Julie can't eat cheese

Me: “I think I blacked out for a minute. Can you repeat that?”

My surgeon: “You cannot eat dairy anymore. I recommend a plant based diet.”

[cue internal screaming and missing again all the reasons why]

I may have had a bigger reaction to learning I needed to go plant based than to my actual breast cancer diagnosis. No more dairy? Starting now? I’ve been vegetarian since I was 14, but said I would never go vegan because I love cheese too much. I eat yogurt for breakfast almost every day. Pirate’s Booty is my comfort food. I love York Peppermint Patties. Mac n Cheese. Cream cheese on bagels. Butter on sourdough toast. Eggs for baking. Creamer in my coffee! We just got a pizza oven!!!!! Am I going to starve?!

Going plant based is part of what my surgeon called an anti-cancer lifestyle. *sigh* Not eating dairy/being plant based sounded hard. And boring. I’m already a picky vegetarian. Will I have to survive on beans and rice? Hold the cheese at Chipotle?!

Well, turns out I love life more than cheese.

We started dabbling on nondairy products right away and then after a few weeks, jumped in. Dan decided on solidarity with me and is now plant based at home. And since we are both doing it, Penelope is mostly plant based as well (minus her Halloween candy – she’d likely revolt if we tossed it).

Julie can’t eat cheese will be both about my cancer journey/updates and our journey into plant based eating. One gross nondairy cheese at a time.