OK, so I'm finally convinced, really and truly, that my body doesn't like dairy products. Moo-cow dairy products, that is.

When I was 17, I spent a month in Germany and came back with the worst case of acne I'd ever had. Granted, it was nothing compared with the acne I've seen on some teenagers, but for me it was pretty bad. Anyway, at the time my mom thought it was because of all the chocolate I ate while overseas, and she was probably right. But that was only part of the story.

The full story is that I learned about a year ago that I'm actually allergic to eggs and milk (and lamb too, oddly enough) and the vast majority of the chocolate and sweets I ate in Germany had milk in them.

Before moving to Boston I was pretty good about sticking to my dairy/egg-free diet. I didn't have anything in the house I couldn't eat. I poured over labels with a fine-tooth comb. I asked for special meals while in restaurants and even ordered special vegan meals on airplanes.

But I've gotten lazy recently and have been cheating the last several months - the result of having 'contraband' in the house - and I've discovered that my body really doesn't much care for what I've been putting into it. The proof? I've got some really awful break-outs that just don't seem to want to go away.

So I finally broke down this afternoon and made the decision: I have to go back on my dairy-free, egg-free diet. It'll be easier for me to stay on it, now that I'm moving back into a place by myself. It was so easy to just grab a cookie here, take a nibble of ranch dip there, try out what the roommates are cooking and etc.

It is fortunate that my body doesn't seem to mind goat's or sheep's milk and there are plenty of yummy cheeses to be had - including brie! yum! - made of these milks. But gosh, I miss regular cheese! I haven't had a slice of cheddar in so long, I can hardly remember what it tastes like!

I stopped at Whole Foods this afternoon and had to keep reminding myself to think about all the things I can eat rather than bemoan everything that I can't. [sigh] When are they going to invent a cure for allergies?