Some choose to dump dairy

There are some groups, though, that believe dairy causes more harm than minor congestion. One site, www.notmilk.com, includes a list of diseases and conditions they believe could be remedied with a milk-free diet — everything from arthritis to zits. Another one, www.godairyfree.org, encourages people to eliminate dairy for 10 days, claiming this could help with problems such as weight gain and migraines.

Becky Mauldin, a naturopath and owner of Pure Health and Wellness in Douglasville, says that a lot of people just do better when they omit dairy. “The dairy that we are consuming now is not the dairy that God created a long time ago that was just pure milk from the animal,” she says. After the milk is heated and homogenized, it’s much harder for our bodies to break down, Mauldin explains.

Mauldin says she does not recommend commercial grade milk to her clients: “If they want to get back to milk, I say if you can find a good source of raw milk, that’s the best alternative. Otherwise stick with non-milk milk, like almond milk, rice milk or coconut milk.”

In Mauldin’s experience, clients who eliminate dairy have seen symptoms such as acne, night wakings, congestion and chronic allergies disappear. Cases like these make a milk-free diet sound tempting. But turn the page in your favorite gossip or fashion magazine and you’ll see plenty of your favorite celebrities sporting milk mustaches. Who knew something as seemingly simple as milk could be so polarizing?

Dietitian’s perspective

“I would tell people who take all the information to the extreme as far as that dairy is bad for you and it’s dangerous, ‘Always look at your resource for that information and evaluate it,’ ” says Rachel Agnew, a registered dietitian at Northside Hospital’s Diabetes and Nutrition Education Center.

Her take on dairy? “I think that we definitely have a need for certain types of dairy. The main thing we benefit from with dairy products would be the calcium,” she explains. “Calcium has an approved FDA health claim saying it reduces the risk of osteoporosis.”

Plus, Agnew says more recent findings link calcium to colon health.

Still, if Agnew has patients who are lactose intolerant, have a dairy allergy or just want to dump dairy by choice, she tries to help them meet their calcium needs through other foods such as leafy green vegetables, tofu, bok choy, legumes, navy beans, great northern beans, canned salmon with bones and “sardines if you can go there,” she says. Dairy-free dining

Simpson’s rule for restaurants is: “Just assume that everything has dairy.” She explains that since restaurants often like to “slap butter on everything,” she requests that her vegetables be steamed and her food be cooked in oil. “Ever since the big olive oil movement a couple of years back, everyone has extra virgin olive oil,” she says.

Simpson believes that a dairy-free lifestyle could benefit everyone.

“I didn’t have a sensitivity that I knew of, but I did. It’s one of those things you don’t realize until you get rid of it.”

After all, she adds with a laugh, “We’re people; we’re not cows.”

The dish on dairy free

Cookbook author Simpson shares her favorites:

Milk swaps: Oat milk. “It’s like oatmeal but it’s milk. I’m in love with it,” she says. She also likes rice milk and almond milk (like Almond Breeze).

Faux cheese: Simpson says some are good and some are not so good. Her go-to nondairy cheese is Daiya, which she finds at Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe in Marietta or online at www.cosmosveganshoppe.com. “It tastes so much like cheese!” she says.

Dairy-free desserts: “Desserts are super easy. There are actually a ton of dairy-free ice creams,” Simpson says. She says Kroger and Whole Foods both have good selections. Her freezer currently has Purely Decadent, a coconut milk ice cream. It’s “to die for,” she says of her favorite flavor, chocolate mint.

Prefer to make your own dessert? Try baking cookies with rice milk or almond milk, Simpson says.