Vegan Again

Way back in the days of Weight Watchers, I contemplated becoming vegan. I thought that this was a good idea for a few reasons; the first of which was the probable weight loss results of a vegan diet and also my burdensome guilt about the treatment of dairy cows and egg producing chickens on factory farms (and also not being able to justify the expense of organic dairy). If I recall correctly I actually was vegan for a little while, but couldn’t hack it because of my overwhelming fondness for cheese. Even while counting calories I still managed to get some cheese in. Cheese is lovely. I couldn’t think of anything that would make me finally able to give up the cheese.

Until now.

Istra has a little bit of a gas problem and now, of course, her problems are our problems and her problems mostly result in all three of us getting no sleep at night. I asked around about her symptoms—spitting up after feedings, arching her back, passing a lot of gas—and the consensus was that probably she is having some painful stomach cramps. Many people had suggestions to alleviate Istra’s symptoms—burp her more often, shorter and more frequent feedings, keep her upright for half an hour after feeding and eliminate dairy from my diet. I tried the former three suggestions for a couple days with minimal improvement and after a particularly hellish night and a near sleep-deprived nervous breakdown the next day I’ve decided the take the plunge and cut out dairy completely. No more flirting with sour cream based veggie dip and a little bit of parmasan cheese on my spaghetti. I am gladly trading in glorious cheese for even more glorious sleep.

Yesterday was my first day completely dairy free and last night we all got some sleep! Coincidence? I hope not!