About a year and a half ago, I quit dairy for a few months because I knew it wasn’t doing my body any good. At first, I had some difficulty adjusting to life without cheese, milk, and butter, but then it became my new normal. Currently, I eat dairy on occasion, usually when I’m out to eat or at a friend’s house, but it is not a part of my daily diet. I’ve found this works best for me; I’m not completely depriving myself of something I do enjoy, but I’m also not regularly eating something my body doesn’t like. The more I learn about dairy, the more I believe that it is not a vital part of anyone’s diet and shouldn’t be consumed with regularity. Let me tell you why I limit my dairy and you can decide for yourself!
It doesn’t make me feel good.
When I eat a lot of dairy, I tend to get an upset stomach and am generally more tired. After quitting dairy without changing anything else in my diet, I immediately felt better, had fewer stomachaches, and dropped five pounds. This was five pounds of bloat that I was carrying around because my body doesn’t easily digest dairy. More energy, no stomachaches, and weight loss were good enough reasons for me to stay off it.
I get pimples.
It may be a vain reason for not eating dairy, but who wants pimples on their face? There is science to prove the relation of milk and acne, but all I need to know is when I go back to eating dairy, pimples follow shortly after. No thanks! Almond milk tastes just fine to me (shown above).
Milk is for calves, not for humans.
Cow’s milk is meant for calves, as human milk is meant for human babies. We are the only mammals that drink another species’ milk. Cow’s milk has an addictive substance that makes the calves want to drink their mother’s milk, which in turn helps them grow. So now, us humans are drinking and eating this addictive substance as adults. It’s a little odd, don’t you think?
Would you ever consider cutting back on dairy?
Giving up dairy is not easy, and you may wonder what the heck you are going to eat. If you think you might want to give up dairy and need a bit of help with the process, check out my Real Food First program and Winter Meal Plan…both include 28 days of real foods that are 100% dairy and gluten free…and 100% delicious.
6 Responses
Hi Caitlin and Happy New Year.
I have never liked milk and would refuse to drink it at a very young age to my parents consternation. But I do believe instinctively my body knew I was allergic. After enduring horrible heartburn the past few years – I decided to try the Whole30 elimination — and sure enough discovered that my daily yogurt breakfast and love of cheese was causing me problems! I have definitely cut back and now I know the consequences of indulging in dairy ((mostly cheese) particularly during the holidays. My results were affirmed after reading this article by Mark Bittman and how dairy also caused him similar problems. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/07/got-milk-you-dont-need-it/?_r=0
Wishing you continued good health and much success in your new endeavors. Kate H
Whole30 was actually my first experience eliminating dairy too! It felt great, but then I went back to dairy, and then I went back off of it, because I finally knew what feeling good felt like. I’m glad you were able to figure it out too. Mark Bittman has great articles- thanks for sending! Thanks for your well wishes and continued support with my new endeavor!
I could not relate to this more! I am completely off dairy, because Josh was having issues digesting it from my breast milk. It made him super fussy and gassy and spit up a lot. So sad! It’s actually been working out great. I feel wonderful without it. Thank goodness for earth balance and almond milk, best butter and milk substitute!
I’m glad he’s better! It’s hard to get off of it, but it sounds like it’s already proven it’s worth it. Check my new post today- you should try ghee too!
Once I tried limiting my diary consumption, just because I’ve read somewhere it was unhealthy. Like you, I would only eat diary when eating out which was rare. At first I didn’t notice any changes, but after a few months I started feeling really bad. I had muscle aches all over and was feeling constantly tired. I figured it was the lack of calcium. I did try to compensate by eating other calcium rich foods but apparently it was not enough. Calcium supplements did help but I don’t like depending on supplements so now I’m back to my dairy reach diet. I guess different diets work for different people.
That’s really interesting! I rarely hear of people that have gone off dairy and gone back on because they felt better with it. Good to know though, and you are right-every person has a diet that works right for them. I am glad to hear you took the time to figure it out because that’s the most important part.