Hi! My name is Laura and my favourite hobby is cooking, especially baking. I live in Swansea in the UK, near the beautiful Gower Peninsula. I first started this website in 2007, after my husband Martin found out that he was allergic to dairy products and eggs. He didn't always have this allergy, but he had been suffering from sinus headaches and stomach problems for a few years - problems which have disappeared since he cut out dairy and eggs.
This led to a journey of discovery for both of us into the free-from world. We had to start reading labels in the supermarket. We encountered difficulties eating out. We had to find subsitutes to replace traditional ingredients. I was particularly keen to take up the challenge of baking cakes that everyone could enjoy. So the Dairy Free Me website was created to try and share some of this knowledge with other people in the same situation.
Since I started the site a few things have changed, firstly there are many more dairy-free alternatives in the supermarket today than when we started out. There is now a staggering array of plant-based milks and yoghurts. You can even find really good dairy-free chocolate and ice-cream! I have also recently discovered the joy of aquafaba. This is the liquid from a tin of chickpeas or other legumes. Normally something you would throw away, but it is the most amazing egg-white substitute.
The biggest change for me is that I was diagnosed with IBS in 2010. After consulting with my doctor, I was advised to start keeping a food diary to identify trigger foods. This led me to cut out gluten in order to control the symptoms. That seemed to work quite well for a while, but then I was still having problems. I later discovered the Low FODMAP diet which involves cutting down on certain fruits, vegetables and pulses as well as dairy and wheat. This has made a big difference, however it has also made everything much more complicated! The recipes on this website have labels to show which are gluten-free and low-FODMAP, and of course they are all free from dairy and eggs.
After 13 years of avoiding dairy and eggs, we took the plunge and stopped eating meat as well. Since we were avoiding milk and eggs anyway, it wasn't such a big change for us. So now as well as avoiding the unpleasant symptoms from allergies and intolerances, we are also happy to know that no animals were harmed for our food. In line with this I have changed the some of the original recipes on this site to be vegan.
I hope the information in this website will be useful. This website is not trying to advocate 'fad' diets or 'clean eating', but is intended to help people who have genuine medical reasons for excluding certain food groups. If you have any comments or suggestions please email us at laura@dairyfreeme.com.
The important thing to remember is that you can still eat delicious food if you are on a restricted diet!
