Dairy products are most commonly made from cows milk in Western countries. Milk is comprised of proteins like casein and whey, milk sugars like lactose, fats, minerals, and vitamins. If you don’t have an allergy or sensitivity to dairy, you may have wondered whether you should avoid dairy anyway.
There are many people in the health and wellness world that fundamentally oppose the idea of any human over the age of 2 consuming any kind of milk that is produced by mammals for their young. If you have any kind of health challenge, it would be a good to try eliminating all dairy for 30 days and then reintroduce it and see if you notice any change in your body.
I am not sensitive to dairy, but I like variety. So I like to use dairy alternatives when I can. Here are some tips if you really want to avoid dairy:
Avoid These Ingredients
Like all allergies, it can be tricky to completely eliminate the offending substance because so many processed foods contain derivatives of the basic ingredient. Corn and what are other foods that takes some work to eliminate completely. Avoid the obvious sources of dairy like cheeses and milk (in all forms), but watch out for these lesser known dairy ingredients:
- Butter fat, butter oil, butter acid, butter ester(s)
- Casein
- Casein hydrolysate
- Caseinates (in all forms)
- Curds
- Custard
- Diacetyl
- Ghee
- Lactalbumin
- Lactalbumin phosphate
- Lactoferrin
- Lactose
- Lactulose
- Milk protein hydrolysate
- Rennet casein
- Whey (in all forms)
Use Dairy Free Alternatives
There are lots of commercial dairy free milk options these days. Coconut milk, almond milk, and soy milk are the most common. But there’s also almond, hemp, and oat milk just to name a few more. Just make sure that you opt for organic and unsweetened versions of these milks to make sure you’re getting your healthiest option.
If you want to avoid dairy and are are going to buy your diary free milk, you might want to be aware of the various thickeners used. Commonly used ingredients are xanthan gum, gellan gum, carrageenan, locust bean gum, and rice starch. If you are very sensitive, you could react to any of these thickeners. In that case, you might want to take the time to make your own dairy free milk. Almond milk is easy to make yourself. To make almond milk, you simply blend together almonds and water, until the almonds are completely broken down. Once blended, strain out the pulp either with a nut milk bag or a fine mesh strainer. Coconut milk is made the same way.
Cook at Home
One of the best ways to avoid diary is to make more of what you eat at home and use whole foods. This way you not only know what is going into your meals, but you also can pretty much know exactly what the ingredients you are using truly contain. Using whole food ingredients avoids the ambiguity of food labels and manufacturers of processed foods. Its easy to find some yummy vegan recipes on the internet like this one for a quick cashew sauce. https://pinchofyum.com/five-minute-cashew-sauce
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