This post was sponsored by a2 Milk® as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review.

When I was 12 years old, I was at my friends house for a sleepover. We had mac & cheese for dinner, cookies & milk for dessert, we braided each others hair and talked about the boys we had crushes on, all that good ol’ 12-year-old stuff.

And later that night (like 1 in the morning later), I was doubled over in pain on the Jack and Jill bathroom floor. Bad, right?

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

I had a crush on my friend’s brother, and you know how Jack and Jill bathrooms work, right? It’s a bathroom that is shared between two bedrooms. And that cute brother I had a crush on was in one of those two bedrooms. So here I am, a rolling, pitiful heap, certain that something was horribly wrong with me, but terrified to make a sound lest it wake and offend this guy I didn’t even have a chance with anyway. It was a tweenage nightmare.

Eventually I crawled my way out of the bathroom and alerted my parents that they’d need to come pick me up, all the while assuming they’d take me straight to the hospital for what must have been food poisoning or appendicitis or whatever young hypochondriacs came up with before WebMD. Instead, they took me home, told me to take a bath, and just let nature take its course. After what felt like an exorcism in my stomach, my mom explained that I was lactose intolerant. Or at least lactose sensitive.

See, after some careful experimentation, I learned that I can do cheese and yogurt, but a glass of milk and I’m right back at my friend’s house, writhing on the ground and wondering what I did for the digestive gods to punish me like this.

Over the years, I’ve become a connoisseur of milk alternatives, but frankly, they’re just not the same. They all have their own distinctive flavors, and sometimes that’s fine if you’re into them, but sometimes I just want my latte to taste like a frickin’ latte. Grain and coffee char is wildly unappealing in the morning, y’all.

All this said, I’m really excited to announce that I’m an a2 Milk® Ambassador!

What’s a2 Milk®?

a2 Milk® is actual milk from a cow, but it’s from a particular heirloom breed that doesn’t produce the A1 protein from their milk. Since the A1 protein, aka casein, is the cause of digestive issues for a lot of people with lactose sensitivities, it’s an interesting alternative for weirdos like me.

Most cows produce both A1 & A2 proteins, but these cows only produce a2 (like goats and humans), so the milk doesn’t have to be chemically processed to be sensitivity safe. SCIENCE!

Resa, does that mean…

YEAH DAWG, it means that if you get the bubble gut and/or mud butt from drinking milk, this could be the answer for your dairy drama. If you haven’t been diagnosed with actual lactose intolerance from a doctor/allergist, you can probably drink a2 Milk® without symptoms.

But it still tastes like regular milk?

Yes! This is probably the biggest bonus here, because sure, there are alternatives, but they all come with flavor interference issues. I’m so over having to choose between iced coffee that tastes good and iced coffee that won’t destroy me from the inside, so I’m pretty stoked on this.

Where can I get my hands on this?

You can find an a2 Milk retailer near you at a2milk.com, and while you’re at it, you can follow a2 Milk® Facebook and Twitter.

If you have dairy troubles, what are you most excited to enjoy again? If you don’t, what would you have the hardest time giving up?