7 Essential Tips That'll Help You Stop Drinking Cow Milk

If you have cow milk protein intolerance or you don't feel well after drinking it, it's important you know how you can get calcium and other nutrients from other foods
7 Essential Tips That'll Help You Stop Drinking Cow Milk

Last update: 27 May, 2022

You may need to stop drinking cow milk because it doesn’t make you feel well. Perhaps you’re lactose intolerant, or maybe you just want to do it for personal reasons.

There are some things you should know so you don’t suffer nutritional deficiencies and so you can keep cooking recipes that include milk.

Discover the 7 basic tips that’ll help you stop drinking milk and still have a nutritious, balanced diet without calcium or other nutrient deficiencies.

We also provided some simple and original ideas to help you replace milk in your usual yogurts, sauces, and other recipes.


  1. Try Vegetable Drinks

Even though you’ve decided to stop drinking animal milk, there’s a whole lot of vegetable drinks made with nuts, grains, and fruits out there that you can try. Here are some of the most popular ones:

  • Coconut: Coconut milk most resembles cow’s milk in texture, consistency, and flavor. It’s very nutritious.
  • Oats: Oat milk is one of the most popular vegetable drinks. It’s rich in fiber and helps balance the nervous system and make you feel energized.
  • Rice: It has a mild flavor and a sweet taste. Rice drink is suitable for people with sensitive digestive systems or for people who are looking for a neutral-tasting milk.
  • Almond: One of the most nutritious and creamy drinks is almond milk, which is rich in calcium and vitamin E.
  • Soy: We don’t recommend consuming this drink because human bodies don’t digest it well and it can cause hormonal disorders. Soybeans should always be consumed fermented.

You can also find many other hazelnut, spelt, kamut, tiger nut, and millet-based drinks.

See also: Canary Seed Milk: What It Is and How to Make It

  1. Smoothies Without Milk

    fruit smoothie

If you want a breakfast or snack alternative for drinks with milk, we offer some healthy smoothies made with fruits and vegetables. You’ll get an extra dose of vitamins and you’ll feel sated for hours.

Try this delicious smoothie:

Ingredients

  • 1 ripe banana
  • 5 very ripe strawberries
  • ½ beet
  • 1 cup of a vegetable drink (200 ml)

Preparation

  • Stir all ingredients until you get a smooth texture.
  • If you want, you can sweeten with honey or stevia.
  1. Discover the Delicious Tahini

For those people who are concerned about a lack of calcium from not drinking cow’s milk, there are plant foods that have high levels of this mineral.

One of them is sesame, which you can consume in different ways: raw, roasted, in oil, as a vegetable drink, or as a spreadable cream, known as tahini.

  1. Avoid What Decalcifies You

    coffee in a white cup

In addition to consuming calcium-rich foods of plant origin, you should also reduce the foods that prevent you from absorbing the mineral or even rob you of the calcium you already have in your body. These include:

  • White sugar
  • Refined salt
  • Coffee
  • Chocolate
  • Soft drinks
  1. Make Your Own Yogurt

If you love yogurt, there are two ways you can make them with vegetable drinks:

  • Solidifying the vegetable drink with agar.
  • Fermenting the drink with probiotics (as those taken in supplements) at a warm temperature, as you would do with cow milk yogurt.

In addition, you can add fruit and nuts to these yogurts and get some surprising and delicious results.

See also: How to Beautify Your Face with Coconut Milk

  1. Season with Brewer’s Yeast

    brewer's yeast in a bowl

For dishes usually eaten with cheese, we recommend a vegetarian animal milk-free alternative: brewer’s yeast.

This nutritional supplement not only gives a salty and toasted cheese-like taste to pasta dishes, pizzas or spreadable creams, but it also provides a lot of vitamins and minerals.

It’s a very beneficial superfood for your skin, hair, and nervous system, as it calms anxiety and improves your mood in cases of depression.

  1. Oat-based Béchamel Sauce

Another of the most common problems in the kitchen is replacing milk when preparing the famous béchamel sauce. However, you can use oat milk instead.

This drink not only tastes good but also gives proper consistency and creaminess to the sauce. Thus, you’ll have a much more digestible and healthy béchamel.


All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.


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  • Cano A., Chedraui P., Goulis DG., Lopes P., et al., Calcium in the prevention of postmenopausal osteporosis: EMAS clinical guide. Maturitas, 2018. 107: 7-12.
  • Lee ES., Song EJ., Nam YD., Lee SY., Probiotics in human health and disease: from nutribiotics to pharmabiotics. J Microbiol, 2018. 56 (11): 773-782.

This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.