to wish tax payers money was not paid to promote cows milk and dairy

[brt100]

Cards on table, I don't drink dairy as I'm health conscious, its for another animal with a very different body structure, diet and only for infants.

I get it that its delicious, well cheese is, but what I don't like is all these adverts on buses paid for partly by tax payers money to encourage people to drink milk. There are much better sources of calcium that the body can absob better so that argument is a con.

My sister gives her 7 yo a chease string every lunch time and thinks its healthy and vital.

Have you tried different soy milks? They vary a lot. I love marks and Spencer's soy drink as it's lovely and creamy.
My DH prefers unsweetened alpro soy which doesn't taste like lots of other soy milks.
It took me a while to adjust to soy milk but now I don't even notice I'm drinking it, it's definitely worth shopping around
I love almond milk on cereal but not in tea.

Does any soy milk have at least 3.6% fat in it?

Yes, the alpro junior plus is slightly higher than others at 2.3%

Not more than 3.6 obviously but higher than other milks

weatherall
A lack of calcium intake amongst the British female population is a major public health problem.

We need to consume more dairy not less.

I'd rather cows were mooing for a day than grandchildren crying for weeks because their dear granny has died 10 years too soon.

weatherall You paint an extremely distorted and inaccurate picture of the causes of osteoporosis. Whilst calcium status might be one factor, there are numerous other factors which have a bearing on bone health relating to lifestyle, diet, genetics, age and gender (why do you suppose osteoporosis is far more common in women, than men?).

Here, educate yourself:

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/osteoporosis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

pages 3 - 4
www.nos.org.uk/document.Doc?id=47

I'm more concerned about the money spent on us receiving incorrect 'diet' information in general!
The 'Eat Well Plate', should be renamed the 'Eat Badly plate', and as for all the advertising for sugary products, or worse still, sugar free....well!

You should have seen the crap my grandmother ate dripping sandwiches all the fat off meat and she was 90 when she died. I'd love to know what sort of diet the OP eats and perhaps we will find out why she is so miserable.

I am vegan and loathe the dairy industry for its treatment of cows and calves. As a society, consuming large quantities of dairy (and eggs, poultry and meat) has been very deeply normalised, so for the most part people don't question it and those who deviate from that norm by rejecting dairy, etc. are the strange ones.

I hope that one day we will be more compassionate towards animals and stop viewing them as commodities to be bought and sold. It is perfectly possible to have a healthy, balanced diet without animal products. Making the change is not easy if you've grown up seeing meat and dairy as the normal sources of protein, calcium, etc. but it IS very possible to get it all from plant-based foods if you research it properly.

In terms of health, it is equally possible to be an unhealthy vegan as it is to be a healthy omnivore. Whatever your ethical stance on food, it goes without saying that the vast majority of people in the UK are extremely ignorant about what constitutes a healthy, balanced diet.

Also - for soya milk, I've never found anything nicer than Tesco Value unsweetened soya milk. It's much nicer than Alpro!

I bloody love milk.

One of the nicest meals I ever had was a vegan meal I had at spittlefield market, but it seemed a very time consuming meal to make.

As a society, consuming large quantities of dairy (and eggs, poultry and meat) has been very deeply normalised

The consumption of all those things has been part of the human experience for most of our history; you make it sound as if it is recently and in this society that it has been normalised, which is not the case.

In any event, why are plant species any less to be regarded as available to be eaten than animal species? Just because they haven't got a face? They are still living beings!

That is all very well Smite, but I tried living on a strictly plant based diet a while back as a detox type experiment, and I was miserable because I was cutting out my favourite things. I enjoy eating certain foods, but your post makes it look like people eat meat, dairy etc because they are all too brainwashed, ignorant and lazy to live life the way you do. I have tried alternatives and the truth is, I don't fucking like them 9 times out of 10. Is that a good enough reason?

I may well be mowed down tomorrow, so I'm going to munch on steak sometimes instead of whatever the soy alternative is, because I don't like it. What am I supposed to do, eat stuff I don't like, forgo the stuff that I adore to appease you?

'Just because they haven't got a face?'

CHORTLE!

I am absolutely disgusted that there are people in this thread saying that milking cows is not cruel!?! Unless I am missing something, and there are people here who can communicate effectively with cows, then how on earth can you know if it is painful or not?

I am vegan, and have been for two years. I became vegan because of animal welfare. However I recommend a vegan diet because it is miles healthier and better for the environment.

OP if you don't eat dairy for ethical reasons regarding animal welfare then fair play to you.

If, on the other hand, you are simply singling out a single food group as the root of all societal ills then you're guilty of lazy reductivism. Historically many cultures have had dairy at the heart of their diets and have lived very healthily, free from the diet-related diseases that addle modern society.

And really, why approach this argument from an angry taxpayers POV? Are you president of Jeremy Clarkson's fan club?

Get a life.

Are you president of Jeremy Clarkson's fan club?

PMSL trying to imagine what that person is like and particularly trying to imagine anyone of the female persuasion doing it!

I eat a balanced diet of diary,protein,veg,pulses because im health conscious
I love dairy.love yoghurt,butter,milk.kids do too

nokids as you also can't communicate with cows can you say it is? I have two vegan sisters and they have accepted I'm a lost cause :)

Asian countries have the lowest incidence of osteoporosis and they don't consume a fraction of the dairy we do.

I do agree that a lot about the dairy industry is quite cruel but I will continue to eat cheese and ice cream when they take my fancy.

The idea of drinking a glass of ill makes me feel quite queasy though.

glass of ill :)

I may drink about 4 pints of full fat a day.... I blame it on the unborn child and serious heartburn...

Ha! 'ill' = milk.

Drinking it would make me ill. Too many memories of primary school milk left to sit on the sunny window sill.

I just feel a little sorry for people who have such high moral sensibilities and seem to take little pleasure in life, but each to their own - what I can't stand is those people who feel the need to make the rest of us feel guilty.

Op there is bound to be a forum out there with like minded souls that you could join and discuss how dreadful the vast majority of society are !

There must be a way to use this dissatisfaction in a more productive way. Is it really that irritating?