Dairy products are the source of essential nutrients such as calcium, protein, and vitamin D. Dairy products are the important part of a healthy diet. If you are planning to cut down dairy products from your diet, you can lose weight; have clear skin, less gastric complaints. Cutting out dairy products may also have reasons like lactose intolerance, allergy to dairy products and others. You have to substitute milk products with other food or supplements to lose weight in a healthy way.
Can Cutting Out Dairy Make You Lose Weight?
When dairy free diet is adopted, changes happened in the body is different for everyone. The essential nutrients like calcium, protein and vitamin D are missed from the meal. To overcome their deficiencies, one has to include other food products or supplements that are rich in these nutrients.
Fatty fish such as salmon or sardines and dark leafy green vegetables are good sources of calcium as non-dairy products. Soy milk or orange juice fortified with calcium and vitamin D can also supply these nutrients as a replacement for dairy products. One has to include high protein food such as eggs, pulses or salmon as orange juice or soy milk are low in proteins.
Keri Gans, RDN, a nutritionist based in New York City says that there is no need to eliminate an entire food group unless there is an obvious reason. For example, dairy product is restricted in the diet if one is lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance is a condition marked by the deficiency of an intestinal enzyme lactase in the body which is meant to digest lactose, a sugar found in the milk and many dairy products.
How Does The Human Body Reacts When Dairy Products Are Eliminated From The Diet?
Loss of Weight- cutting out dairy products may lead to weight loss. However, it totally depends on your previous intake of dairy products. If your previous diet had cheese, butter in your sandwiches, pizza, etc. and replaced with sources of lean proteins, whole grains and fresh vegetables and fruits, you will definitely lose weight. Dairy products are known to have fat and calories equivalent to sugar and other refined carbs. Casein present in the dairy products can cause slow digestion and weight loss Thus, elimination of dairy products will certainly help you to reduce a few kilos.
Reduction in Gastric Complaints- elimination of dairy products can relieve gastric complaints such as bloating, flatulence, gas, and diarrhea. This happens in those people who are lactose intolerant. The lactose intolerant people feel cramps and pain in the abdomen with gas, bloating and diarrhea when they switch to dairy products.
However, sensitivity to dairy products is different in different people. Lactose intolerance is a condition in which the ability to digest lactose present in dairy products, is reduced due to insufficient enzyme lactase.
Clear Skin- according to some experts, hormones present in milk products can induce hormonal acne. Many people leave milk products to have clear skin. However, there is no scientific evidence, that milk products can induce acne and other skin problems.
Improvement of Skin Ailments- some patients of eczema and psoriasis have reported relief in their skin symptoms when they reduce or completely exclude dairy products from their diet. It is believed that dairy products have allergens that can accelerate the flare of these skin diseases. However, there is no scientific evidence for this fact.
Calcium and other Deficiencies- reduction or elimination of dairy products can cause a deficiency of calcium, Vitamin D, and other nutrients. This may affect bone density and cause other health problems if not replaced by other food items that have these nutrients.
Conclusion
Yes, cutting out dairy products can help you to reduce weight, skin, and gastric problems. However, you have to replace them with their alternatives to overcome deficiencies of the essential nutrients supplied by them.
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