fords - TISWAS '13 A87788524

So I decided to try out veganism again after discovering that I have a lactose intolerance. I've been using LactoFree products for a few months but I was still feeling bloated and bunged up (don't worry I won't go into any more detail ), so I decided that I'd try ditching the dairy completely. I also have an egg intolerance so going vegan doesn't fill me with as much trepidation second time around!

Four days in and I'm pleasantly surprised at how good I feel. I'm not as bloated as I was, I'm starting to lose weight, my sinuses are starting to unblock (I had sinusitis a while back and it never truly went away) and I'm not missing cheese as much as I thought I would. This might actually work out!

I started my vegan reboot on Monday after hitting Twitter and randomly asking people about vegan wine and cheese, where I got a fantastic response and lots of great suggestions for alternatives. I even got a tweet back from the actor Paul Higgins, who recommended Majestic Wine Warehouse as a great source of vegan wine

Feeling a lot better about life without cheese, I finished off the last of the LactoFree, bought some soya milk and perfected the art of making coffee with Alpro instead of cow's milk. Tomorrow I'm going to hit the health food shops and stock up on alternatives such as Sheese (vegan cheese made in Rothesay and highly recommended by many) and other dairy style products, egg alternatives for baking and any other goodies I can find.

As my first attempt at veganism was about 15 years ago, it really is so heartening to see the progress made with vegan food this time round. I'm constantly surprised by how many products I'm already eating are vegan anyway, which is definitely making the transition a lot easier.

...I will be in you next Wednesday!

I've been invited to the Lovelace Colloquium, which is an event for female computing students. There's also going to be a poster competition and as one of the lucky entrants Google are kindly paying for my travel and accommodation. Wish me luck for the comp, they're giving out money as prizes!

Huzzah, I'm now in charge! Towel Day '13 is now in danger of being planned, so if you want to come and get drunk with some randoms in Edinburgh in May, sign up

SRG page A599376
Towel Day '13 page (TISWAS) A87788524

You know that feeling when you cough so much you feel like you're going to be sick? Yeah, I have that and it's driving me nuts. Still, at least the snow's gone, hurray!

I've been getting stomach pains for a while and so far nothing has turned up in the subsequent medical investigations. Well, apart from the dietician telling me I'm not coeliac and the pain and bloating is because despite my back problems I should be out doing 5k runs every morning

Recently I started buying tea instead of coffee at uni, mainly because it's cheaper and I'm still awaiting my student money from SAAS (which is an epic story in itself). I've noticed that I've been losing weight, so I was surprised when I weighed myself the other day and discovered I'd lost about six or seven kilos over two weeks! I take my tea black and my coffee white and haven't been eating a lot of dairy products recently, so have come to the conclusion that I may be lactose intolerant. Trouble is, if I cut out dairy completely that means I'll be vegan and I don't wanna be a vegan - cheese is just too awesome to give up