The vegan diet has become popular in recent months and has helped raise awareness about food, pollution, farms, the treatment of animals and a number of other issues of general interest. Despite this, there are those who have many doubts, and one of them is with milk, since it is not about animal sacrifice as such, but is a derivative of the cow, and many have doubts whether the vegan diet allows milk or not. Animal milk is one thing and plant milk is another, one if accepted and the other not.
Currently there are dozens of different diets, and each one has its principles, its limitations, its objectives and others, but if we must highlight some diets, or lifestyles that have revolutionized the current panorama, those are the vegan diet together with other very popular diets such as the keto diet and the paleo diet.
Vegan is characterized by being the extension of the vegetarian diet, which is divided into several subgroups depending on how permissive it is or not with certain types of food. The vegan is the same as the strict vegetarian, that is, no food of animal origin enters her daily diet .
Cow, goat or sheep’s milk is not allowed
By foods of animal origin we not only understand meat or fish, there are also eggs, milk and honey, for example. Without forgetting those derived from milk, since with this ingredient we can create a multitude of recipes such as cheeses or cream, without going any further.
That said, it is clear that milk of animal origin is not suitable in the vegan diet or in the strict vegetarian diet, but it is suitable in the lacto-vegetarian diet or in the ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet . In the vegan we can take vegetable milk.
Vegetable milks abound in the market and it is not a matter of now, but they have existed for several years, only now there are many brands of the more traditional dairy industry that have decided to surf the wave and offer vegetable milks in view of the trends of the current market.
Plant milk can be made from rice, coconut, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, soybeans, etc. Choosing a good vegetable milk is not easy and requires some experience or knowledge. The main thing is to look at the ingredients, and the perfect thing is that it has less than 3 ingredients, does not have added sugars, the main ingredient is greater than 10% and is supplemented with calcium and vitamin D.
Can you live without milk?
The answer is yes, what we cannot live with is without calcium and without vitamin D. Man is the only living being that continues to drink milk in adulthood. Plant-based milk is suitable for everyone and given the great variety that there is, if, for example, we are allergic to soy, we can choose another.
Lactose intolerances (diarrhea, gas, fatigue, abdominal bloating, etc.) are increasingly common, which is a type of sugar that is present in milk and other dairy products. What the industry does with lactose-free milk is to add lactase, an enzyme that breaks the lactose molecule into two simple sugars, glucose and galactose.
Plant milk does not have this problem, and if we choose well, we will be taking a very healthy process, where what is really important is calcium and vitamin D, since, without this vitamin, calcium is not absorbed. If calcium accumulates in the body, it can cause kidney stones, weak bones, arrhythmias, brain malfunction, etc.