# Thinking of giving up dairy, any experiences?



## Schmosby (Jan 26, 2014)

So I want to give dairy free a try, has anybody had good/bad experiences with it?


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## SofaKing (May 9, 2014)

I was vegan for about a year. I still only drink plant milk. Some of the soy products are tolerable to quite excellent. 

Eggs can be tougher to give up, but you only mentioned dairy.

Very doable, really.


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## Schmosby (Jan 26, 2014)

I don't really eat eggs any more, I used to eat them a lot when I was on my fitness kick, I eat a lot of cheese have milk on cereal twice a day, I was mainly going to give up to see if it makes less phlegmy and stuffed up, I feel like it increases with my dairy intake, I'm also thinking about mostly giving up meat too actually, just to try it out and see how I feel.


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## Schmosby (Jan 26, 2014)

KyleInSTL said:


> I was vegan for about a year. I still only drink plant milk. Some of the soy products are tolerable to quite excellent.
> 
> Eggs can be tougher to give up, but you only mentioned dairy.
> 
> Very doable, really.


do I take it the vegan thing didn't work out well? why did you switch back?


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## SofaKing (May 9, 2014)

Lack of will over time and I got a bit bored. I went from vegan to vegetarian to f'ck it, I'm a carnivore. I still limit my animal protein where I can.

I'd still encourage trying it, but just because it's vegan it doesn't make it healthy. I was starting to put back on the pounds when I justified pasta as ok.


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## tea111red (Nov 8, 2005)

I stopped eating it regularly ever since I realized it makes me congested and breaks me out. I think it blurs my vision somewhat more, too.


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## Schmosby (Jan 26, 2014)

tea111red said:


> I stopped eating it regularly ever since I realized it makes me congested and breaks me out. I think it blurs my vision somewhat more, too.


I've had blurred vision too, I'll have to see if it helps.


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## Darktower776 (Aug 16, 2013)

I can't really drink milk anymore and I've tried to cut my overall dairy intake down a lot. It was causing me to get sinus infections and congestion.


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## Schmosby (Jan 26, 2014)

Darktower776 said:


> I can't really drink milk anymore and I've tried to cut my overall dairy intake down a lot. It was causing me to get sinus infections and congestion.


Yea congestion is what I've had for as long as I remember, I tried using a netti daily but it's inconvenient and doesn't stop the real problem, it only really helped for a few hours.


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## seeking777 (Oct 24, 2012)

Yeah, I stopped drinking milk from cows about a year ago. I only drink almond milk. I did it because it started causing gas, bloating and other issues I will not mention here. But it is really difficult for me to give up cheese and yogurt. I love them both. I will eventually once I find an alternative to replace them. I guess hummus could replace cheese. Someone told me there is vegan cheese but I don't know what it's made of and haven't tried it yet. I don't know know what could replace yogurt except fruit.


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## Robot the Human (Aug 20, 2010)

If you give it up for a while, it should at least give your body a break. As far as I know I'm not lactose intolerant, but it seems whenever I eat a lot of dairy I get instant phlegm/minor congestion. I try to keep dairy at least to twice a week or in moderate amounts. I quit doing cereal because of all that milk, plus I read it's not ideal for your digestive system to mix liquids and solids. I think the rule is to drink, 20-30 minutes either before or after you eat solid food. That's probably silly for most people, but I was the odd type that never really had a drink with my food. I'd enjoy a drink as a completely separate thing, so that's never been a problem for me.

Meat is good to cut out too, which I avoid lots of red meat and large steaks especially. I still have a bit of red meat maybe twice a week, because you need at least some B12. You could go on a red meat fast for a while, or just eat much smaller portions like a deck of cards-sized piece. If I go too long without any red meat, I just don't feel right. The last large steak that I had, I felt terrible for two and a half days after. 

If you're a frequent steak/burger eater and a cereal eater, I'd say cutting those two things down alone should make a difference. It also depends on the type of dairy and meat you are getting, as well as the serving size. Dairy Queen ice cream is like murder on my stomach, but I can tolerate most soft-serve from the local places no problem.


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## Schmosby (Jan 26, 2014)

Robot the Human said:


> If you give it up for a while, it should at least give your body a break. As far as I know I'm not lactose intolerant, but it seems whenever I eat a lot of dairy I get instant phlegm/minor congestion. I try to keep dairy at least to twice a week or in moderate amounts. I quit doing cereal because of all that milk, plus I read it's not ideal for your digestive system to mix liquids and solids. I think the rule is to drink, 20-30 minutes either before or after you eat solid food. That's probably silly for most people, but I was the odd type that never really had a drink with my food. I'd enjoy a drink as a completely separate thing, so that's never been a problem for me.
> 
> Meat is good to cut out too, which I avoid lots of red meat and large steaks especially. I still have a bit of red meat maybe twice a week, because you need at least some B12. You could go on a red meat fast for a while, or just eat much smaller portions like a deck of cards-sized piece. If I go too long without any red meat, I just don't feel right. The last large steak that I had, I felt terrible for two and a half days after.
> 
> If you're a frequent steak/burger eater and a cereal eater, I'd say cutting those two things down alone should make a difference. It also depends on the type of dairy and meat you are getting, as well as the serving size. Dairy Queen ice cream is like murder on my stomach, but I can tolerate most soft-serve from the local places no problem.


