Last Updated on November 9, 2023 by Fasting Planet
According to a 2020 report from Agricultural Economic Insights or AEI, in 2018, each American consumed 4.3 pounds of butter and 40 pounds of cheese but has reduced their intake of ice cream, yogurt, and milk. You may eat dairy in equal measure, but as a vegan, are dairy products still on the menu?
Vegans do not eat dairy products since all dairy comes from milk and is thus an animal byproduct. However, vegans readily consume dairy alternatives such as soy milk or dairy-free ice cream and cheese.
If you want to learn more about why vegans don’t eat dairy as well as how to replace dairy through plant-based foods, this is the post for you. By the time you’re done reading, you’ll feel confident cutting the dairy out of your diet as well!
Do Vegans Consume Dairy? Why Not?
The dairy industry, being so all-encompassing, is one of the largest money-makers in the US, yet it’s one you can’t partake in as a vegan. Dairy is on the long list of food groups vegans avoid, which also includes fish, shellfish, seafood, poultry, meat, honey, and eggs.
The most obvious reason vegans skip all dairy is that it’s derived from cows and is an animal byproduct. Yet if you open-mindedly listen to a vegan explain it, there are far more compelling reasons they ditch the dairy.
Milk May Cause Osteoporosis, Not Prevent It
To ward off osteoporosis, in which bones turn brittle and weak, you’ve always been told to drink your milk, right? You may have heard this from your parents, teachers, TV advertisements, and even your doctor.
Yet it turns out that all this time, you might have been misguided. Some experts believe that rather than prevent the onset of osteoporosis, milk might cause it. Yes, that’s right!
A 2014 report in the Swedish journal BMJ tells us more. According to the findings of those researchers, if you regularly down three glasses of milk or more every day, you’re not reducing your risk of hip fractures, but increasing it. You’re also upping your mortality risk, especially if you’re a woman.
Why does milk lead to an increased mortality rate? It could have something to do with this…
Bacterial Risks
When most people talk about bacteria in milk, it’s usually the unpasteurized version, but we have a newsflash. Pasteurized milk contains bacteria as well, including coliforms, pseudomonas, lactobacilli, staphylococci, bacilli, and micrococci.
Not all bacteria are bad, and that’s the case for most of the above bacteria too. For example, we humans have coliform bacteria in our digestive tracts at all times. However, some of the above bacteria contribute to the spoiling of milk, which has to happen sooner or later. You don’t want to ingest milk or the bacteria within it at that point.
What if you drank unpasteurized milk? Now your risk of consuming bad bacteria increases by a significant margin. The germs and bacteria in unpasteurized milk may include salmonella, listeria, e. coli, cryptosporidium, campylobacter, and brucella.
Surely, you’re familiar with salmonella, a bacterium that causes foods to be pulled from grocery store shelves all the time. Listeria can cause infections that include symptoms like diarrhea and fever. Pregnant women are especially at risk of listeria.
- coli is another common bacterium, but what about cryptosporidium? This is a parasite that starts in animals and can be passed to humans. Campylobacter and brucella also lead to infections.
Granted, most of the time, if you get sick from the above bacteria, it’s nothing worse than diarrhea, but severe cases can happen, even deadly ones.
Farm Horrors
If you’re still not convinced to give up cow’s milk, cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products, this ought to change your mind. The cows that live on farms to produce all that dairy do so in absolutely inhumane conditions.
When baby cows are born and old enough to start giving birth, they’re separated from their mothers, never to be reunited. This can be very traumatic for both mother and baby. If the baby cow is a male, he gets made into beef or veal, as he doesn’t serve much of a purpose in the eyes of dairy farmers.
Female cows will be impregnated over and over again, often through artificial insemination so male cows aren’t even needed for the job. If the female cow develops infections in her udders, which does happen, she’s often left untreated so dairy farmers can still claim the milk they produce is organic.
This shortens the life of a female cow dramatically. The average lifespan for cows is 25 years, yet cows that are farmed for milk live maybe five years.
What Dairy Substitutes Do Vegans Eat?
Vegans may not ingest dairy, but that doesn’t mean they give up ice cream, cheese, and butter forever. They instead eat the following dairy alternatives.
Non-Dairy Milk
Cow’s milk is one of many, many types of milk you can drink. All other non-dairy milk is plant-based and has different flavor profiles. Try them all to find out which one is your favorite!
Here are your vegan milk alternatives.
- Tiger nut milk: The yellow nutsedge or tiger nut contains lots of iron, vitamin E, potassium, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus, and vitamin C. One serving is 278 percent of your daily recommended value of vitamin E!
