How To Lose Weight By Avoiding Dairy & Gluten

Eliminating dairy products from your diet due to lactose intolerance or allergies requires you to get adequate sources of calcium and protein. People who are allergic or sensitive to gluten or who have celiac disease must eliminate common grains and baked goods from the diet, yet are often challenged by the need to lose weight. Popular media coverage of gluten-free and dairy-free diets often equates them with weight loss diets, which is not necessarily the case. Adding lean protein sources and high-fiber, nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits will support healthy weight loss.

Step 1

Eliminate all dietary gluten sources, or wheat, barley, rye, triticale -- a wheat hybrid -- and spelt. For weight loss, minimize or eliminate gluten-free replacements and substitutes, from pizza, breads, rolls and other baked goods to pasta, crackers, pretzels and highly processed snack foods.

Step 2

Eliminate milk and other dairy products made with milk from your diet, from yogurt, butter, cream and ice cream to milk solids, puddings, white sauces, chocolate and some margarines.

Step 3

Build your weight-loss diet around small portions of lean proteins including eggs, fish, seafood, meat, poultry, nuts and seeds and–for vegetarians and vegans -- tofu, soy, dried beans and non-gluten grains.

Step 4

Include high-protein calcium sources whenever possible, including tofu, dried beans, salmon with bones, sardines with bones and shrimp. Choose milk substitutes including soy, rice and almond milk that are typically well fortified with calcium, usually about 500 mg per cup.

Step 5

Prioritize high-calcium and high-nutrient vegetables such as broccoli, and cooked greens such as spinach, kale and collards. Vegetables are the highest sources of water-soluble B vitamins that breads, cereals and whole grains provide, and only fruits are higher in vitamin C.

Step 6

Take a good multiple vitamin daily to make sure you’re getting enough calcium, vitamin C and water-soluble B vitamins, especially if you don’t eat animal products, which are the only sources of vitamin B-12 -- necessary for healthy nerves and neurological development, and needed to prevent pernicious anemia.

Step 7

Get plenty of sleep. According to “The Paleo Solution,” modern human beings do not get enough sleep -- deep stress relief -- and lack of sleep leads to excess cortisol, high triglycerides and insulin resistant fat storage around the mid-section, which greatly increases your risk for heart disease, diabetes and other life-threatening illness.

Tips and Warnings

Learn to read food labels carefully, especially if you or family members have food allergies or sensitivities, because both gluten and milk-based products can be disguised in scientific vocabulary, such as casein or lactose. Get active and stay active with a balanced aerobic exercise, muscle building, flexibility, agility and relaxation program, because activity will help you burn fat calories. To lose 1 pound of unwanted body fat per week you need to eat 3,500 fewer calories or "burn" an extra 3,500 calories through exercise, about 500 calories per day in either case. Easiest and healthiest: cutting 250 dietary calories each day and exercising enough to burn off 250 calories, together a total of 500 calories every day.