I think a lot of ice cream doesnt have dairy in it, they make it from whey powder because its cheaper, at least thats what a tv program told me.

For dinner I normally have chicken 3-5 days a week, with brown rice or cous cous and veg and the other days I'll have bolognese with pasta or chilli with brown rice, during the day I normally have cheese on toast or cheese on garlic and corriander naan bread at least twice a day and I have oats/saltanas/bran flakes whith semi skimmed milk twice per day.

It seems odd that liquid with food would be bad since a lot of food has liquid in it by default such as fruit and vegetables, but I don't mind eating cereal with water on it in place of milk, I am planning on giving almond milk a try too.


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## Robot the Human (Aug 20, 2010)

D'oh, you're from the UK so that changes things a bit. You should have better luck with the quality of food there. Chicken is my main source of food too, but sometimes I question the quality of what the label claims. American labels will often tell you what you want to hear, just so you'll buy it.


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## Sacrieur (Jan 14, 2013)

I have a mild dairy allergy.

If it makes you feel better do it, if not then don't. There is no reason to cut out a nutritious food just because.


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## Steinerz (Jul 15, 2013)

I think it's good to give it up just to see if you feel any better without it. Can always go back to consuming f you don't notice a difference.


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## Kakumbus (Mar 27, 2012)

So you wanna go dairy free for the shake of going dairy free? Yes drinking breast milk as an adult cannot possibly be healthy because we are the only specie still drinking breast milk as adult taking all these growth hormones. Dairy is MUCH more then lactose, its growth factors, peptides, casein, whey, bacteria for new born and not adult, the list goes on. But if you wanna quit dairy you should have more then, "hey i wonder how awesome quitting dairy would be".

Oh I used to have the WORST hay fever there is and no amount of pill would get rid of it completely, quitting grain and dairy fixed that.

Oh and i dont care if its hydrolyzed whey protein powder, lactose-free, raw milk, colostrum, casein extract, rat milk, or extracted growth hormones, its ALL ****ing DAIRY.


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## loneranger (Dec 29, 2012)

Schmosby said:


> I don't really eat eggs any more, I used to eat them a lot when I was on my fitness kick, I eat a lot of cheese have milk on cereal twice a day, I was mainly going to give up to see if it makes less phlegmy and stuffed up, I feel like it increases with my dairy intake, I'm also thinking about mostly giving up meat too actually, just to try it out and see how I feel.


Yes, dairy increases phlegms in your lungs. I have that problem. I try to avoid dairy.


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## Schmosby (Jan 26, 2014)

Well I have one more block of cheese left in the fridge and I'm going to leave a note out for the milkman to stop bringing milk after this billing period, I also had a meat free meal for the first time the day before yesterday and am having another today, so I'm on track.


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## SofaKing (May 9, 2014)

Congrats on the changes you're making!


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## Ladysoul (Jan 24, 2014)

Iv been following a vegan diet since I found out I was intolerant, so youd be realy surprized at how many things diary is actually found in, if your going to go the full non-dairy route. Goodluck


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## Brilliantly Beta (Aug 5, 2012)

Kelebek said:


> Iv been following a vegan diet since I found out I was intolerant, so youd be realy surprized at how many things diary is actually found in, if your going to go the full non-dairy route. Goodluck


^ This most definitely. I have suspected IBS which I actually started to notice was linked to dairy. Whenever, I consume anything dairy I always seem to get really bad stomach cramps. I am on lactose free milk which is really good, almond milk tastes a little funny, not like normal milk would taste but it's not bad. Goats milk hugely depends on your taste it takes a bit of getting used to and the taste depends largely on the quality of the milk and the goat's diet from what I've heard. I personally didn't mind it but ended up switching to lactose free milk instead.

Honestly though, I still put up with stomach pains because cutting lactose from your diet is an extremely difficult thing to do. They seem to pump every single one of my favourite treats with milk it's not fair .

However, they are trying to be accommodating for people who don't like/can't have lactose, they do lactose free cheese and chocolate which isn't bad


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## Ladysoul (Jan 24, 2014)

ShyWolfie said:


> ^ This most definitely. I have suspected IBS which I actually started to notice was linked to dairy. Whenever, I consume anything dairy I always seem to get really bad stomach cramps. I am on lactose free milk which is really good, almond milk tastes a little funny, not like normal milk would taste but it's not bad. Goats milk hugely depends on your taste it takes a bit of getting used to and the taste depends largely on the quality of the milk and the goat's diet from what I've heard. I personally didn't mind it but ended up switching to lactose free milk instead.
> 
> Honestly though, I still put up with stomach pains because cutting lactose from your diet is an extremely difficult thing to do. They seem to pump every single one of my favourite treats with milk it's not fair .
> 
> However, they are trying to be accommodating for people who don't like/can't have lactose, they do lactose free cheese and chocolate which isn't bad


 Oh iv found that some milks that say lactose free still infact contain some type of dairy. so I stick with soy.
Waw if those are your symptoms I highly suggest a Gastroenterologist visit, if you haven't already I get that some self diagnose but there can be complications due to your intolerance that is worth getting checked out. =)


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## Sacrieur (Jan 14, 2013)

Kelebek said:


> Oh iv found that some milks that say lactose free still infact contain some type of dairy. so I stick with soy.


Lactose free milk _is_ dairy. Without lactose.


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