- Cashew milk: If you like the taste of cashews on their own, try them as milk. Cashew milk could help your immunity and control blood sugar. This beverage also loads you up with protein, healthy fats, minerals, and vitamins.
- Flax milk: Flaxseed or flax milk consists of water and grounded flaxseed meal, making it gluten-free and keto as well as vegan. This milk tastes like almond milk, a popular type of non-dairy milk.
- Rice milk: The sweet flavor of rice milk makes it quite appealing. Per cup of rice milk, you’re consuming 113 calories, so if you’re trying to lose weight on a vegan diet, rice milk is a great choice.
- Coconut milk: Have you found that vegan milk doesn’t quite have the same texture as dairy milk? Coconut milk does. Make sure yours is fortified so it contains all the minerals and vitamins your body needs. You’re consuming even fewer calories in a serving of coconut milk: 74 calories in one cup.
- Soy milk: With four grams of fat per serving and seven grams of protein, soy milk is a much healthier choice than dairy milk. That said, some people have a hard time acclimating to the taste, so try the unsweetened or sweetened versions to see which is more up your alley.
- Almond milk: You can also just stick with almond milk, which has a mild enough flavor that you might forget you’re not drinking dairy milk. The streamlined caloric profile of almond milk also makes it desirable. Per cup, you’re drinking only 39 calories!
Non-Dairy Ice Cream
If you usually feel guilty about indulging in ice cream, you won’t have to once you try the vegan version. You can make your own vegan ice cream at home using non-dairy milk, real vanilla extract, and frozen bananas. This healthier ice cream is a sweet treat you can enjoy anytime you want to beat the heat!
If you’d rather buy vegan ice cream at the store, you have countless options there too. Like non-dairy milk, vegan ice cream is made with ingredients like cashews, almonds, or coconuts. You can also safely consume sorbets, just make sure yours is dairy-free.
Non-Dairy Cheese
Cheese is certainly one of the hardest food groups to give up when starting a vegan diet, but with non-dairy cheese, you won’t miss the real deal quite as much.
Nutritional yeast is one such cheese alternative. What is nutritional yeast, you ask? It’s a type of powdered yeast rich in minerals, B vitamins, and protein that is the best friend of any vegan. Its taste is a combination of cheesy and nutty, so it’s no surprise that nutritional yeast is a starring ingredient in many vegan cheese recipes.
For hard cheese, you can always buy hard tofu and crumble it to give a feel of parmesan. If you like soft cheeses better, worry not. Augmenting silken tofu with some spices and salt produces a nacho cheese that’s quite tasty! You can soak some cashews and combine them with lemon juice and nut milk for a tangier cheese.
Non-Dairy Butter
Replicating the spread-ability of butter is exceedingly simple as a vegan. Bananas will add a touch of sweetness to peanut butter toast. You might even prefer bananas over butter, and who can blame you?
Avocados can replace butter in baked good recipes. When cooked, all you get is the creaminess of the avocado without the taste, so this fruit is a lot like butter in that regard. Oils too are a good alternative for butter, especially olive and coconut oils.
The Benefits of Dairy Substitutes
As you snack on all the non-dairy alternatives out there, some will appeal to your taste buds much more than others. It can be hard to find the right vegan cheese or milk, and you may be discouraged when you first get started. Each time you feel down, remember the following benefits of subbing dairy out of your diet.
No Risk of Lactose Intolerance
Lactose intolerance is incredibly common. MedlinePlus estimates that 65 percent of people cannot process dairy. That’s not just in the United States, by the way, but around the world. If you’re among that group, then consuming dairy can lead to diarrhea, gas, bloating, nausea, and stomach pain.
The above vegan substitutes deliver the flavor, texture, and feel of dairy but without the actual dairy. Those who are lactose intolerant can safely nosh on these foods without worrying about painful, inconvenient bellyaches.
More Water
Staying hydrated through food is important, especially for those who don’t drink the recommended eight glasses of water a day. Yet dairy is lower in water than other foods you could eat. Not so with dairy-free substitutes! They’re plant-based and thus naturally filled with water.
Lower in Calories
Did you know that a cup of dairy milk has 103 calories? If you remember from earlier, we mentioned that the same serving of almond milk contains fewer than 40 calories. Even if you’re only trying to maintain your weight rather than lose some extra pounds, choosing lower-calorie options throughout the day is always smart.
When you go vegan, lots of what you eat is naturally low in calories, which is great!
Conclusion
Vegans do not eat dairy, including cheese, butter, yogurt, ice cream, and milk. They will readily consume plant-based dairy-free alternatives like almond milk, bananas for butter, or nutritional yeast instead. These options are a lot healthier in many ways, and eating vegan saves cows too.