I have just decided on a whim that I no longer want to support the dairy industry and cut it out of my diet cold turkey. I've already trialed a run and I felt great but it was so difficult. Never realized how much dairy was in my diet in basically everything I ate and it wasn't long before I ran out of things to eat that didn't contain it. Even subjected myself to eating cereal with water which was extremely unpleasant. It's been hard but I know you're the community to ask for help because you've probably went through this sort of thing before.
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My diet consists of cheese pizzas, chicken and chips, cereal (my favorite is generic-brand Puffed Wheat and Malt-O-Meal Cinnamon Toast Cannibals), and the occasional PB bread.
If I could sub out the cereal milk, the pizza, and the chicken, I could very easily go full vegan. Right now my priority is the dairy because it's the most 'unnatural' part of my diet.
No offense, but it kind of sounds like you want to change your diet without changing your diet.
Like if you really want to stop eating dairy why not just eat different things? There's a ton of cheap and delicious foods from cultures all across the world that either don't use dairy or can be very trivially augmented with non-dairy ingredients. Why not start eating different foods instead of trying to replicate those exact foods with non-dairy versions?
Recently I was talking to a friend about all the amazing (and still unknown) connections between gut bacteria and our nervous system/brains. It occurred to us that since the bacteria in a person's stomach is going to be adapted to what they eat, especially something with unique addictive chemicals like cheese (the casomorphin), that the connection between the bacteria and your nervous system is probably contributing to people's struggles giving up stuff like cheese, and feeling like they need a different but identical diet. Knowing this doesn't make switching directly easier, but if its true, then understanding underlying mechanisms like this could be helpful. It also explains why after being on a new diet and getting used to new staple foods, a person will develop cravings for those instead. That's what happened to me when I went vegan, now I just crave tofu or lentils for protein, probably because my bacteria does haha.
When I say substitutions I'm referring to the nutrients, convenience, and cost. There's no point in subbing something out if it's going to take 2 hours to prepare, cost 10x as much to make, or is as nutritious as cardboard. Believe me when I say I have run into all three, especially when it comes to 'health' foods which are essentially overpriced candy designed for false consciousness.
The Gardein breaded Chik'n tenders are fucking delicious fried in some oil imo. As far as taste almond milk is the most agreeable to me. Cheese is the hardest / most expensive to get respectable substitutes for. Brands like Miyokos Kitchen have good vegan cheeses but they're like $10 for an 8oz pack.
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