I walk into my new job, it’s my first day of work. I meet the most wonderful lady who has already been told I’m vegan and she looks at me so alarmed and says “but what about cheese?” This is a question I’ve been asked over and over throughout my years of being a vegan; and I mean I totally get it. As a previous cheeseaholic myself I understand why people think it’s so hard to give it up even if you know that cheese is bad for you. Cheese fondues you got me, shredded cheese straight out of the bag, cheese platters, yes me. I was lactose-intolerant, which clearly meant that cheese was bad for me. I would be in extreme gastrointestinal distress after downing the cheese or anything with dairy in yet I still couldn’t cut it out. But one day I learned some gross facts about cheese and realized not only is cheese bad for me but it’s also bad for everyone else. Oddly this made me feel better. I didn’t feel like things were unfair anymore….why could they eat cheese and I couldn’t? Now, it was my preference, my choice to not eat cheese. The following are the things helped me say bye-bye to it forever – maybe they will help you finally give up the cheese too!

Cheese is Bad for the Cows 

photo from unsplash – wolfgang-hasselmann

Cheese, when you think about it is actually pretty gross and awfully sad. Most of it comes from a cow who has been artificially inseminated (a human injects sperm into them by shoving their hand and sperm shooter up you know where) so that it will become pregnant and birth a cow so it can produce milk. The baby cow is taken away from its mom so that we can have their dairy. Then depending on the sex of the baby cow, it can be either used as a dairy cow or sent off to the slaughterhouse to be turned into meat. And this pattern repeats over and over again. 

Once they milk the mama cow, they curdle her milk and turn it into a big salty concoction we call cheese, they then dye it with a natural dye called annatto to make it orange – apparently back in the day they started dying it to make it more ‘appealing’ to us. Crazy -eh? I never knew cheese wasn’t orange until I went to Australia when I was 21 and was like, where’s the orange cheese?

If you really want to be motivated to cut out the cheese I strongly suggest you watch this video on how they treat the dairy cows, it does a far better job at unveiling the truth than my words could ever do. It could be the spark you need to say goodbye! 

Watching videos like this is what turned my non-lactose intolerant non-vegan (at the time) sister completely off dairy. She cut it cold turkey after watching a clip that took place at a Canadian Farm. 

Cheese is Bad for You

The dairy we use to make cheese is meant to grow a baby cow into a big cow, it’s not meant for little humans like me and you! In order to grow that baby cow into a big cow, the milk is naturally full of hormones, not to mention whatever added hormones, antibiotics, or steroids have been given to the cow. This influx of hormones can cause all sorts of hormonal issues for humans, like mood swings, acne and it’s even been linked to increased rates of cancer and heart disease – S C A R Y ! Cheese is also high in saturated fat and cholesterol which are linked to higher rates of heart disease, and type 2 diabetes! Let’s prevent those scary things if we can.

For some people, simply cutting dairy can be enough to fix their acne. So if you’re dealing with acne or hormonal problems cutting the cheese is a good place to start! Don’t eat the cheese!! 

And contrary to what people have been told, dairy products do not build strong bones. They actually leach calcium from our bones. Studies have shown they can actually cause weaker bones and more fractures! Who knew the ‘got milk’ ads were wrong all along. 

Not to mention, cheese is really high in fat, and things that are high in fat are very high in calories. Not that i’m saying you should count your calories, but having some cheese every day certainly can add up to way more excess calories than you bargained for.  

Cheese Is Addictive – and that’s bad too

Cheese has been shown to be just as addictive as opiates like cocaine. I don’t know if you’ve ever done cocaine before, but it’s one of those things where you start off having a little and then you just a little more and more and more…..does this sound like you at a party when a cheese platter is involved? You take a little plate away filled with cheese but then you keep going back for just one more piece, and one more, and one more…..till you’ve overdone it, and now you’re holding in a ton of farts, wishing you didn’t eat the cheese to start with. This is happening because cheese releases dopamine in your brain! Dopamine makes you happy! It’s the same thing that happens when you do cocaine. Your brain lights up every time you take a bite of cheese, you get some temporary happiness so you keep doing it….till it’s all doom and gloom and you’re glued to your toilet dealing with the aftermath (my IBS peeps, I know you get me).

your brain lighting up as you eat that cheeezzeeee

Honestly, it’s bad for your health and pretty addictive…is it to fair to say it sounds like a recreational drug? Only less fun? If you wanna dive a little deeper you can read an entire book on The Cheese Trap by one of my plant-based doctors – Neal Bernard.

Cut The Cheese

So my suggestion here is to cut it cold turkey and start making your food taste cheese with some dairy-free ingredients. It’s possible! You can check out my blog on 6 ways I filled my cheese void and managed to give it up. Having cheese ‘in moderation’ didn’t help because as soon as I put one piece in my mouth whaaa-bammmmm, fireworks are going off in my brain and before I know itI’m eating the whole pack of shredded cheese! 

Once you can push through the first few weeks you will get over the cheese cravings….you just have to use your mental fortitude to make it past those weeks. I promise you it’s possible! Your cheese addiction will be gone! I know it works because I have not met one vegan in my lifetime that says they ‘miss cheese’ …..they all say they forgot about it. 

I hope you now know why cheese is bad for you and you’re totally in the right mindset to start cutting it out. This means you won’t be contributing to the animal cruelty happening to dairy cows – woohoo! Your dietary choices have a purpose beyond you! That’s pretty damn cool and pretty motivating. You’re going to improve your skin and hormones and reduce your risk of cancer and heart disease just by leaving it out. And now you know cheese is addictive but your also equipped to cut it cold turkey and try out my vegan cheese alternatives . And super bonus, if you have lactose intolerance and IBS like me you’re going to spend way less time farting, or holding in farts, or wondering how you’re going to escape to the bathroom before you poop your pants!

While you’re cutting out cheese feel free to also reward yourself with a healthy delicious smoothie bowl!  You deserve it. Grab my how-to guide to learn how to make the best smoothie bowl at home! 

And my IBS peeps. Feel free to check out my guide to see all the other changes I made that helped me finally get control of my IBS and feel like a normal human.