Things to consider when giving up milk

Following on from the last post on why I'm giving up milk, I thought it might be a good idea to write about this because its always good to be prepared.

Note - the tips given will also be useful to those who are lactose intolerant. Symptoms include bloating and stomach discomfort after consuming dairy.

Sesame seeds are full of calcium

1.If you used milk containing foods to get your calcium, make sure you get calcium from other sources.
Good sources include green leafy veg like broccoli (high in iron too), cabbage, spinach (note that spinach although it is a good source of calcium it contains a chemical that may stop your body from absorbing calcium 0 to prevent this have something that's high in vitamin C, say like a glass of orange juice), almonds (they have more calcium than any other nut and contain fibre), figs (they have a high amount of calcium and are very nutritous), kale (contains more clacium per ounce than milk) and sesame seeds (don't be fooled by their size as these littlte seeds are a wonderful source of calcium, iron, magnesium and those all important B vitamins).

2.If you like margarine or butter on things like toast, pancakes, scones and cornbread, there are dairy free spreads available.
Try your local health food store or supermarket. There are different varieties.
Tip - try different spreads like preserves, jam, peanut butter, melted or sqashed down banana, marmalade etc... There are so many things you can spread on your bread.

3.If you can't stand the taste of black tea or coffee, check out milk replacers, often called cremer or creamer or coffee\tea whitener.
My favourite is SoyGo, a Soy cremer that comes in individual sachets so you can carry it around with you for work or visiting friends and relatives. To read more about it, see my previous post about Milk Replacers.

Tip - you need to give it a good stir, let it settle then stir again, but in my opinion it's the best milk replacer for tea and coffee on the market. I've tried quite a few.

4.Remember, dairy free chocolate is readily available.
It's plain chocolate or dark chocolate. Check the label.

5.The most common way we used milk in our house when I was growing up, was in our cereal.
The good news is that you can replace cow's milk with other kinds of milk. Rice milk, Soy/soya milk, almond milk and even coconut milk can be used.

6. Dairy free ice cream can taste amazing.
There are more and more ranges coming out all the time. My personal fave is Swedish Glace. It tastes amazing. See my review here.
Tip - try out the chocolate version of any non-dairy/dairy-free ice cream first as its usually the best.

Sadly, Swedish Glace now off my shopping list as well known animal torturers Unilever buy the company.

 

Milk replacer tips

When I stopped drinking milk (for health reasons and because of the horror that goes on in the dairy industry), there were two things I missed most of all -

1. Cereal. I loved cereal and ate it all the time.

2. Tea. In Scotland where I live, we are a nation of tea lovers. We drink it all the time even although there seems to be a Starbucks on every corner.

Then I made two discoveries. Firstly, that I could replace milk in my cereal with soya (soy) milk. I tried all the different varities: sweetened, unsweetened and various flavours. I also tried rice milk, oat milk and almond milk. To be honest, I didn't like them much.

Then I discovered Provamel's banana flavoured soya milk and thought, 'Mmm, now this I like.' So, I've been having that in my cereal ever since.

You may find your tastes are different, but there should be one non-dairy milk that you like.

My latest discovery is SoyGo coffee creamer, which you can buy either in a carton or in sachets to carry around with you. One box contains 25 sachets. I bought it from the VIVA online shop, but you may be able to find it in a health store.

I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that this is the best milk replacer I have used. Tea tastes like tea and if you take away the fact that you need to really stir your tea or coffee to ensure this dissolves, then I have to give it a well earned 9 out of 10.