Tonight’s dinner got me thinking. It was nothing new- just some reheated vegan eggplant parm rescued from the freezer. (The last of it actually- I need to make more asap!)
But here I go and write this post about decreasing my dairy intake, and then don’t really mention it again.
That’s mostly because I haven’t entirely wrapped my head around it, but I promise I’ll start sharing some more- like the books I’ve read, movies I’ve seen, etc that have made me readjust my thinking.
Either way, ever since I wrote that post, I have been eating significantly less milk, cheese, and eggs: no cow’s milk in my coffee, no cottage cheese in my oatmeal.
I’m not willing to say “I’m going vegan” mostly because I’m not- I’m still open to eating something with egg in the ingredients (cupcakes, anyone?!) or when the situation is entirely out of my control & I’d rather not offend anyone (aka the inlaws). And I’m still eating fish on occasion.
Now that I haven’t been eating those things directly, I’ve been paying attention to what’s on the package as well. Maybe not in every situation, but at least in the learning process.
So the words milk, egg, and cheese are obvious. But what about all those super long words?
I decided to crack open an old dusty textbook and discover some sneaky synonyms:
Dairy
Caramel candy, carob candies, casein and caseinates, custard, curds,
lactalbumin, goats milk, milk chocolate, nougat, protein hydrolysate,
semisweet chocolate, yogurt, pudding, whey, butter, lactose, cream, some “natural” flavorings.
Egg
Albumin, apovitellin, avidin, béarnaise sauce, eggnog, egg whites,
flavoprotein, globulin, hollandaise sauce, imitation egg products, livetin,
lysozyme, mayonnaise, meringe, ovalbuman, ovogycoprotin, ovomucin,
ovomucoid, ovomuxoid, simplesse.
Other
There’s also plenty of things that seem vegan, but technically aren’t.
-Some brands of soy cheese or soy yogurt (contain casein, which is dairy)
-Soup or grains cooked with chicken or beef broth
-Lard (tortillas, refried beans)
-Veggies made with meat for flavoring (collard greens cooked with pork)
-Beer/wine (animal products are sometimes used in processing)
-Honey
-Gelatin
-Food colorings (I wrote a paper in school about cochineal/carmine- red food color made of crushed insects- aaccck)
-Sugar (sometimes processed with animal bone)
Have any to add to the list?
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Wow this is really interesting! I know gluten can be sneaky in foods but didn’t know all this. I am planning on making some big changes to what I eat soon too. How do you plan to deal with people who are judgmental about your decision? I have a hard time being assertive and feel like I have to defend my own food choices all the time or people look at me weird. I am working on telling myself I DESERVE to feel good and treat the earth well. I just feel so judged sometimes, like I am weird or “crazy”… Love your blog!
Dealing with judgement for others will probably be the hardest thing- I used to be a vegetarian and actually eased up on it because I felt weird explaining myself to others. Now I’ve just realized that it doesn’t matter- I can say as much or as little about it as I want to anybody. What makes me feel good is more important than what they think. Plus, I’ve given myself the “ok” to eat whatever I want if I want to- I think that helps me the most.
Great subject – thanks for posting this!! I’ve never really thought about that before – maybe because I’m not vegan, or even vegetarian (though pretty much eat vegetarian, lol)- but it’s definitely scary how some ingredients can be “disguised” nowadays. It’s pretty ridiculous, really – especially when it comes to certain allergies and diets. Who wants to memorize these lists?!
yay!! just wanted to say i’m excited you’re coming to the HLS
Yay me too!
Vegan eggplant parm looks good!
When I did my vegan challenge, I was SO surprised at how many things had dairy or eggs in them! I became a label-checking queen!
I’m no stranger to looking for dairy/eggs on ingredient labels! It’s becoming easier because now they just list the allergens in bold at the bottom “contains dairy, eggs, etc.”
Oh that’s such a good point!! That’s much easier
Just curious – I’ve seen lots of people pledging to lower their dairy intake recently. Is there something “bad” about dairy – meaning it can affect us in a bad way? Or is it more because of the want to live a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle? I’m a total dummy when it comes o stuff like this.
I think the votes are kind of split on the dairy front. It’s been suggested that the protein in cow’s milk can trigger autoimmune diseases, and there’s concern over the hormones/antibiotics being used. Some people might give it up because of that, and others just to be “more” vegan. My personal decision is based on a combo of things (which I’ll post on soon!- mostly the disease part)
you are the best – this post was AWESOME!
I’m printing it out as we speak (or “type” – you know) 
Danielle pointed out that it’s easier just to look for allergens at the end of ingredient list (don’t know if you saw that, but definitely sounds easier to me!) Good luck on your challenge!
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