How do you go about giving up dairy?

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I gave up refined sugar ages ago and although the first few days were hard it never felt impossible and now I just don't want sugary "treats".

Dairy is another thing altogether. I drink my tea black but cheese and plain yogurt with fruit are my go to treats, especially since I weaned myself off the sugar. I don't know what to have instead and find if I don't include them in a meal, especially a packed lunch type meal, I'm still hungry.

I'm wanting to give it up mostly because of the environmental impact. I've tried some of the substitute milks and "cheese" but they're not nice and seem over processed to me, quite the opposite of the healthy whole food diet I'm aiming for.

I've also really reduced the amount of meat I eat, that was easy in comparison to cutting back dairy.

How is it done?

I don't know, but as a family we hardly eat dairy and find no need for subsitutes.
I lived for a while in SE Asia in a country that uses no dairy- learned a lot of cooking styles and ideas.
I raised my kids without dairy- breastfed for quite a while and when I tried to introduce cows milk and yogurt they totally refused. So they grew up without dairy- milk or cheese.

So as a family of 5 I don't use milk or butter, no yogurt or cream.
It is no effort, just a way of life.
It would never occur to me to use substitutes- they all sound pretty rank.

I would say gradually. So start with bread or something else that contains dairy, then cheese spread then hard cheese, then cream, then yoghurt. Something like that.

It's it all dairy you'll be foregoing? Or just dairy made from cows' milk?

I was wondering that JaJa. I love goats cheese, is that better, environmentally I wonder?

I would say so. Better for the animals at least. Goats aren't so intensively farmed as cows.

My teenage son is allergic to dairy and always has been, so I gave it up totally for a few years whilst I was breastfeeding and dont have a huge amount now, and obviously he has never had dairy at all. We don't use a lot of substitutes except DS has dairy free chocolate or ice cream as a treat sometimes and he also has hot chocolate made from soya milk. Mainly I just make meals that are naturally dairy free though. I've never found a cheese substitute that is remotely palatable I'm afraid. I prefer to make meals without dairy than to use substitutes that don't really work.
If it is the environmental impact that is your main motivator then I would look very carefully at the environmental credentials of a lot of the substitutes anyway as a lot of them are anything but environmentally friendly. Would a compromise work for you? Maybe cut down on your dairy consumption and only buy from more responsible sources rather than give up altogether, as it sounds like that's the approach you've taken with meat?

I use Oatly single cream in my coffee - only thing that doesn't taste awful. I get the odd coconut yogurt but its not something I want to eat that often. Hazelnut milk is nice with a hot chocolate. Naturli butter is quite nice actually. Magnum Vegan icecreams and seeing as I'm not allergic, a bit of goats cheese on my pizza. Those are the tried and tested ones. Vegan cheese was dreadful.

Well done for trying to lower your environmental impact!! I gave up dairy for a similar reason a few years ago and from time to time it was effing tough because I had always loved it... all of it, cheese, cream, butter. However, I'm still dairy free and now when I smell any diary product it smells horrible.
What worked for me was gradually changing things. Using soya milk in my coffee, but still eating cheese and then cooking less and less with cheese and butter. There are so many great recipes out there and also loads of vegan ready meals too you start to realise you dont need it. Take it slow, be kind to yourself and remember you're doing a good thing.

Yes, I'm not looking for dairy substitutes but for something different to eat in their place iyswim. So when I currently end a meal or have a snack of cheese or yogurt what would you have instead?

I found the substitutes that worked for me: hemp milk, Flora plant buttery marg and butter and Alpro desserts/yogurts/custard. Not really found anything half decent for cheese.

Nuts and nut butters? So a snack could be sliced apple with peanut butter or mini oatcakes with cashew butter.

Or things like roasted pumpkin seeds with paprika, or roasted chickpeas. Popcorn?

I gave up dairy for a few months when I was breastfeeding my son and he had dairy issues. Here is what I did:

Alpro milk (I can't remember if I had coconut or something else but I definitely found one I liked!)

Extra green leafy veg e.g spinach for extra calcium

Didn't bother with vegan cheese as I hate it!

Found the 'free from' section in Sainsbury's and just got some nice bits in every now and again e.g dairy free chocolate

I successfully managed to eat a healthy dairy-free diet but tbh maybe I'm not the best person to talk to as I never really enjoyed it that much and went straight back to dairy the second it was safe to! I'm a vegetarian, I never fly and our household is low-waste / low-plastic use and that's about as much as I'm prepared to commit to the environment! Good luck all the same

I had walnuts and dried apricots when I got in from work tonight, when I'd usually have a couple of slices of cheese. I like them, but it didn't take the edge off my hunger the way cheese would have.