Should I Stop Eating Dairy?

Depending on the current state of your gut, you may need to stop eating dairy products, but ideally this is only a temporary measure while our gut heals. In the long run, dairy is not only delish but also offers real health benefits, particularly when fermented.

To digest the proteins in milk we need certain enzymes. Each of us produces different amounts of these enzymes so each has a different tolerance to dairy.

Some people cannot take any quantity of dairy without having a negative reactive such as diarrhea or stomach ache. This is a true allergy. However most of us are able to tolerate a certain amount before having any problems.

If our gut is malfunctioning, for example if we have chronic diarrhea and/or constipation or skin issues it’s possible that the dairy we’re consuming is causing the upset. In that case we’ll see an immediate improvement as soon as we eliminate all dairy products from our diet.

However for most of us the underlying problem is more complex and we’ll need to make other changes to our diet and lifestyle before getting the result we want, namely a smoothly functioning digestive system and strong overall health.

The good news for those of us in this second category is that we may be able to consume dairy again once the gut is brought back into happy balance. It’s just that while our system is struggling, dairy can become impossible for us to digest. This means that we are dairy intolerant, although temporarily.

Does Dairy Cause Bad Skin?

People with gut issues often find that eating dairy triggers or worsens chronic skin conditions like acne, eczema or psoriasis. These conditions can be itchy, painful and embarrassing, and generally make our lives a misery.

There’s no question that if our gut is bad, dairy can make matters worse. However not all dairy is created equal. There’s a big difference between ‘regular’ dairy and fermented (‘cultured’) dairy. More on the difference below.

A 2015 review of the scientific evidence on this found that fermented dairy products may actually provide benefits for skin health. This is the case whether the fermented product is eaten or applied directly to the skin.¹

fermented dairy skin benefits

How to Eliminate Dairy From Your Diet

We start by eliminating all dairy completely from our diet. Check labels for anything mentioning milk or lactose, as it’s added to tons of unexpected things such as bread and pastries, sauces, cereals, salad dressings, candies, and snacks.

We then continue with other gut-healing strategies that we talk about here at GG, such as eating fermented foods and cutting back on starchy carbohydrates.

At a suitable moment when our gut is showing improvement, we gradually start to reintroduce dairy. It may take 6 months or more to reach this point.

Reasons to Reintroduce Dairy

It’s absolutely the case that when our gut’s in a bad way, dairy can trigger symptoms + increase inflammation. For that reason it’s often completely removed from our diet during the ‘remove and repair’ phase of a gut-healing protocol.

However once our gut heals and inflammation is brought under control, we may be able to tolerate dairy once again. If so, there are powerful health reasons for including it in our diet:

– dairy contains lots of healthy fats, especially when from grass-fed animals,- when dairy is soured, like yogurt or kefir, it contains a huge payload of friendly bacteria.

How to Reintroduce Dairy to Your Diet

To reintroduce dairy, we start by adding some ghee to our diet, then if all is well, some butter. These are the best options to begin with as they contain very little of the problematic lactose so are the easiest to digest. They also contain valuable nutrients and vitamins which will give us energy!

We need to add dairy back into our diet very slowly, just one thing at a time and in a tiny amount (just 1 teaspoon to start with). We watch for an adverse reaction, anything from diarrhea to eczema or anxiety.

The next dairy product to introduce is natural, unflavoured yoghurt, preferably homemade. The fermentation process reduces lactose and makes it easier to digest.

After this is kefir, a powerhouse of gut-healing goodness. For more details check out: Two Superfoods To Heal Your Gut That You Can Make Yourself and What’s All The Hype About Fermented Food?

Notice that we’re not talking about reintroducing actual milk, only soured (fermented) milk products like ghee, butter, yoghurt, kefir or cheese. Milk is much higher in lactose and much more likely to irritate the gut and set back our progress.

We do our best to consume ONLY ORGANIC and/or GRASS FED dairy products, as these are free of the antibiotics, pesticides and growth hormones that are commonplace in ordinary milk, and which can make a bad gut worse!

 

References:

  1. Vaughn AR, Sivamani RK 2015 Effects of Fermented Dairy Products On Skin

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58 thoughts on “Should I Stop Eating Dairy?”

  1. I feel worse if I eliminate dairy so I use it often. I often go for horse milk and horse milk-based products for myself but it’s pretty much the same dairy with a tiny twist.

  2. I have been dairy free for about 10 years – I do have cheese every now and then but I can feel it!

    My family have dairy but I now get all our dairy from a local farmer who farms organically so all the milk we get is raw and unprocessed.

  3. I’m so glad that you also talk about the benefits of dairy and how to reintroduce it rather than just getting rid of it completely. very informative and great tips!

