Cutting out dairy or gluten is a diet change that is very real for many people across the country right now. More and more restaurants are offering gluten free options and even entire gluten free menus for people to look at. With veganism on the rise among Americans, many places are also willing to alter their dishes for non-dairy and non-meat eating customers. Mady Silber, senior, stopped eating gluten and dairy because she found out she was intolerant to both. But even though she can’t eat the tempting donuts during her shift at Dunkin’ Donuts, she’s extremely positive about the situation. It even inspired her to go on a complete health-kick by starting to work out regularly along with only eating healthy foods.

Not only does exercising obviously have a physical impact on her, but it also affects her mentally and gives her a way to manage stress, Silber stated, “I will exercise when I’m stressed, so I’m putting that negative stressful energy into my workouts and changing it into productivity and a positive end result.” Working out has changed her for the better, helping her body and mind to both stay healthy. She works out at home about 4-5 times a week, and has a weight rack in her house that she mainly uses. Occasionally she does yoga as well to relax and practice different stretches and poses. Silber isn’t the only one who believes exercise has a mental component to it. In one of their articles, the Mayo Clinic stated, “After a fast-paced game of racquetball or several laps in the pool, you’ll often find that you’ve forgotten the day’s irritations and concentrated only on your body’s movements. As you begin to regularly shed your daily tensions through movement and physical activity, you may find that this focus on a single task, and the resulting energy and optimism, can help you remain calm and clear in everything you do.” Which is exactly what Silber has been experiencing after deciding to be active.

After finding out that she had an intolerance to both dairy and gluten, she was forced to cut out snacks that many people see as tasty. Such as cheese and crackers, cheetos, most cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and many more. But, she found a new love in dairy free and gluten free alternatives that also happened to be non-GMO and considered more healthy due to the nutritional values on them. Even though at first it wasn’t a personal choice to cut out dairy and gluten, it sure became one for Silber overtime. She exclaimed, “I love eating healthy because I know I’m benefiting my body in the long run by not eating unhealthy foods all the time. And you feel so much better after eating healthy for even just a week, or by cleansing your body of things like sugar or dairy.” It’s such a big part of her life now that she brings her own healthy lunch to school everyday and got a special gluten/dairy free cake made for her and her friends at her birthday party. Silber has the intention of continuing her lifestyle change and she would like to “encourage others to do it because you can physically feel the difference.”