Going Dairy Free

Let’s start off by saying I have a confession…. I am a dairy-oholic. Love almost every dairy item, especially ice cream! Here is the problem. I can officially say I am allergic to dairy :(. See I have pretty bad eczema and knew I was allergic to something. So the best way to test this is by elimination. Taking out individual things like milk, wheat, eggs, nuts, etc one at a time for over a week and up to 3. After about a week my eczema was getting better and I was a lot less itchy.

Then I cracked and went on a dairy binge, eating everything from cheesy popcorn to ice cream. Now I am all itchy again. So starting today tomorrow (since I am eating ice cream while I write this as my last hooray) I have to give up dairy for good :(.

So what is one to do when they have to give up Dairy? Make substitutions. Instead of using milk we have been using almond milk, soy milk, or coconut milk. Make recipes using these non-dairy milks instead like these awesome vegan pancakes. Some recipes might not work. Supposedly pudding is not as firm with soy milk according to the package, but I think pudding has milk solids in it so I guess it doesn’t matter anyway. Instead of yogurt or ice cream you can try soygurt or soy or rice ice cream. Use margarine instead of butter. Substitute cheese for fake veggie based cheese or just go without. Be careful with this, because I bought a veggie cheese thinking it was dairy free, but it was just lactose free and still contained milk. So make sure to read your labels! Things you wouldn’t think of probably have dairy or something else your allergic to in it.

I would love to hear any tips or tricks in eliminating dairy! Please feel free to comment!

This was part of the Homestead Barn Hop

8 Comments

  1. Congratulations on taking care of yourself! Going dairy-free is so much easier these days. The variety of substitutes is amazing. I will be posting on making your own rice milk soon.
    Enjoy your road to better health!

  2. Hi this is my first visit to your blog and I love it! 🙂 I wanted to give you a couple suggestions… I went dairy free when I tried being Vegan for a few months… it was much easier than I thought it would be and I was amazed at the awesome alternatives. My son was allergic to milk when he was born until 18 months so we had a lesson in going dairy free then as well! Here are my tips… try using Hemp milk for baking… this is what my son was on after weaning off breastmilk because it has the most “fat” than any other dairy free alternative milk. And for a healthier alternative to margarine… please try using Earth Balance butter… it is delicious (you cannot tell the difference). And another favorite brand of mine that provides dairy free mayonnaise and cheese, etc… is Follow Your Heart. Daiya Cheese though is the BEST for MELTING.

    Good luck!! You can do it!! You and your family will never know the difference!! I hope my tips help!

  3. Hi Amy good luck on your lifestyle change, I stated drinking almond milk and love the taste, and would love to make my own.
    Enjoy your day.
    Sue

  4. My suggestion would be to do a little research and/or experimenting with raw dairy. We do raw milk and cheese and have had several friends who can’t tolerate dairy try raw cheese with no ill effects. I would also suggest coconut oil over margarine if you cant do butter, margarine is not very good for you, but coconut oil has tremendous health benefits. You may want to do a little research on soy also as its health benefits are controversial and many think it is quite unhealthy for our bodies. So sorry to hear you have to cut out the dairy, but glad you can cut the itching out too!

    1. Thanks for the advice. I have looked into raw milk, but have not found any places around here unfortunately. I have used coconut oil before but I think it would be good to use it more! That’s funny that you mention soy, because my husband and I just had this conversation and thought we should switch between soy and almond milk each week. In order to help not ingest to much soy. Thank for all the helpful advice.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *