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What Happened to My Body When I Finally Ditched Dairy Products

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at FSU chapter.

I used to love ice cream and pizza as much as the next girl until I found out I was lactose intolerant. Giving up all things cheesy from my diet was the hardest goodbye. But I realized, since ditching dairy, that my life has changed, and for the better. Thankfully, grocery stores are stocked with dairy-free meals, snacks and most importantly, dairy-free ice cream.

Courtesy: So Delicious Dairy Free

I noticed that I was no longer bloated, drowsy and best of all, my skin was radiant and my blemishes were lessening. Once I made that connection, I tried to eliminate dairy as much as I could from my diet. After a month, my skin was so clear and my stomach became super tight.

Milk is one of the most common ingredients in preparing meals—and the most destructive to your health. Milk supposedly supports the development of your bones, but it also contains chemicals and hormones that are not easily digestible, nonetheless harmful to your body. Humans are the only species that drink another species’ milk and wonder where their indigestion and skin problems originate from.

Courtesy: Reddit

Ditching dairy finally helped me get rid of my flabby stomach. I was always bloated and never understood why. After research on the cause and effects dairy has on your body, I learned that if you are lactose intolerant, your body has a harder time digesting your meal. If your body doesn’t have the capacity to digest your meal effectively, then more energy is exerted to digest the meal, causing your body to become tired; this is where the drowsiness and fatigue come in by eating dairy. My body was trying to signal the problem to me and I ignored it. I always did notice how bloated my stomach was after eating ice cream cake, or the blemishes that would appear after eating cheesy pizza but I wanted to enjoy the things that I sort of knew I had to give up.

Personally, I know I will break out once consuming anything with dairy in it. There are regions of the face that indicate certain stressors of blemishes like stress or food allergies. You might not know you are allergic to dairy unless you pay attention to blemishes that appear along your jawline and mouth area after consuming dairy. Breakouts occur because your body can’t break it down and digest it properly, so it goes to the surface of your skin, through your pores, to expel it from your body.

Courtesy: Pinterest

If you experience similar symptoms, you might be lactose intolerant. If you’re sure you’re not, just know that milk still isn’t easily digestible for the human body since it’s milk for a cow’s body. There are other alternatives out there that will definitely help make all the difference.

Some days my spirit animal is Leslie Knope. Other days, it's April.
Her Campus at Florida State University.