There are several foods that you are going to want to avoid when you are going dairy free. The first food is cheeses. The soft and processed cheeses are going to have a lot of lactose inside of them. If the cheeses are aged, then they will have less lactose than the regular cheeses. But there are also other cheeses that you are going to want to avoid like any foods that might have cheese in them, cottage or ricotta cheese, cream cheese, cheese spreads, and natural cheeses.
Fats
The second food is any type of fats. These fats are going to butter, margarine that might have butter or milk inside of them or party dips. You will be able to eat some oils and shortenings. Also if you check the labels of your non-dairy creamers, salad dressings, and margarine. This is because you want to make sure that these things do not any diary or whey inside of them.
Sherbet
The third food is sherbet. Sometimes people are going to think of sherbet and sorbet as the same thing but this is not the case. Sorbet is a frozen shaved fruit dessert while the sherbet will have heavy cream or other types of milk ingredients inside of it. Therefore, it is going to be more like ice cream than the sorbet. This is why you don’t need to be eating sherbet if you are trying to avoid dairy products.
Protein powder
The fourth food is any type of food that has protein powder in it. This is because it is not going to have the lactose enzymes that are necessary to break down the sugar inside of the milk. Therefore, the whey protein powder is going to cause you to have a lot of unpleasant symptoms like cramps, abdominal pain, diarrhea, gas, and bloating when you have it with any type of milk.
Mashed Potatoes
The fifth food is instant mashed potatoes. Most of the time, people are not going to think about the instant mashed potatoes having milk in them because you normally put butter and milk inside of their homemade mashed potatoes. But the instant potatoes will be dehydrated potatoes so there are some manufacturers are going to include milk and butter inside of the potatoes before they are dehydrated. This is because it is going to ass some extra flavor to the potatoes so you will need to check the list of ingredients on the label.
Nutella
The sixth food is Nutella. Even though the tasty spread is a chocolaty dessert that you can put on your bread but it is often associated with nut butter. It is actually more related to a chocolate bar than it is nut butter. Therefore, you need to be aware that it will have some skim milk powder and whey powder so you will need to put it back on the shelf if you cannot have dairy.
Granola bars
The seventh food is the granola bars that come in a box. These are going to include protein bars or breakfast bars because they are going to contain a variety of different milk ingredients. The modified milk ingredients that they use help to enhance the calcium and protein nutrients and then some of them are used to help extend the shelf life of the bars. This is just another reason why you will need to read the labels while you are grocery shopping. It could be even better for you if you make your own protein bars, granola bars, or breakfast bars.
Dressing
The eighth food is salad dressings like Caesar or ranch flavor, they contain milk. It can be clear if you are buying vinaigrette or simple oil-based ones. You will need to think about this because the vinaigrette will have cheese inside of them in order to enhance the texture or flavor of the dressing. It is a good idea to look at the label of the dressing before your purchase. This is because the name or description of the dressing might not make it so obvious that it will have dairy in it.
Tomato Sauce
The ninth food is tomato sauce. Even though the main ingredients of the tomato sauce will be pureed tomatoes and spices, there will also be some diary products inside of it. Of course, you are going to know this if you purchase the three cheese or Parmesan cheese that there is going to be dairy products in it. But the dairy is going to be used to add flavor to the sauce.
These are a variety of different foods that you can and cannot eat when you have a dairy free diet. This is one of the main reasons why you need to read the labels of your food before you buy.
Items to look for on the labels
- Butter
- Buttermilk
- Casein
- Cheese (All animal-based)
- Cottage Cheese
- Cream
- Curds
- Custard
- Half & Half
- Hydrolyzed Casein
- Lactose
- Lactulose
- Milk – Anything with the word milk in it
- Sodium Caseinate
- Sour Cream
- Whey – Anything with the word Whey in it
- Whipped Cream
- Whipped Topping
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