings of dairy per day? It isn't because they think it will make us healthier (they know it won't). It's because they make more money when you eat more cheese and milk. Period, end of story. If they had their way, they'd have us eating 20 pounds of cheese per month, and you know what? I bet a lot of people are.

I think I'm going to start sharing some of the dairy-free recipes I've come up with over the past couple months. Many of them are also gluten-free since I've drastically cut down on my wheat intake.

Now I'm going to cook dinner. It will be delicious in spite of the fact that it won't be dripping with cheese. Nay, it will be delicious precisely because it is dairy-free.

Posted by Anna at 05:52 PM

February 22, 2005

Vegan Cookies

I have discovered the best vegan cookies ever. They taste better than any "real" cookie I've ever eaten. The peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are my favorite. Even though I try not to eat a lot of sweets these days I have to allow myself these once a week or so. They don't have any refined sugar (they contain evaporated cane juice). Yes folks, there is life after dairy.

It's a real testament to the glory of these cookies that it is 6:45am and they are the first thing I think of upon waking. All hail Uncle Eddies!

Posted by Anna at 06:35 AM | Comments (1480)

February 26, 2005

Vegan Chocolate

I broke down and bought another bag of the Uncle Eddies dairy free cookies I mentioned in my last entry. So it got me thinking about chocolate. I always thought all chocolate had milk in it, but it turns out that many dark chocolates are dairy free. After doing some research in Google, it looks like Trader Joe's carries a selection of dairy-free chocolate bars and that Ghirardelli makes dairy-free chocolate chips. Despire this info, I have no plans to go on a chocolate binge anytime soon. I don't have a chocolate addiction like so many people. However, I may be developing a vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookie addiction. I had to replace my cheese addiction with something, didn't I?

Posted by Anna at 11:07 PM | Comments (2)