I Went Dairy-Free To Clear My Skin. Here’s How My Face Looked 2 Weeks Later

I made the decision when I saw how much the dairy-free lifestyle helped a man who shared his story on The Doctors.

I didn't think it would be too hard, considering I had been a vegan for a stretch in my early 20s. I didn't really struggle with the dairy aspect back then — I even went to France, the land of cheese, and stayed true to my ban on dairy at the time.

That said, I have more than made up for the lack of cheese in the years since.

According to Dr. Axe, there are even more perks to the dairy-free diet than just clearing up skin.

Reportedly, other benefits include feeling less bloated, improved respiratory and digestive health, and even a reduced risk of cancer.

It all sounded pretty great to me, but I would be lying if I said this beautiful hunk of mozzarella in my office's kitchen didn't make me consider giving up on day one.

As you've likely noticed, I get a little emotional when it comes to my cheese-based foods. It was my roommate's birthday the night before I planned to ditch dairy, so I enjoyed one last gooey plate of nachos at the bar before stocking up on non-dairy items at the store the next day.

The nachos were delicious, but I was kicking myself for not squeezing in one last slice of New York pizza. Rookie mistake.

I'm ashamed to admit my breakfast tends to be snagged from my office's stash of snacks. Before embarking on this experiment, I'd usually be chowing down on a bag of Cheez-Its for my morning meal.

It's mostly because I'm not a fan of the sweet, sugary cereal options they also provide. The organic option shown above seemed like it wouldn't be too saturated, though, so I went with that and some soy milk.

Just that first step of not being able to follow my same routine made me realize this might not be as easy to accomplish as I'd thought.

This was my least favorite part of being vegan back in the day: reading the ingredients very carefully. Even things you'd never imagine could contain milk or dairy were able to sneak in a dash here and there, so you have to be vigilant.

I begrudgingly shelled out roughly a dollar extra more than I usually pay for bread when I discovered my go-to brand contained dairy. This was also a lot more bread than I'm used to — I ended up having to toss almost half of it when it went moldy.

I was elated when I discovered good old fashioned bagels don't contain any milk, and then remembered that tofu cream cheese is a thing. It was… fine, but nowhere near as lovely as a real schmear.

Black bean soup is one of my lunch staples, but it felt similarly lacking without cheese (and perhaps sour cream) to sprinkle in. However, I also obviously wasn't going hungry or anything, so I toughed it out.

Fridays quickly became my least favorite day.

At the end of each week, the office caters a delicious lunch for us to enjoy. If you happen to be visiting LittleThings headquarters around noon on a Friday, prepare to see a stampede rushing to the kitchen as soon as the email saying lunch is served hits our collective inboxes. (This is in no way an exaggeration.)

When I saw earlier in the week that we'd be having tacos, my heart soared — and then plummeted when I remembered I couldn't enjoy the cotija cheese or dollops of sour cream on top of my veggie tacos.

After all of the emotional turmoil I endured (not to be overly dramatic or anything), my face wasn't getting any clearer. In fact, I was more than a little suspicious that it could be getting even worse.

I showed up to work feeling like that 14-year-old girl trying to hide her face in middle school all over again. Also, trying to cover up with makeup never works in the summer heat.

The worst were the zits that popped up around my mouth. Not a cute look.

Occasionally, just the thought of working so hard to make a snack or meal for myself caused me to sit around in frustrated hunger. Even ordering food seemed like such a chore when I had to take so much into consideration about what I put in my mouth.

Believe me, I know how lazy that makes me sound. I would of course eventually force myself to whip up a "snack" like the one on the right shown above.

And as you can see on the other side, I wasn't going strictly vegan throughout the process.

I've had Daiya cheese tons of times. One of my favorite pizza places in the city has delicious vegan slices that I really enjoy.

That might have given me too much confidence in the shreds satisfying my cravings for nachos and other cheesy goodness while going without the real deal.

It wasn't bad at all, but it didn't quite melt the same way, and it definitely had a completely different texture. It at least got the job done as well as not-real-cheese can.

As much as I complain about the extra effort I had to put into my eating habits, I admit that this was a silver lining for my overall health.

Since I didn't know what I could trust when ordering from restaurants, I found myself getting creative in the kitchen at home a lot more than I ever had before.

Turns out, I really love seasoning things with rosemary, like the tuna steak I enjoyed with a side of brussels sprouts (shown above).

After over two weeks of not allowing myself to slip back into my cheesy habits, I was finding even more spots on my face than I had before. That's when I decided to call it quits.

I know it could have been a total fluke, but I personally believe my body loves cheese as much as I do, which is why it rebelled against my abstinence.

Whatever the case was, I just needed to be done.

It might have been a placebo effect or some other hormonal shift inside my body, but I am pretty sure my skin actually started clearing up after I took my first bite of delicious cheese for the first time in over two weeks.

I obviously still have a few spots on my chin, but hopefully those will fade away while I continue to search for the perfect solution to my pimply skin.

Everyone reacts to things differently, and I don't regret giving this a shot. Maybe if I had stuck it out, things would have turned around. I might give it a shot again in the future, but for now, I'll happily enjoy all the dairy goodness I can get my hands on.

Would you ever go dairy-free to clear your skin?

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