As a child growing up I was raised a lacto-ovo vegetarian. This is a vegetarian who consumes only dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt and eggs. There was never found on our table any meat of any kind, nor was there a desire for meat. In spite of this healthy lifestyle as a school girl I lost many school days sick with an unexplainable upset stomach. When I entered college I discovered a pattern with my stomach ailment that brought me to the conclusion that cheese was the reason for it. When I would leave cheese out of my diet I felt fine and was able to go on with life without any problems with my stomach.

About this time I married. At that time I was a dress size 8 and the only complaint was an inherited problem with migraine headaches. I was young and generally healthy. Over the years of marriage I continued to cook the way I always had. Some of my favorite foods were primarily anything sweet and more importantly chocolate. Other foods on my list included fried eggs, white muffin bread toast with plenty of melted margarine, ranch dressing on my salads. French fries, barbecue flavored potato chips, spaghetti and many other pasta foods. I loved pizza, though I was eating them without cheese. My favorite vegetables were fried okra and fresh tomatoes. Favorite fruits were just about anything. Oranges and figs always gave me a headache so I had to leave them off the menu. I was totally addicted to chocolate and sugar and I thought life would end without them. I used only extra virgin olive oil and avoided the hard fats. I was eating "whole wheat bread" and only had white bread once in a while.

By the age of about 35 I weighed 128 and wore a dress size 9 and was working towards a size 10. Though I was within my ideal weight I was uncomfortable and wanted to loose weight. I tried skipping meals and other things to try to loose the weight. I would go hungry until I would feel faint and would cut back as much as I could. I would eat less than my friends but the extra pounds remained. I tried to find herbs or some magic natural remedy to cure my weight problem. I started several exercise programs but because of my low energy level I lost interest. I hoped that I could exercise it all away but it was just too much. Every spring I had problems with allergies and spent many spring mornings with a tissue on hand for my runny nose. I had also inherited from my father a tendency to get leg cramps that were very painful. Back pain often kept me from doing much heavy lifting and when I did do much lifting I would have to spend some time recuperating from the work. I couldn’t lift much over 20-25 lbs. without some pain.

One winter after a severe cold I developed pneumonitis and I was also told that I had a touch of pneumonia. It took many weeks before I recovered from these and even years later I would occasionally have problems and feared that if I caught another cold the problems would come back.

About this time my doctor became concerned about my blood pressure and felt that she may soon need to put me on blood pressure medicine. I shared her concern about my blood pressure but I didn’t want to use drugs. So I tried to find herbs for it. I was already taking drugs for my migraines that were dominating my life and I hated the thought of adding more drugs on top of those. My blood pressure readings were averaging about 150/90 and I really didn’t think that a "healthy" person like myself needed blood pressure medicine. At this same time I was trying various herbs for the headaches but to no avail.

In the following months my husband and I were in a car accident and because of some pain in my neck following the accident I had some x-rays taken of my neck. When the doctor came to talk to us in the waiting room about the reading of the x-ray he brought with him a second doctor who also had read my x-ray. They approached with a look of concern and the doctor that took the x-ray said, "How old did you say you are?" I repeated my age for him and he said, "According to your x-rays, you should be much older." He then went on to explain that I had an advanced case of Spondolosis and he said that they don’t normally see that in someone as young as I was. I was surprised by his comment since I was a "healthy" person. I drank my milk and ate very well so why was I so miserable. I didn’t have a clue or I didn’t want to admit that I understood why I was sick. I had wanted to give up milk but my husband and I were fearful of the results. He, being a thin man, feared he would lose weight and I didn’t want to do it alone.

Then one day a friend loaned us a video about the dangers of milk by John Robbins. In it we saw how freely the cattle are given drugs and antibiotics for every ailment or even suspected ailments and we saw the medical effects of dairy products on the human body. We heard the real story of what milk does to the body. We saw the blood and pus that ends up in milk and we heard about the use of growth hormones. The most profound memory for my husband was seeing a doctor pulling some cheesy deposits from the arteries of a corpse. The stringy substance reminded him of the many commercials he had seen for pizza with the stringy cheese dripping from the slice. At that point we came to the conclusion that it was time for the cows udder to leave our table.

At that time I had a flock of hens. I got them for the eggs and the appeal that hens have in general as pets. What I learned from their ownership, about the diet of range fed hens left me with no appetite for the eggs. Hens naturally are attracted to things I would not want to ingest second hand, things like lizards, snakes, bugs and even dog feces. The hens quickly became pets only.

I also found out that even chickens are endowed with a personality. We had one hen that was very affectionate and would want to be held. She would follow me around and jump up at me to get me to pick her up. The thought of someone eating this dear creature was beyond my understanding.

Through the years step by step the Lord has lead us back to the diet that He meant for humans to consume. That diet of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts prepared in a simple manner. As we have responded to the knowledge God has given us we have improved in health.

When we gave up milk I wasn’t trying to loose weight. In fact the weight loss was a great surprise to me. We had given up milk in the spring and it wasn’t until the next fall when I put on my winter clothes that I realized that I had lost weight. It wasn’t an exercise program or a special herb or any gimmick of skipping meals that had done it. It was simply cutting fat from my diet in the form of milk, eggs and milk products.

The difference it has made in my life is this: At the age of 45 I now have a normal blood pressure with readings around 110/ 75. My dress size is an 8 again. My headaches are about 99.99% eliminated and the ones I do have are far less severe and can usually be relieved by drinking a glass of water, soaking my feet, applying ice to my neck or head or other simple things. My spondolosis is gone from my neck and I can feel my vertebra again. I eat all I want without feeling hungry or weak. I have more energy and stamina than I did as a teenager. I also don’t sunburn like I used to. I rarely get a cold or flu and on the rare times that I do the symptoms are very mild. So mild that most people wouldn’t even know I had a cold. Now a severe cold would amount to a temperature of 99.8 and some occasional sniffles. A yeast infection that had plagued me for many years has left me as well. My memory is much improved and my ability to be patient is better. I can handle stress better as well. I am much less emotional and I am happier. My allergies in the spring have nearly vanished and I rarely have a sniffle from them. Even the leg cramps that caused so much pain are gone. At 45 I feel more healthy and energetic then I did as a teenager. I can lift 40+ lbs. without back pain and very little muscle pain afterwards.