Going Dairy-free For Beginners: A Complete Guide
- Emma Lisa
- Nov 6, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: May 2
Learn how to kickstart a dairy-free diet with expert guidance on beginning your journey from a Nutritionist. Whether you have recently been diagnosed with a milk allergy, dairy intolerance, or simply wish to eat a more plantbased diet for the health benefits, this guide is the perfect place to get started.
What Is A Dairy-free Diet?
A dairy-free diet is an eating style that fully excludes any, and all, dairy products like milk or yoghurt from the menu. By eliminating dairy, many people experience positive health benefits that range from improved digestion and reduced bloating, to clearer skin and weight loss. The dairy-free diet is often something people do when adopting a more plantbased lifestyle but, it can also be due to food allergies.
You may decide to go dairy-free because of a lactose intolerance, whey/casein sensitivity, or dairy allergy, which requires eliminating any, and all traces, of dairy products from your diet. On the other hand, you might just find that your body feels, and simply functions better without dairy included in your meals—less bloating, IBS, or weight gain issues. Many people also choose to go dairy-free because they are into veganism, and it is for more ethical reasons, such as concerns about the treatment of animal in the dairy industry, or for environmental sustainability.
Regardless of your motivation behind going dairy-free, this Nutritionist's guide is going to help you understand the benefits, and share how to get started on a dairy-free diet for beginners.
Why Go Dairy-Free?
As I already motioned, there are numerous reasons why people choose to go dairy-free. For a lot of my clients, it is due to food allergies or a newly diagnosed intolerance, and for others it is part of a shift to a plantbased or vegan lifestyle. There are many reasons why people choose to ditch dairy, but here's the common reasons why it can be beneficial:
food sensitivities: if you are lactose intolerant, allergic to dairy, or have discovered you have developed food sensitivities, eliminating dairy can help bloating, gas, or skin breakouts.
better digestion: lactose is an enzyme in milk that can hard for some people to break down, and lead to bloating, IBS and indigestion.
energy levels: an amino acid tryptophan found in milk products, can bring on brain fog, leave you feeling lethargic, low energy and sleepy.
happier gut: the protein, casein, found in milk can cause gut inflammation and digestive issues in many people. Fermenting dairy in the stomach can cause bloating, stomach pains and diarrhea in those sensitive.
skin health: dairy products can trigger skin problems such as acne, eczema, and psoriasis. This is a result of hormones and bioactive molecules found in milk; elimination wonders to clear the skin.
Depending on how severe or mild your dairy sensitivity might be, eliminating milk and switching to dairy-free, plantbased alternatives might be necessary. This can improve your health in a relatively short span of time. With bloating, digestive, and bowel issues, you may notice a difference within a day or two; other symptoms such as inflammation, skin, gut health, and weight loss may take several weeks to a few months to clear up.
What Can I Not Eat When Dairy-free?
Going dairy-free doesn’t mean you have to overhaul your entire diet. You can gently ease into a dairy-free diet simply by removing the most concentrated dairy products from your diet. Think, full cream milk, yoghurt, cheese, cream and ice cream. Unless you are really sensitive, allow yourself time to adjust to this dietary change, and then carry on to tackle other milk products, like butter or milk solids found in baked and pre-packaged goods. For many a staggered approach work well, and makes the process more manageable.
When eliminating dairy products from your diet, start with the more obvious forms of dairy such as cow's, goat or sheep milk, butter, buttermilk, cheese (all), cream, condensed and evaporated milk, custard, icing, ice cream, pudding, sour cream, whipped cream, and yoghurt. You'll also want to look out for artificial butter, cheese flavouring, casein or caseinates, diacetyl, curd, ghee, hydrolysates, lactalbumin, lactalbumin phosphate, lactose, lactoglobulin, lactoferrin, and lactulose.
Focus on avoiding the above items, and start swapping out any dairy for plantbased alternatives like almond, oat or soya milk. When you have found some substitutes that you can tolerate well, you can carry on to eliminate the other dairy-based products in your diet until they have all been successfully removed. Going fully dairy-free can take a few weeks, and unless your allergy is severe, don't feel you have to rush the process. Take your time, naturally replacing main meals and your favourite recipes with dairy-free options and ingredients.
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What Is The Best Way To Go Dairy-free?
Being a Nutritionist, I've taught many of my clients how to eliminate dairy using several approaches. It really just depends on how severe their dairy allergy or intolerance is, and the general health, age and goals of the person. I generally prefer to start clients off slowly, which is great for beginners, or those newly diagnosed with a mild intolerance. We begin by reducing the dairy currently consumed each day, and find healthy swaps that are non-dairy, plantbased to replace them. I encourage you to only make one dietary shift at a time, this way you can track the body's response more effectively than if you make a heap of changes all at once. Keeping a food and mood diary is highly recommended for this very reason, and can prove very helpful in tracking your progress, if you'd like help with this, please contact me.
