Anyone who knows me will know that cheese is my life and I would do anything for a cheese and ham toastie or a camembert. So this is probably quite an alarming statement I’m making. Before you ask, yes I am okay, and no I have not been taken hostage and am being forced to be without cheese.
I was inspired to do this after falling into the beauty black hole of YouTube, where I have developed an unhealthy addiction to skincare videos. Many beauty gurus swear off dairy as a lot of research has proven it to be bad for your skin. A lot of this research claims that by giving up the stuff it can cure your acne, help you loose weight and just make your skin look overall glowing and bright. Big statements here. Most people who know me will know that I, like many, have had a long battle with my skin and that it is mainly oily and spot prone. Of course, everyone gets spots and it’s probably all just hormones and that, but if giving up dairy was going to be the single, life changing answer to curing my skin forever then I was tempted to give it a go.
For just over a month I went off dairy religiously. I swapped out my cows milk for soy milk, I stopped buying cheese, I said goodbye to carbonaras and even bought dairy free butter (honestly, it”s actually really nice). I only caved once after a bad day had led me to eating cheese straight from the block. I noticed a bit of a difference in my skin in that I hadn’t gotten any major life ruining breakouts, but I sometimes go through stages in my skin where its really good for a while so couldn’t really tell.
Noticing that my skin seemed to improve, I decided to try going back to my old diet for a bit to see if my skin flared up. I have to say, I was the happiest I had been in a while as food is a major contender in what mood I am in and not being able to eat my favourite things had been really upsetting. I’m never good at forcing myself to stick to diets of any kind. After gorging on dairy for a week I was expecting my face to blow up, when in reality nothing actually happened. My skin was behaving itself no different to normal.
*sigh* I thought I cracked it and finally found the holy grail spot cure but my skin didn’t want to play ball. But after going through the dairy free diet, the phrase ‘You are what you eat’ has stuck with me and I do believe that what you eat does come out in your skin. The cheat weeks definitely show, and I know I am not an ideal person of healthy eating, but I have been trying to eat better.
Like all things, less is more and I have now opted for a happy medium diet, which has actually benefited my skin a lot. I treat myself to cheese on my pasta but I still have soy milk, especially in things like lattes when I’m out, which I have actually been enjoying. Not having cheese just made me really sad, which caused me stress and stress is bad for your skin. So eating dairy little and often is probably going to be the best thing for me.
But I have known so many people who this has worked incredibly for and I really do urge people to try it if you struggle with your skin. Having less dairy also makes me feel less groggy and bloated on a day to day basis, so there are still more benefits. Nowadays there are so many dairy alternatives as well, so you won’t be missing out on too much.
Happy cheese eating!! x