Allergic To Dairy? Here Are 10 Ways You Can Replace Dairy In Your Diet

Allergies are more common than ever. But that doesn’t mean it needs to hold you back when it comes to your diet.

Dairy always features in the top three food allergens. While the allergy most often appears to be among young children, it can occur anytime in a person’s life.

Lactose intolerance is one of the other issues dairy is associated with. While unrelated to an allergy, both have the same cause- proteins from cow’s milk.

If you’re someone who is looking to avoid dairy at any cost, there’s no reason to worry anymore. There is enough research and data to show that a plant-based diet is more than enough to meet your macro and micronutrient needs. It is also healthier for you and the planet to eat more plants.

SO HOW CAN YOU REPLACE DAIRY IN YOUR DIET?

1. Need your morning chai or coffee?

Try it black or use a neutral plant-based milk like Oat, Cashew or Almond milk. Make it at home or try a store-bought unflavoured version by Sofit, Pilk, AltCo, One Good (previously Good Mylk), Jus Amazin, Urban Platter, Pristine (Mumbai) or Break of Dawn (Mumbai)

2. Can’t live without cheese?

There are so many brands selling vegan cheese alternatives. You can pick from Urban Platter, Katharos (Mumbai), Live Yum or Soft Spot.

Make your own vegan cheese at home with cashews and nutritional yeast or join a vegan cheese masterclass to learn.

3. Need to butter up that toast without dairy?

Not a problem. Look out for brands like One Good (previously known as GoodMylk), 1Ness, Home Craft or White Cub.

4. Ice creams can be a weak spot for many

And if you’re someone who can’t eat dairy, there are so many ways you can cool down with vegan ice creams. Look for Nomou, Brooklyn Creamery, Baskin Robbins, Fruktville, Vegan Heart (Mumbai), Noto and White Cub.

5. If you think you will miss your kadhai paneer or paneer bhurji?

Think again! Tofu makes a great substitute for paneer and there are many different flavours and varying degrees of firmness available too. Try Chetrans (Mumbai and Pune), Aurosoya, Murgrinns, Plant Vita and Urban Platter.

6. When you need to show ghee the door

India is undoubtedly the land of ghee and there are many alternatives for those looking to replace ghee. Look out for Live Yum, Urban Platter, Emkay Foods and Pristine (Mumbai).

7. Missing your dahi?

If you miss your daily dose of curd rice after a meal or in your smoothie bowls, India is exploding with vegan options for dahi. Try One Good’s peanut curd, Epigamia’s coconut curd or Chetran’s Soy Curd or cashew curd by Palette (Mumbai)

If you can’t find it in your city, buy a vegan starter or make your own starter for some homemade peanut curd or coconut yogurt.

8. Got a sweet tooth?

Need a bite of chocolate for a pick-me-up? There are tons of vegan dessert options if you look.

Among the Indian mithais, kaju katli may be a safe choice if you can’t find anything else. There are also many vegan mithai walas currently shipping their products all over the country. Here are 20 of them.

If you are looking beyond Indian sweets, then many bakers offer vegan goodies as part of their menu. But there are many vegan bakeries too. Here are 33 of them.

9. Don’t let anything whey you down!

There are so many options for plant-based protein powders, and it has many benefits over whey protein. Pick from IN2, Fast & Up, Oziva or Jollywell.

Have a look at these 7 Indian vegan fitness gurus who fuel up without dairy.

10. Break up with mayonnaise

If mayonnaise is your thing and you’re unable to have the ones that have dairy, then vegan mayonnaise options are not hard to find.

In fact, some of the locally available brands like those from Dr.Oetkar’s actually have a few options that are accidentally vegan plus they have a new vegan mayonnaise too. American brand Hellman’s which launched in India is late 2021 with a vegetarian mayo is also accidentally vegan.

If you’re aiming to eat healthier, you can even make your own creamy mayo at home with tofu.

Like this? Read: Vegan options in Delhi!

Read More: Mumbai Welcomes New 100% Vegan Store, Launched By Greend