Updated 6/16/26 Find the recipe here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TFy6O4BmQe4RVe1SSOpxJ3FN_jQGRhv9/ Knauthentic Consultations now available. The text featured below is the transcription of the video above. Hi there, Toi here. We’re going to be talking about cheese today. And to be honest, it’s probably not the last time we’re going to talk about cheese. But the quick meal video that I’ve put out recently is me making just one of many versions of non-dairy cheese., so let, let let me, let me talk about why I consume non-dairy cheese. There are lots of reasons why a person might choose not to consume dairy. So, for all of you haters out there who get mad at anyone who eats a cheese that doesn’t come from a lactating mammal, calm down. Relax. What people choose to eat, or what people sometimes have to eat is no bearing on you whatsoever. You can eat all the dairy cheese that you want. No one’s going to stop you. No one’s going to take it from you. But let the other people, including myself. Let’s just let us do our thing. Okay, so I adore cheese. And I also used to really adore milk. I was one of those people. I was I was going to say kids, but I did it even as an adult. So, I was one of those people who used to drink milk, like just drink it. It was one of my beverage options. There was water, there was milk, there was juice. You know, like I used to just drink milk. But, back in my twenties, there was a concern about the cholesterol or the fat or something like that in the milk. And so I made the switch way back then, to not drink dairy milk, but I still consumed dairy products for the next, you know, twenty years or so. The reason why I’ve gotten to the point where I just can’t handle dairy anymore. I want to be clear that I’m not lactose intolerant. I’ve never been lactose intolerant. My husband is lactose intolerant, and that joker still eats cheese from time and gets an upset tummy and has to go to the bathroom anyway. So, I the thing is, because I probably have gone so long without consuming dairy now, it probably would upset my son if I had it now just because my body’s not used to consuming it. But I was never lactose intolerant, so that’s not the reason that I’m dairy free. I’m also currently not currently living like a plant based or vegan lifestyle. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with either of those lifestyles., with all of my restrictions, I just felt like adding that on it would just be an additional restriction. And so, that’s not the reason either, although that’s a very valid reason. So, if you happen to be lactose intolerant, that’s a very good, valid reason to not consume dairy products if you happen to be plant based or vegan. Very good. Valid reason not to consume dairy. Okay, now here is the reason that I no longer consume dairy. Now, I want to be clear that this is me. This is my experience. Not every person is the same. So don’t go dairy free because I went dairy free. And don’t be telling people that I told you had to do this or that or the other. I hope you are making decisions based upon your own research. You’re speaking to a professional, a doctor, a dietitian nutritionist, something, an elimination diet, something. But for me, dairy became a problem for two reasons. So, number one, I have, lots of just general digestive issues. And even though, I’ve never been lactose intolerant, my digestion has been kind of slowing down. It’s getting harder for me to process things. And so, foods that have a high fat content, I have to be concerned about my digestive system struggles with digesting or processing fat point blank. So that doesn’t mean that I have to be on a fat free diet. That’s not what it means at all. But I do have to be concerned about how much fat I’m consuming. And so, the reason why dairy becomes a factor in that is that a lot of dairy products, have a lot of fat in them. That’s not to say that I couldn’t eat those things and maybe reduce my fat somewhere else. You see what I’m saying? So, like, it would still be possible for me to consume dairy if it was just the fat, but it would be a little bit more challenging. So, for instance, let’s say you have a burger, and you put a slice of cheese on it. I might have to take half that slice of cheese, shred it up. So spread it around a little bit. So bit, so I’m still kind of giving that effect to get less amount of fat, if that makes sense. So, it’s just a little bit more work in order for me to consume the dairy without having too much fat because I am still getting fat from other sources. That burger probably has some fat in it too. So, I have to be thinking about where my fat is coming from, and by eliminating dairy that helps me control my fat a whole lot better. And I have more choices about other places where I can get fat., if you, followed when I was on doing my, like, food updates on my Toy Thomas channel, I used to talk about how if I have to choose between, I think it was like cheese and bacon. I would choose the bacon. I do not eat bacon every day. I don’t even eat it every week. But when I do want to consume it, I just I just want to enjoy it. I don’t want to have to worry about is it is my stomach going to have trouble digesting it? And that’s the choice that I’ve made. So, you don’t have to make that choice. This is the choice that I’ve made. Now, fat isn’t my only concern. Another concern that I have with dairy. And some people have the same concern. Most people don’t. So again, don’t be coming at me. For some people, dairy affects their inflammation. Now studies. Some studies have shown that, high quality dairy products should not affect inflammation. And for me and for a lot of people, it doesn’t. But for me, if I’m consuming a lot of dairy, like, I guess I don’t know what the typical serving is, but let’s say we’re talking glasses of milk. Let’s say one eight-ounce glass of whole milk is your, you know, standard dairy consumption. If I were to just have that, I don’t think it would affect my inflammation too much. But let’s be honest, especially if you’re living in the United States, you’re not having one eight ounce serving of dairy a day. You’re probably having more than that. And so, if I’m having more than that, it can affect my inflammation. I can swell, I can feel itchy or, you know, get rashes and things like that. Not from the dairy itself. It just makes me that more susceptible to the other types of inflammation that I already suffer from. So that’s one another reason, and the last and final reason why I finally had to cut out the dairy is because. I like breathing. Now let me explain. I had really, really bad asthma as a kid. As an adult, I’ve mostly grown out of a lot of my asthma symptoms. I do have some of the lasting residual effects, seasonal allergies, skin sensitivities, eczema. So, I have a lot of the residuals that come from, you know, an early child development with asthma. So, with that said, I also have, you know, nasal issues, ear issues, you know, just a lot of these, these, these things that are all connected. Ear, nose and throat. You know how it goes. I remember a doctor telling me once, and these are not his exact words, so I am not quoting, but this is just me remembering as best as I can. He said something to the effect that if the average American’s nasal passage is blue, and a person who has a really bad like nasal infections is red, yours is purple or pink, like it’s somewhere in between blue and red. And he’s like. And the doctor was like, that’s just how it is all the time. And so, at that point, the doctor presented me with, of course, you know, getting allergy shots or putting me on a medication regimen. I chose the medication regimen, and it was it was getting me by. And the truth is, when you’ve lived with something for so long, you don’t know any different. And so, when I started toying with the idea of going dairy free, I just started, you know, writing down the different things to see what I noticed. I didn’t… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit toithomas.substack.com
