3 great health benefits of giving up dairy that will change your life

If you’ve been suffering from headaches, bloating, acne, and you’ve simply got no energy, maybe it’s time to think about giving up dairy.

Dairy allergies and intolerances are on the rise, perhaps from the change in production methods, more intervention with regards to hormones and antibiotics, or maybe a rise in education and understanding. The bottom line is that humans simply aren’t designed to drink another animal’s milk – it’s designed for calves, not for lattes or cheese or cream or butter.

If you’re a cheese fiend, or you can’t imagine not having milk in your coffee or ice-cream at the beach, here are six reasons why giving up dairy really will improve your health. And worry not; there are plenty of great alternatives out there that are tasty and healthy. So what can giving up or reducing your dairy intake relieve?

Bloating

We’ve all experienced that awful bloaty feeling where your jeans need undoing, you feel gassy and horrible and nothing seems to sit right. About 65% of the US population is estimated to be lactose intolerant, which can contribute to the bloat. By giving up dairy, you’re giving up the irritants that cause this flare up, lactose intolerant or not.

Regular bathroom visits

Dairy can play havoc with your digestion and your bowels, leaving you alternating between constipation and diarrhoea. The main culprits for this are the sugars in the milk (lactose) and casein, a hard-to-break-down protein. By eliminating dairy from your diet, your bathroom habits will become regulated and far less IBS-like.

Bye-bye spots

Dairy contains hormones, which travel down the food chain from cow to human. These hormones are produced at a high level because cows are kept pregnant and calving in order to produce high yields of milk. These almost menstrual-like hormones trigger a reaction in humans, such as acne, as cows naturally have a much higher capacity for the hormones produced in milk. Cutting out all dairy will see a huge improvement in your skin within a few weeks.

Of course, cutting out dairy is not a solution for everyone. If you don’t want to go cold turkey, a gradual reduction on one key dairy product, e.g. cheese, might be a good way to test the waters for your own health. Everyone is different, so see what works for you.