When I was around 17-18 years old I got some blood tests done for my allergies, and I had a lot of new allergies that I didn’t have as a child. The tests came out positive on a lot of food substances, such as milk protein and wheat. I was in such a denial and I didn’t want to face it since I loved butter, cream and all kinds of dairy including products. At this time I went ahead and tried substituting milk with oat milk, and it wasn’t as popular in the stores so it was hard to get hold of.
I didn’t like it, mainly because I compared it straight on with milk. Now I know that it’s impossible to compare one thing with a totally other, it’s not really meant for drinking as it is like we do with milk. I gave it a couple of tries in different recipes, and got more used to it.

Many people in my surroundings have over the years gotten lactose intolerant, and many believe that it’s the same as milk protein allergy. They’re two totally different bodily reactions. I’m not going to get into that subject, if you’re still unsure of the difference, there are many articles on Google and Wikipedia to get a better understanding.

I have also since I got my allergy tests done many years ago, started eating more and more vegetarian food and trying to educate myself more about the industry. I’ve never eaten eggs since I’ve always been severly allergic to them, so in a way I’m basically vegan. But in most other ways, I’m not. The important thing about the diet is not what we call ourselves, it really doesn’t matter. I don’t call myself anything in particular, I find it unnecessary to put labels on people and for others to put you in boxes just because of a diet choice.
However, I have started questioning the reason why we’re told from a very young age (at least in Sweden and in Nordic countries), that milk is important for us and our bodies. Why?
It seems to be pretty clear that a major part of the population has trouble digesting milk when they become older and adults. What does that tell you? It might not be something we truly require to survive.
We might need the different types of nutrition found in milk, but milk is not the only food that contains calcium, vitamin D and protein; it can easily be found in other alternative products or fortified milk substitutes which we’re not sensitive towards.
I do believe we need milk when we’re babies and growing up when we’re infants, and that milk is called breast milk. Either with a bottle or breastfeeding, I’m neither for or against either of those choices. Bottom line is that the breast milk is actually made for us humans, which cow milk isn’t. The cow is producing the milk for their baby calves, and when I truly thought about that, I felt sad. We’re really taking away the milk that is made for their babies and drink it ourselves, how selfish isn’t that? It was mind boggling when I started questioning how much we truly NEED milk in our lives.

I eat milk products every now and then, but I try to keep it at a minimum since I started thinking about these things. I have also noticed that the more milk I have digested in my body, the more hormonal acne I tend to get. Ask around, experiment, especially women; is milk the reason behind your breakouts? Do we truly need milk in our diets?

Just some food for thought, what are your ideas and thoughts about this subject?

Peace and Love,