Say goodbye to dairies: why?

A quick motivational guide

When deciding to switch to a vegan diet, many people find it hard to leave dairies behind. More often it’s not only milk, but cheese, butter, cream, milk proteins such as casein and lactose – the sugar component in dairies.

All these components are present in an unthinkable number of commercial products, like sauces, cereals, breads… if you have never checked the ingredient labels of the products you eat, it’s very likely that you have eaten dairies without even knowing it.

A dairy free diet is a diet that eliminates all the animal milk from your daily consumption, and all its derivatives.

Good news: dairy substitutes are not only very common in any supermarket chain nowadays, but they are also easy to make at home and tweak exactly as you want. The first step to take is to start to read the ingredient labels on the products you buy. Then, you can start with substitutions. It’s really easier than you think!

Nevertheless, in the beginning, the elimination process might feel quite overwhelming. And, at some point, you might even be tempted to quit, especially when you shockingly find out that your favourite food is not dairy free.

So let’s go down to business and let’s remind ourselves why we decided to go down this path: why are you eliminating dairies from your diet?

Allergies

Allergies and intolerance to dairies are most common in the world. They present themselves more and more in children, even if many adults suffer from them. Also, mothers consuming dairies and breastfeeding their child are more likely to cause colic in their child and increase the chances that the child develops food allergies.

Once you eliminate the source of your intolerance, you will feel liberated. No more bloating, skin rashes, migraines, haemorrhoids… do I need to continue?

Illnesses connected to dairies

Even dairy products that are lactose free still present a risk factor: eliminating lactose might eliminate some of your intolerance symptoms, but it doesn’t eliminate the risk of developing auto-immune illnesses, cancer, coronary diseases and osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis

Let’s briefly focus on the latter: it’s common belief that the remedy for osteoporosis is to drink more milk, which is rich in calcium. A famous study from Harvard University was conducted over 12 years and has examined 78,000 women, concluding that those who drank milk 3 times a day developed bone fractures more than those who rarely or never drank milk. Another famous study – that you can read in the book “The China Study” by T. Colin Campbell – demonstrates that a high-protein diet (including dairy products) is the major cause of osteoporosis, rather than the cure.

This is because dairies and other animal proteins increase the acidic charge in our organism, and calcium is used to neutralise these acids. Therefore, the calcium absorbed by dairies is used to neutralise the acids herein contained, and is not absorbed by our body at all. That makes the good reason for the consumption of dairies completely useless.

Cancer, coronary disease, diabetes, and auto-immune diseases

Cancer, coronary disease, diabetes, and a number of auto-immune disease are connected to dairy consumption. Keith Woodford, author of “Devil in the milk“, has gathered more than 100 scientific articles on a protein calles beta-casein A1, which has been associated to autism, type 1 diabetes, and coronary disease.

The link between dairies and some types of cancer are also well documented: prostate and breast cancer are the two most common outcome of the famous “growth hormone” (IGF-1). This is responsible for the growth of all the cells in our organism. When it is present in excess in the organism, our cell growth is accelerated but the old ones cannot be eliminated as fast. Dairies are responsible for the intake of the growth hormone.

Finally, coronary disease is directly connected to the consumption of dairies due to their content in saturated fats. These are responsible for our cholesterol level, which, if in excess, obstructs the arteries and the blood flow. Plant-based products, conversely, even when containing fat (for example, coconut milk), will reverse this process.

Ethical reasons

While dairies are omnipresent in the West, in large areas of the world dairies are not consumed at all, like in the East, Southern regions of Africa, or the Caribbean. Why is that?

dairy products were pushed on the market by businessmen at the beginning of the 19th century. It means that milk is no longer a farm product: it is “made”. Cows are injected with antibiotics to sustain an unnatural lifestyle, and and hormones are administered to stimulate and maximise their milk production. Cows are no longer seen as animals but as a commodity, managed by machines. Milk is cheap and low quality, and that’s why we find it everywhere.

Humans are the only species on the planet that continue to drink milk after weaning. And the milk we drink is not the milk of our mothers: it’s the milk produced by cows for the development of their calves. As Dr Robert M. Kradijan wrote, “the milk of each animal species is unique and developed for the unique needs of that animal species. In particular, cow’s milk is much more rich in proteins than human milk – 3 to 4 times richer. It comntains 5 to 7 times more minerals. It is significantly deficient in essential fat acids compared to human milk. […] Cow’s milk was simply not conceived for humans.”

You can read all the facts in his book, “The milk letter: A message to my patients” by Dr Robert M. Kradijan.

A simple solution

The solution is already there, plant-based products are good for us and for the planet. All you have to do is to discover them, and understand you’re not missing out on anything. On the contrary!

Credits: Ashley Adams, “Cuisiner sans produits laitiers“

Simona

I'm an IT professional with a background in journalism. Creating blogs with WordPress is a hobby and a passion of mine. Vegetarian since 2010, vegan since 2012, when I met Jeff I tempted his taste buds with my cooking and it's been love ever since.