  4. We’re big organic coconut and oat milk drinkers in our house. But saying that, we love a good French cheese! 🤦🏽‍♀️ Oops! You win some, you lose some!

  5. Great information! I do eat a decent amount of cheese, otherwise I don’t consume a lot of dairy products, but this gives me some things to think about.

  6. I often wonder this… especially having PCOS you see a lot of people going gluten and dairy-free. I should just try it and see if it helps with some of my issues.

  7. I eat dairy a lot especially for breakfast now. I tried to quit before but could not maintain. I think its the main reason I have bad skin sometimes.

  8. I just realized that I don’t eat most dairy things and that is for no reason in particular. I guess I just don’t like the taste of cheese, milk, etc… However, I have been really enjoying yogurt recently and it hasn’t really affected me. I was happy to know how many healthy bacterias it contains.

  9. I think everyone body is different and it’s important to pay attention to your body’s reaction to a particular food, I get gassy with diary products and my mom gets severe migraine so we limit our intake

    1. I think everyone body is different and it’s important to pay attention to your body’s reaction to a particular food, I get gassy with diary products and my mom gets severe migraine so we limit our intake

  10. I’ve never really thought about cutting off dairy in my diet but I guess unconsciously I’ve been doing it already. I’ve been using almond milk instead of the regular ones, mainly because I’m trying to lessen my sugar intake. It does make a difference though and I find it’s more delicious too.

  11. I have PCOS and have seen a lot of information about going dairy and gluten-free. I am still eating dairy, but I am watching if I feel a certain way after I eat it.

  12. This is good information. I used to drink a lot of milk but when my kidneys failed, I had to essentially eliminate it. Now that I have had my transplant, I could drink it but I don’t drink much. I still eat cheese and yogurt though. I can’t tell any gut difference because I have meds that can confuse the issue if I don’t take them quite right. But this is good to keep in mind!

  13. YES! The more the awareness around veganism, as well as lactose intolerance or sensitivity, the easier it will be for our society to accept dairy as an animal product that does not NEED to be a part of our system. Thanks for putting this together in an informative way.

  14. I love dairy products! Although I have skin allergies too. but I have skin allergies for using high chemical soap and detergent Thanks for this great info!

  15. I eat dairy mostly in the morning by milk or yogurt. Rarely I have it in lunch as snack cheese or part of a meal. I just haven’t thought about eating more dairy.

    1. I think everyone body is different and it’s important to pay attention to your body’s reaction to a particular food, I get gassy with diary products and my mom gets severe migraine so we limit our intake

  16. I’ve recently given up dairy and have been using a gut healing detox product called Biome Medic. Have you heard of it? I’ll never go a day without it because it is truly life changing!

  17. Thank you for bringing attention to this subject, great job! I’d like to see more emphasis on the sourcing of dairy. We can live without dairy for sure. I went 6 years without eating any. But we are missing out on so many added benefits of dairy, if it’s the right kind. I’m not talking pasteurized & homogenized. Our bodies don’t even recognize that as food, so it’s indigestible, even if we don’t notice any signs of intolerance. You’re better off staying completely away from it. However, if it’s raw, A2A2 milk from grass fed ONLY, usually even people who are can’t eat dairy handle it with ease. You’re right about the kefir – even the lactose (milk sugar) is eaten up in the fermentation process, containing more probiotics than entire bottle of probiotics! Even if you’re in a state where it’s illegal to buy raw milk, (like I am) seek it out – it’s available if you want it bad enough. Just make sure you see where it’s coming from and that it’s a reputable source you trust. And also make sure the cow has been tested positive for A2A2 casein (usually from brown cows, like brown Swiss, Jerseys or Guernseys, but not Holsteins🐄) -check it out, there are loads of info out there on it. Keep up the good work – good health begins in the gut!

  18. great post. the gut is tricky and ultimately i think there’s a lot of imbalance out there…i know a lot of people struggle to give up dairy but it’s also so reading if you’re able to find your culprit.

    1. Andrea Pierre-Jack

      I really appreciate the valuable information posted here. I have recently started using kefir and I’m wondering…does it heal stomach ulcers and get rid of h-pylori?

  19. I have actually been thinking I need to eliminate dairy. I have found great alternatives for most things…except cheese. And I love cheese! It’s so hard!

  20. I honestly have never had any problems with dairy till recently. I guess what they say the older you get your body starts to break down. Haha I think it is time for me to take a break from dairy. (I can’t quit dairy too long its delicious). Thanks for sharing. XO

  21. Razena | Tantalisemytastebuds.com

    Personally I have found that if I feel any discomfort a small glass of kefir in the morning or evening helps a lot.

    1. Andrea Pierre-Jack

      I really appreciate the valuable information posted here. I have recently started using kefir and I’m wondering…does it heal stomach ulcers and get rid of h-pylori?

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