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Are You Battling To Give Up Dairy? Reasons Why it’s Difficult and Tips on How to Quit

You could be battling to give up dairy for many different reasons. Could you be addicted to cheese? Or perhaps you are depending on food to make you feel loved and nurtured. Here are a few tips on how you can nip your dairy cravings in the bud.

Explore the Vegan Dairy Substitutes

You might be giving up dairy products, but you don’t have to give up cheese, milk, yogurt, pizza, chocolate, cheesecake, lasagna or ice cream. All of these delicious food choices can be made from plant-based foods with all of the flavor and none of the cholesterol. You can either make your own or buy them ready-made. There are tons of vegan substitutes.

When you feel like having dairy, visualize the flavors and consistency you want, and then find the foodstuff that satisfies those requirements.

There are new plant-based milks coming out every day. They can be made from oats, soy, rice, almonds, cashews, macadamia, coconut, potato, pea protein and more. Try different combinations. Some taste great in coffee, some work better in cooking. Instead of plant-based milk, you could also try adding a little ground vanilla or cinnamon to your hot drinks.

Check out this recipe to make your own vegan vanilla yogurt with homemade cashew milk.

Vegan cheeses can be made from all varieties of plant-based milk. And they are available in many different versions including cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan, Roquefort, cream cheese and many more.

Keep on experimenting. As you find one alternative that works for you in a specific situation then adopt that as your new normal. Draw a line in the sand and stand firm on that particular vegan step forward. Work on each instance individually. You don’t have to conquer everything at once.

A selection of plant based milk and bowls of nuts - geografika  - 123RF

Give Your Body Time

You will only be able to give up dairy products when you give them up absolutely. Any time you have the tiniest little bit of dairy, you will be back at square one. The good news is that cravings for cheese and dairy products reduce markedly after a period of complete abstinence.

This shouldn’t be surprising. Our bodies are designed to stop producing the lactase enzyme required to digest the lactose sugars in breast milk when we are weaned which at the latest would be between 4 and 5 years of age. We have passed that milestone years ago and the change is long overdue. So if you give up all forms of dairy for at least 10 days, your digestive system will have had time to find its natural balance.

Your taste buds take a little longer. You will only really like dairy substitutes after you have given up dairy completely. You will find that your taste buds come alive after you have ceased to coat them with saturated animal fats. They become more responsive to subtler flavors.

Dairy is a bit like a sledgehammer packed with cholesterol and mucous forming substances. It takes a while for our taste sensations to appreciate the nuances of the natural plant-based alternatives. Be patient. Your body will adjust.

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Choose Healthy Foods First

Rather than ‘giving up’ dairy, think of it as expanding your food choices. Fill up on the abundant range of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains and legumes that come in a rainbow of colors. And try new varieties every day. Increase the portion size of fruit and vegetables to accommodate for the reduced calorie content of your new low-fat, high fiber diet.

Most importantly, plan ahead to ensure you don’t find yourself hungry when surrounded by temptation.

Are You Addicted to Cheese?

Another reason we find cheese so hard to give up is that all breast milk from mammals (even humans) contains the protein casein which breaks down into casomorphins when digested and produces a mild opiate effect. This helps to soothe the baby and strengthens the mother-child bond thus ensuring that babies get all the nutrition they need to grow strong and healthy.

In cheese, the amount of casein is concentrated, therefore the amounts of casomorphin produced are higher. Cheese is also high in saturated fat. Our bodies are genetically designed to crave high-fat, high-calorie foods to stave off starvation. This gives cheese a double whammy.

Do you think that’s the reason — are you addicted to cheese?

The real question is — does it matter?

Would you tolerate an addiction if it were to any other substance like cocaine, alcohol or cigarettes; or would you take steps to overcome your addiction and take back control of your life?

Nurture Yourself

Whether dairy is physically addictive or not, we associate it with being nurtured and this can be emotionally habit-forming. Just like the calves, we are still looking for that feeling of safety and security we felt (or longed for) as a baby.

Dairy is most often the food we equate with love and nurturing. The ice cream treats we were rewarded with when we were good, the warm milk and honey our Mothers prepared as a bedtime treat and the boxes of chocolates we received as gifts from loved ones. We have confused emotional nurturing with physical nourishment.

We need to find other ways to make ourselves feel nurtured, loved and secure.

A few suggestions:

  • Exercise is a great way to nurture yourself. By participating in just 30 minutes of exercise, three days a week; your body will release the equivalent feel-good hormones you would get from taking an anti-depressant.
  • Ensure you get enough sleep and keep to the same sleep routine. Try not to alter your sleep cycle, not even by one hour, as this will upset your circadian rhythm.
  • Invest time in building a social support network that includes those close friends and family members who will offer you positive reinforcement.
A woman running along a track in a green forest

Overcome Your Social Conditioning

Having milk in our tea and on our cereal is a man-made convention. Think about it… It is completely unnecessary, but we have bought into the concept so much that we feel like something is missing if it isn’t there.

It is possible to change our mindset about this. Dairy is not an essential ingredient in our daily life. We can drink black tea. We can have muesli with water. We really can. It is just a case of training our taste buds and changing our perspective.

We are the architects of our own lives. Overcoming these social habits is easily accomplished when we are motivated to do so.

Acknowledge the Sentience of Cows

The primary reason you are battling to give up dairy is that you still think dairy is food. That it’s your food.

Now would be a good time for you to do more research into how dairy is produced, where it comes from, and the true cost in terms of lives that are lost.

Something happens when you educate yourself on the truth about dairy. Something changes your attitude to your relationship with farmed animals. If this is what motivates you to be vegan you won’t need discipline or willpower. You will undergo a paradigm shift and it will become impossible for you to eat animal products again. You simply won’t see animal flesh or byproducts as food anymore.

If you are battling to give up dairy then you haven’t discovered the whole truth about dairy. It’s as simple as that. You need to do more research. When you realize the whole truth then you won’t want to eat dairy products again

Cow and her young calf - Carol Hamilton - Getty Images

Commit to Your Vegan Journey

Now you know the truth about dairy production; you know there are compassionate and ethical plant-based alternatives to dairy products; and you know how to nurture yourself without self-medicating with cheese, ice cream and milk chocolate. It is time to make a commitment.

If you have decided to exclude dairy products from your life, that is wonderful! Make a conscious choice to stick to that decision and start using plant-based substitutes today.

On the other hand, if you are still not ready to let go of dairy products, then do not let this one issue make you give up on your vegan journey. Make a commitment to being vegan in every other aspect of your life.

Do not replace animal products with dairy — that is not a step forwards, it is a step backward. As long as you are replacing the other animal products you used to consume with vegan alternatives, then you are saving the lives of animals and eating a healthier diet.

Be clear about what steps you are willing to take to introduce compassion, health and moral consistency into your life; then stick with them.

You don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to go vegan overnight. It is possible to transition to being vegan. As long as you are taking vegan steps then you will keep on moving towards your goal of being vegan.

Karen Johnson - The Elated Vegan

Author Karen Johnson
Karen is passionate about vegan education, health, nutrition and fitness. She is a Nutritarian Coach certified with Joel Fuhrman M.D. Karen founded Elated Vegan in 2007 to raise awareness for farmed animals, and added the Elated Vegan Health marketplace in 2020 to source vegan supplements, and help people be healthy vegans.

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