When I say I love Dairy…I’m totally serious. Take a look at the tray above. Those are the dairy items I have purchased in the last 10 days.
As you can see, we eat a wide variety of dairy foods at my house. Sometimes brands change, depending on what my grocery store has in stock, but this is pretty typical. You may also notice that I have a Lactaid milk in the group. That would be mine. I became lactose intolerant in 2008. I figured that out when my niece had a soft serve ice cream machine at her graduation party. Let’s just say, I had a lot of alone time at my sister’s house that weekend.
In the last six years, I have come to know what I can and cannot handle dairy-wise. Unfortunately, I have had to give up ice cream. That was difficult. The good news is, I have found that most types of cheese (aged is better), milk, yogurt, and butter are all okay if I take a Lactaid supplement. I love the lactose free milk, because it is so convenient to be able to pour that over my cereal or in my coffee instead of needing to take a pill.
For me, giving up dairy was not an option. I love cheese, milk, and butter too much! I also need the calcium and vitamin D…more than what I can get from non-dairy sources. I’m pretty convinced that the reason I haven’t broken any bones, even with a couple of really great bone bruises, is due to my dairy consumption, and the running I’ve attempted to do when not healing from the bone bruises. Being Lactose Intolerant can stink (really), but we are fortunate that we live in a time where medicine has figured out how to keep dairy in our diets.
The National Dairy Council has some awesome resources on dairy and bone health, as well as the general health benefits of consuming dairy. Both resources are very helpful in understanding the importance of dairy in our diet…especially for women, who may be prone to osteoporosis.
Since I am not a dairy farmer, I need good farmer resources when I have a question. One of those resources is Carrie Mess. She is also known as Dairy Carrie. She blogs at The Adventures of Dairy Carrie, and can be found on Facebook at Dairy Carrie, or Twitter @DairyCarrie.
I also turn to Tim and Emily Zweber when I have questions about organic dairy farming. They can be found on Facebook at Zweber Farms LLC, on Twitter @ZweberFarms and @EZweber, or you can go to their farm’s website at Zweber Farms.
There are many dairy farmers on social media who would love to answer your questions about dairy farming. Who are your top two trusted resources for agriculture questions?
Day 1: Pizza
Day 2: Shoes
Day 3: Shout Stain Remover
Day 4: The Ability to Vote
Day 5: My Heritage
Day 6: NASCAR
Day 7: Black Velvet for Photography
Day 8: Strong Coffee and Strong Hairspray
Day 9: Peacefulness
Day 10: Winter’s First Snow
Day 11: Freedom
Day 12: Dairy
Click here to go to Holly Spangler’s blog, and see the link for other 30 Day Challenge Bloggers
