Tips For Ditching Dairy?

If your thinking about trying Veganuary in 2022 dairy is a good place to start.

There is a huge range of vegan dairy alternatives available at supermarkets.

The taste and texture of these products are so similar to dairy products that you'd hardly notice the difference.

Milk is an easy switch, Oat Milk is a very nice

alternative to cows milk, you can even get speciality Barista Oat milks.

As well as oat milk you'll find Soy (which almost matches dairy milk for protein), Almond, Rice, Coconut, Hazelnut, Hemp and many more alternative milks.

You will also find single and double plant creams that are great for cooking

and baking and a big selection of vegan yogurt and smoothie products.

Ice Cream you say? vegan ice cream is now available from almost all major brand ice cream makers.

Vegan butters are also readily available with big brands like Flora available in almost every supermarket.

This chart shows the nutritional values of plant milks versus Semi Skimmed dairy milk.

As you can see they all have the same calcium values.

With the exception of coconut milk the plant milks have very little saturated fat compared to dairy milk.

Of the plant milks Soya has the highest protein content and Oat milk has the highest fibre content, dairy milk has zero fibre content.

This chart shows the environmental impact of diary milk versus plant milks. As you can see

the plant milks fare very well in comparison to dairy milk. While Oat & Soy milk have the least environmental impact overall.

A lot of people say "I'd go vegan only for cheese" take a look in any of the major supermarkets and you'll find a big selection of own brand and speciality vegan cheeses.

How do vegan alternatives stack up versus diary products?

Health Benefits: Vegan products contain no cholesterol and very little saturated fat, they are high in fibre and are generally well tolerated and more suitable for people with food allergies and food intolerances. A whole food plant based diet also provides all the calcium our bodies needs.

Sustainability: Vegan dairy alternatives produce less greenhouse gasses and are more environmentally friendly then dairy products.

Animal Welfare: Cows in the dairy industry suffer their entire lives. From the moment they enter this world they are treated like commodities and often develop painful medical conditions. Cows are forcibly impregnated every year (so they lactate), once born their calves are taken away so as not to drink their mother's milk. They spend their lives in a cycle of cruelty that ends with their slaughter.