Dairy-Free Recipes Archives (2024)

FAQs

What should I cut out when going dairy-free? ›

Summary. A dairy-free diet excludes animal milks and any products that contain them. Some people choose to go dairy-free because they have an allergy or intolerance, while others have a personal or ethical preference.

Some popular non-dairy milk options include almond, soy, coconut, and oat milk. For cheese alternatives, plant-based options like Violife and Daiya offer delicious options for everything from shredded cheese to cream cheese.

Did you know…? Eggs are still a part of a dairy-free diet. Even though they are found in the dairy section of the grocery store, eggs do not contain milk sugar and milk proteins. Eggs are safe to eat in a milk-free diet.

It might not be great for your immune system.

Cutting out dairy means you get less B12, which is important within your immune system and helping your body fight off bacteria. Harju-Westman says you can combat this by taking a B12 supplement and eating foods fortified with the vitamin.

Since it can take from 10 days to three weeks for your body to fully eliminate lactose remnants, you might not notice a huge difference right away—unless you have a serious case of lactose intolerance.

Lactose intolerance happens when your small intestine does not make enough of a digestive enzyme called lactase. Lactase breaks down the lactose in food so your body can absorb it. People who are lactose intolerant have unpleasant symptoms after eating or drinking milk or milk products.

If you're lactose intolerant, you might wonder: Does Greek yogurt have dairy? Made from cow's milk, it does. However, Greek yogurt has less than 1 gram of lactose per ounce—less lactose than milk and about half the lactose of some other yogurts.

Some people eliminate dairy from their diet to lose weight, but a dairy-free diet does not always lead to weight loss. If you're curious about how many calories you should be consuming to lose or maintain weight, this calculator can give you an estimate of your daily calorie needs.

What foods contain no dairy? ›

Whole grains: barley, buckwheat, quinoa, couscous, wheat, farro, oats. Nuts: almonds, walnuts, pistachios, cashews, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts. Seeds: chia seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds. Milk alternatives: lactose-free milk, rice milk, almond milk, oat milk, coconut milk, cashew milk, hemp milk.

Mayonnaise doesn't have any milk products in it, so that means it doesn't have dairy. Eggs aren't considered a dairy product, even though they are an animal product. That means if you have a dairy allergy or lactose intolerance, it's safe to eat eggs, as well as mayonnaise, because they don't contain any lactose.

Despite the name, peanut butter does not contain any dairy butter. Also, peanuts, being nondairy products, don't contain any lactose themselves. Most natural peanut butter is safe to eat if you're lactose-intolerant.

The Dairy Group includes milk, yogurt, cheese, lactose-free milk and fortified soy milk and yogurt. It does not include foods made from milk that have little calcium and a high fat content, such as cream cheese, sour cream, cream, and butter. Visit the Dairy Group page for examples of specific foods in the Dairy Group.

Think twice before you reach for that dinner roll. You need to check the label to see if the bread you're about to eat contains lactose (which is used sometimes as a sweetener) or whey (which is used in some cases as a preservative). You also need to watch out for crackers, which may also contain lactose and whey.