I’m wondering if avoiding only milk, cheese, cream and other milk products has a harmful effect if you otherwise eat everything else like meat, eggs, etc? Or is it something that needs to be substituted nonetheless?
Lactose tolerance in adults is something unique to humans, at least in the numbers it exists in humans. It evolved relatively recently (in the past 10,000 years). Vast areas of the world are largely lactose intolerant as adults (large areas of Africa and Asia, in particular) because large groups in these societies never drank milk.
Most adult animals are lactose intolerant (yes, even cats). Some individuals might be lactose tolerant as adults, but the vast majority aren’t.
You won’t do any harm by not drinking milk. You just need a diet that has the appropriate nutrients.
Many Asians and Africans drink no milk at all their entire lives and are no worse for it.
Milk is not at all an essential food. As long as you eat a varied and healthy diet then you will not be missing out on the calcium and protein that milk provides. You likely won’t need to make any substitutions if your diet is otherwise good.
There has historically been big money invested by dairy companies to include milk in the food pyramid and other dietary recommendations to make people think it is important, but it’s not really. It’s a good food item if you don’t have health or ethical objections, but definitely isn’t necessary.
I had no dairy from the age of 2, (now 52) i am well and truly dairy very very intolerant/sensitive!
My Dr said that women would miss the calcium but otherwise greens broccoli etc can replace the loss of dietary calcium.
You got me thinking about calcium, since that’s one of the things milk is known for. Other than that, I don’t think avoiding dairy would be an issue.
However, in my reading here it seems as cows milk is not a complete source of calcium so you’d have to make sure you consume other nutrients. But, plant based milks can have multiple forms of calcium, making them more complete and more absorbable on their own.
Just thought I’d share since I found this interesting.
One issue is you may develop lactose intolerance if you cut out dairy.
I’ve gone the almond milk route and have lost weight (doing other things of course). I did a quick tally on how many extra calories in a month I consume from my milk alone and it’s in the thousands. Lactose is the culprit.
Glass of milk people where you at!Milk in the eggs. Milk in the bread. Milk in the pizza. Milk in the pancake. Milk in the coffee. Milk in the bong. milk in the school lunch. Milk in the Chile. Milk in the everything
It would be impossible to say what the effects of avoiding a food would be, because foods that you don’t eat can’t affect you, only foods that you eat can affect you.
Milk is in no way necessary for good health. Its inclusion as a food group on old American nutrition advice was essentially just a combination of a cultural decision and a political one to play to the dairy lobby.
If you are worried about getting enough calcium, examples of non-dairy foods that are rich in calcium include beans and dark leafy green vegetables.