How did you give up dairy for good?

18 comments

1. After 30, my body kinda did it for me. As delicious as some dairy is, the consequences weren’t worth it. There’s probably some horribly graphic and depressing vegan propaganda out there, if you’re more of a psychological trauma kinda person.

2. Self control is a good one, just dont do it. If you catch yourself going to have something with it, make the conscious effort to not and eventually it’ll be habit

3. I’m lactose intolerant. I (mostly) gave up lactose, but not dairy. Lactose-free milk is a bit more expensive but definitely worth it.

4. I half assed it regardless of my lactose intolerance lol

   I drink almond milk but still occasionally eat cheese/sour cream because goddamn is it delicious

5. I just stopped. My nursing baby had milk protein intolerance so I gave it up. I replaced cow milk in my lattes and cereal with oat milk. After a while, I didn’t miss it. I felt better without it and when I learned more about the dairy industry I couldn’t go back to it and became vegan.

   There are amazing plant based alternatives if you don’t want to give up the flavor. There are tons of plant milks, plant butter that tastes the same as cow butter, and I’ve made some tasty cheese sauces from nuts.

6. Like with giving up anything it’s always good to just start somewhere. Pick one group like milk or cream that you can start excluding and work your way to everything it will feel more gradual than restrictive that way you also have time to find substitutes or new ways of cooking that you like without having to figure it out all at once.

7. read about what happens to cows on dairy farms

8. Buy dairy alternatives. Easy peasy.

9. Guacamole satisfies my craving for salt and fat offered in cheese. Whenever I’m tempted to have cheese or milk, I just think of the bloating consequences that will follow. Not worth it.

10. I pretty much exclusively eat food from non-European cuisines. Most of the world outside of Europe is lactose intolerant so most of the dishes from those regions (like Asia) are non-dairy and still delicious.

    I’m lactose intolerant so the choice was sort of made for me, but it’s actually not that difficult to stop cooking with it and it’s easy to replace it with non-dairy milks in drinks. After a while, you stop craving it.

11. Became allergic to it. 1 tbsp of butter in my food is enough to make me sick for 2 days. Unlike my light tomato rashes, that was intolerable enough to make me quit dairy.

12. I got tired of being constantly gassy, bloated, and having diarrhea.

13. I think of how dairy is bad for the environment and cows have a terrible life producing milk for us. The guilt always keeps me away, which I know is not how to think about it but I just can’t help it.

14. I saw a documentary on how badly cows are treated in the dairy industry. That did it for me.

15. Vegan cheese, almond milk, cashew milk, goat cheese, feta, etc. The sunflower seed based ice cream is probably my favorite (I’m suprised by it). I loved dairy cheese. Favorite food of all time. But because of medical reasons I had to stop eating it and it was a tough thing to really give up. But my boyfriend and I just found all these great alternatives. Now dairy cheese kind of tastes weird to me if I sneak a little. I also love to cook so finding different things to cook with such as plant based stuff really helped too.

16. macadamia creamer.

17. I watched videos of the way the cows are treated, and the calves being taken away from their mothers. It was heartbreaking. I can’t eat/drink dairy now without hearing the cries of the poor cows.

18. Learning about treatment of cows in dairy farms.

    And years later a friend lived next to a dairy (probably why her rent was so cheap…) and frankly it was even worse than I imagined. Both in terms of being cruel and being disgusting.