If you took a look in my fridge at any given moment, you'd find a large selection of cheeses, fresh organic whole milk, butter (semi-salted, unsalted, salted), yogurt, and those are just the obvious dairy products. I'm a rebel. I don't even take Lactaid!

I'm not sure if my biggest weakness is butter or cheese. I often eat butter "as if" it were cheese, sliced thickly and placed on toast to melt into a salty, sweet pool. Then again, it's not unusual for me to polish off a whole wedge of triple creme with a warm baguette. I do cook with butter more than I do with cheese, so that's one place where cutting out dairy would prove to be difficult, particularly when I want to make scones.

I know what is not be hard for me to avoid. I don't use milk often, only in baking and poured over cereal, 1L of milk will last me the entire week. Ice-cream is not really a problem either, it's winter, and I only really eat ice-cream in the summer, and even then, there are sorbets and other frozen desserts I find just as pleasing. 

Lately, I feel like my reactions to lactose are getting worse. I seem to have more problems with bloating, the reactions are more severe and they are lasting longer, often keeping me up until the wee hours of the morning, like tonight. As such, I've decided to give my gut a sabbatical. Just for a couple of weeks. I don't even want to brooch the idea of NEVER having butter again! That's unthinkable, never sinking my teeth into an onctuous slice of the earthy pied de vent cheese, or savoring a grilled cheese sandwich made with 1608. No, I can't think like that.

The question then becomes, do I try to replace all my current dairy with soy based alternatives? I say, no. I am willing to use an almond milk or hemp milk in place of dairy for cereal and cooking, but other than that, I have no desire to use soy based sour cream, for example. I am not going to go out and buy soy cheeses, or use margarine on my toast; I would rather go without. When I feel like having a yogurt, maybe I'll have some Jell-o instead. But just for the next few weeks. Until my tummy settles down.