Vegan.

I know there have been some questions about whether Kevin and I are going Vegan. AND after my last post there were even more questions.

Kevin answered "NO"

Heidi answered "kinda, but not really"

So not to confuse any of you more I will get straight to the point. For the past year of my life every time I ate I was miserable. I would have horrible stomach pains for at least two hours after every meal. We were really frustrated and decided to try an elimination diet to figure out if it was gluten, dairy, sugar, salt, etc. After 6 months of elimination diets we narrowed it down to dairy. In October I spent the entire month to the best of my ability staying completely off dairy/lactose. I felt amazing for the first time in 8 months!

I began to pick the brains of some educated friends and do some of my own extensive research. I spent hours on the internet, in the library, and with the dairy department at our local Whole Foods! They were great, by the way. :)

Our goal for 2010 was to figure out my stomach issues. We had a lot of success. I am un-officially lactose intolerant and we know my body does not break down the sugar when I consume any dairy products. Taking a dairy enzyme helps but the best solution we have found is to cut it completely out. This is where the term "vegan" plays a large key. Dairy is such a huge substance in our culture that it is contained in so many products. When an item is marked "vegan" it means that the product does not contain any animal by product. This is a safe and healthy way for us to determine if I can have it or not. So in our household we use the term "vegan" often, but not fully by the definition.

Our goal for 2011 is to visit a holistic doctor and become officially diagnosed. One of the women at our church who just moved here from IL with our church plant happens to be a holistic doctor who will be working Boulder. We know we found a perfect fit for me to see her and we are excited about the testing and information she can provide for us in our research.

As we come upon our almost one year mark of this journey I have LEARNED so much and am GRATEFUL for my health and knowledge regarding lactose intolerance and vegan diets.

So don't get scared away by our recipes that we post just because it says Vegan BECAUSE

... you HAVE to try that Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe... It is A M A Z I N G!