Ditching the SAD Diet

I love the Standard American Diet. 


It's tasty, no question about it.  All that creamy, cheesy comfort food, deep fried and loaded with sugar.  What's not to love?


But most of us know that what we eat in this country is not exactly the healthiest, as evidenced by the fact that we get sicker and heavier every year.  So as much as our favorite foods may soothe the soul, they sure don't do any favors for the rest of us.


When I went dairy free almost a year ago, I realized that my go-to favorite foods were going to take a major hit.  And they did!  I couldn't even think about it at first, I just focused on the very tasty foods that I could enjoy without dairy. 


I did attempt a few dairy substitutes.  They were......ok. Ish. 


I've learned an important less that I want to pass along to you: when cutting dairy out of your diet, DO NOT go straight to the substitutes.  They're expensive, and they're an acquired taste. 


An acquiring that is much more successful when your tastebuds have had time to forget what real dairy tastes like.


Don't get me wrong, many of the dairy-free substitutions that I choked down initially have become a favorite for me now.  You DO adjust.


Just....don't try to adjust immediately.  Seriously.


So here I am, a year on, and I find that most of my creamy, favorite comfort foods are still within my grasp.  Do they taste the same without dairy?  NO.  Are they tasty and soul-soothing? ABSOLUTELY.


And there's the real trick.  See, making a major change in your diet is all in your head.  I mean, it's in your kitchen too, duh, but the REAL change happens inside you.  When you decide for yourself that nothing - NOTHING - is worth feeling sick, that ANY change can be made if it's for the better - then you've already won.  The rest is just details.


At the end of the day, when we turn to food for comfort, we give it control over our lives.  Control it doesn't deserve.  Food is AWESOME, it's meant to be tasty and comforting. But it cannot fill the hole in our souls.  And learning to appreciate food for what it is, and recognize what it ISN'T, is a game changer.


I still get immense enjoyment and comfort from the foods I eat.  And I am OK with the fact that they don't taste like they used to.  Because that was part of a different ME, the me that was sick and miserable and a slave to a particular taste or texture.  There was a lot about that time in my life that I enjoyed, and I do not regret one bite.  I just choose to do things differently now, and I enjoy the new diet that I have.


So chin up, there's life after diet change!  A GREAT life, if your heart and soul are moving in the direction willingly and with gratitude for all the many blessings in life.


I'll be including some of my favorite dairy-free recipes here as time allows.  They'll also be free of other allergens I've had to cycle out of my diet - gluten, soy, potato, peanuts.  I'll be sure to mark what allergens may be in each recipe, since my list has fluctuated over the last 12 months.


In the mean time, bon appetit!