Here are some healthy, dairy-free swaps to help you get started:
milk: try unsweetened almond milk, oat milk, soy milk, coconut milk, or cashew milk.
cheese: dairy-free cheeses are vegan, and usually made from cashews, coconut or soy beans; nutritional yeast is a nutritious vegan swap, and adds a cheesy flavour to foods.
butter: try plantbased butter/oil options like avocado, coconut butter or olive oil based spreads.
yoghurt: there are many dairy-free yoghurt options these days, most made from coconut, almond, or soy milk; look for low-sugar brands, and those with live cultures for probiotics.
cream or ice cream: you cannot get any better than coconut cream for a dairy-free substitute; also try oat cream, or cashew cream; these work well in most recipes and replace milk-based ice cream.
If dairy-free is something you are ready to kickstart, then keeping the above things in mind is going to help you make the journey a lot easier. There is perhaps only one other thing to consider, aside from finding recipe alternatives, and that would be cravings and dairy withdrawal symptoms.
Dairy Cravings & Withdrawal
Both gluten and dairy can be addictive, and often trigger an opioid response in some people. For others, dairy foods just taste so darn good that you can feel hangry at the thought of having to give them up. This can make the elimination challenging... if you let it. Dairy products such as cheese, ice cream, or milk, are comfort foods and often used for emotional eating. Funny fact, sometimes when your body is sensitive to a specific food, it can crave it even though it is sensitive. So, if your body is protesting like a three-year old when Ben & Jerry's or sour cream is removed, this could be why. The good news is that your body WILL move past this, recalibrate, and the symptoms will begin to fade with abstinence.
Cravings & Withdrawal
When reducing or detoxing from dairy, it is common to experience some, or all of these withdrawal and detoxication symptoms:
headaches: may happen while your body adjusts to not getting the same nutrient or chemical compounds; hydrate to ride it out
digestive changes: bloating, constipation, and changes in bowel movements are very common; focus on high fibre foods and lots of water to ease through this stage
mood swings: detoxing from certain foods can reduce or stimulate a dopamine release which may lead to highs, irritability or mental fatigue; you might be comforted to know this is temporary
fatigue: if you feel sluggish or tired, it is your body adjusting to less sugar and fat, and a sign of effective detoxification
When going dairy-free, as mentioned above, I highly recommend slowly decreasing your dairy intake rather than quitting cold turkey, and all at once. This can make the process easier on you, and help your body adjust more gently, while reducing the intensity of any withdrawal symptoms.
Dairy-Free Meal Ideas & Substitutions
Did you really think I'd let you scroll away without sharing some quick and easy dairy-free meal ideas? Not a chance, give these dairy-free suggestions and recipe ideas a go:
dairy-free food choices: fresh fruits, vegetables, grains (like rice, quinoa, oats), legumes (beans, lentils), nuts, and seeds are all naturally dairy-free and provide your body with many essential nutrients. Experiment with dairy-free cooking to find new flavours and textures you enjoy.
dairy-free milk: experiment with plantbased milk in place of dairy for your cereal, desserts, cakes, porridge, smoothies and pudding recipes. Coconut provides a creamy texture; soy is often very similar to dairy milk in texture and flavour, while almond or cashew milk is more watery but a 100% plantbased option.
dairy-free desserts: there are lots of healthy desserts that taste amazing and are also completely dairy-free, click here. Try making delicious dairy-free desserts like chocolate avocado mousse, creamy vanilla chia pudding, vegan ice cream, raw chocolate bark, or a yummy vegan edible cookie dough.
dairy-free breakfast: you can still make creamy breakfast recipes without any milk, just try overnight oats or chia pudding, smoothies, creamed wheat or rice pudding made with almond, coconut, or soy milk instead.
dairy-free cheese: you may need to try a few, but these days there many vegan cheeses on the market that taste just as good as brie, feta or cream cheese; use them in salads, pasta bakes, or as gourmet treats.
These tips ought to get you started, but you'll also find heaps more recipes and dairy-free support across the blogs and inside my free Facebook Community, click here.
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Free Recipes eBook
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Nutritionist's Note
Remember to replace and provide your body with the essential nutrients found in dairy like calcium and vitamin D, or consider a supplement. Foods such as leafy greens, chia seeds, and fortified juices can help you consume enough of these nutrients without the dairy in your diet. Eat these wholefoods in abundance--they have other health and nutritional benefits too!
If you have been newly diagnosed with a dairy allergy or intolerance, you'll want to start learning how to read and understand nutritional labels to help you avoid dairy and all its hidden names. You might be surprised to learn that dairy can hide in all kinds of unexpected places, and under names such as "casein," "lactose," or "whey." If you'd like help with this and to chat about what dairy-free means for you, book an into clinic session here.
Emma Lisa, Nutritionist & Women's Practitioner
Emma Lisa is a Nutritionist & Women's Health Practitioner with over 14+ years experience in clean eating nutrition, meal planning and health coaching. She is a published cookbook author, passionate food recipe creator and lifestyle blogger, and an advocate for women's health and anti-diet culture. When she's not in clinic, Emma is mum to five kids, always in her test kitchen and garden. She lives in Sydney, Australia.
Healthy + happiness,
Emma Lisa xx
HEALTH & NUTRITION PRACTITIONER
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Thank you for your nutritionist guide, most helpful.