Dairy Free

This summer, I started to get tired of the unpleasant symptoms I thought were caused by eating dairy, so on my doctor's recommendation, I have tried to go dairy free. I'd like to think it is lactose intolerance, but products like cheese that contain very little lactose still seemed to bother me, so I wonder if it isn't other proteins/components of dairy. I'm still trying to test this. My goal was to go two weeks without dairy to clean out my system and then slowly experiment by adding things back in one at a time. So far it has been a month and I keep accidentally eating dairy. I have consumed pistachio bread, English muffins, tortilla chips, and just yesterday a butter substitute, which all contained some form of dairy I realized only after eating them and closely reading the labels. Why do Americans have to contaminate everything? It makes me realize how much more difficult it would be to go vegan. However, I am running more again and couldn't justify being vegan (environmentally yes, but in terms of my personal health, no), so I have been eating more white meat as I have been eating less dairy.

My carpal tunnel-like symptoms have also been better this summer. I noticed a flair up a few days after unintentionally eating dairy, and it makes me wonder if the pain and tingling were some sort of reaction to eating things my body didn't like. I've gotten over the cheese cravings, but I think the hardest part is the dessert. I made my first vegan chocolate cake two weekends ago--it was excellent--but I'd like to find more dairy free dessert recipes. If you have any, feel free to send them my way.