Giving up dairy

[catabouttown]

Hello, I'm going to give this a try for three reasons:

1. It's supposed to clear up your skin and I have bad skin
   
2. I think I have a problem with bloating as much as excess fat at the moment and have read this will make a huge difference
   
3. I think a lot of my 'weakness' areas when it comes to food are dairy related. Too much cheese on food, lots of creamy things etc and so I think cutting it out completely will obviously help with me weight loss
   

Has anyone done this. I think I will need an extraordinary amount of willpower to pull this off so could do with hearing from people who feel they have benefitted!

[ppeatfruit]

Yes I do this almost all the time. It makes a hell of a lot of difference to me. I've discovered almond milk and with organic soya milk I really don't miss dairy.

DH stuffs cheeses and has a permanent cough and sometimes bad chest which just clears up as soon as he 'takes my advice' and gives it up!! I've lost weight with the paul Mckenna not just giving up dairy though.

[ppeatfruit]

Oooh I just remembered my friend who gave up wine and cheese and lost 2 stone!

[SenatusPopulusqueRomanorum]

I was forced to give up dairy when DD2 was born because she was breastfed and allergic to cow's milk protein.
It did make dieting easier because so many foods were forbidden (but I could have eaten my own body weight in Hobnobs or dairy-free cake had I wanted to).
However it made no difference whatsoever on my skin (going low sugar did).

[Trenzalor]

1 and 3 definitely. My skin felt so soft after a couple of weeks and even my elbows were soft! My weaknesses were dairy based so it has helped me eat better. The cravings can be gotten over, although cheese took the longest (Google caseomorphines and cheese). I have used other things to lose two stone, but I don't think these would've worked with my addiction to dairy.

[ppeatfruit]

I know that upping my intake of fresh fruit (vitamin C) and not drinking ANY alcohol makes my and DD's skin glow!

[weaselsquirrel]

I'm 10 days into becoming vegan (have been vegetarian for 20yrs since age 9). I weighed for the first time today and I've lost 6lbs. I'm eating better than ever, despite being a vegetarian my meals were cheesy pastas and creamy curry made with meat alternative etc. I ate too much chocolate I'm talking 200g bar every day! Yes I was that greedy. I still have 1st 10lb to loose to be within my healthy weight range but that doesn't sound so bad. My meals are full of pulses and brown rice. I'm having a almond milk and oat smoothie with cinnamon and apple for breakfast with spinach, nuts, and chia seeds. I suffer from awful dermatitis on my hands and I'm already noticing an improvement. My sleep has gone amazing I used to wake every hour but I'm sleeping 10-5 now. Long may it continue

[catabouttown]

Great to hear some positive stories. Breakfast will be a challenge. I like the idea of smoothies but just have no idea where to start and I'm not a morning person so find the idea of getting organised enough to make a smoothie before school run and work an almost insurmountable challenge!!

[weaselsquirrel]

You can make smoothies the night before and keep in the fridge (without chia seeds). But the seeds are brilliant they really fill you up as they expand in water.

[ppeatfruit]

catsabouttown ref. breakfast, I use olive oil instead of butter or vegan spreads because the spreads are plugged full of palm oil that I try to avoid too.

On toast or ryvitas it's lovely just a bit different, Of course you can use rice or oat milk etc. on cereals or make porridge with water (you would never know you're not having milk because oats make their own milk!).