I just started reading The Kind Diet , and am really enjoying all the great info.  I thought I'd start with the Flirt stage, but as I was reading, I found I was lactose intolerant years ago so pretty much all dairy has been out of my diet.  I was wondering if anyone would know, I use lactose free milk in my tea, and that is about the extent of the milk thing for me.  I have tried soy milk and other alternatives. but cannot seem to deal with it for my one or two cups of tea.  My question is it still bad for you (?) because , if I'm reading correctly, it still comes from the cow, and there may still be a creulty issue and a health issue here.

I am a tea drinker and when adding milk, I love love love, either SILK creamer, or coconut milk creamer...they come in a variety of flavors as well as original.. it is a bit creamier than milk so I love it in my coffee, yes I am a coffee drinker as well , albeit organic of course!So maybe the alternative would be the creamer version rather than just the "soy milk/almond milk itself.. hope this helps!
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That is exactly what I was thinking Davi.

I too am lactose intolerant and when I was still using dairy I found when I got the organic fat free milk I didn't have any of the symptoms I had with any percentage of milk. But now that I am no longer having any dairy I am now finding out that what I thought was healthy from the Nasty milk companies was all a lie. So if you are lactose stay clear of all dairy even those that say lactose free. FYI about Silk. I read in Veg mag that it has been found to be a major contributor of cruelty. So because of that I will NOT ever use Silk. Since you are a newbie like many of us I have found Veg mag is a wonderful place for good information for vegetarians and vegans alike. I also got a subcription to Vegetarian Times as well. Anything that could help me become a better and healthier person I'm all for and I'm sure you are too since you have already started flirting with the idea of making healthy changes to your life and in the long run to others as well. Have you tried Hemp milk or Almond or Rice or if you have a Whole Foods store their own brand 365 has an amazing Soymilk. I'm not real big on soymilk but their chocolate is to die for and the vanilla is really good too so why not try their regular soymilk. It's far better than any other soymilk I have ever tried and I have tried a lot. Good luck in your search.

I use rice milk or chocolate rice milk in my coffee... it's made from rice and easy on the tummy.  It is naturally sweet without all the extra sugar.

I'm a big tea drinker, as well. But, now I drink it black which is supposedly healthier for you, anyway. I also drink hemp milk (Tempt in vanilla flavor) which is, by far, the best milk alternative I've ever tried. Sometimes, I'll add that to my tea. I could never get into soy milk and I didn't like rice, almond or hazlenut milk (yup, I've tried them all, seriously!) but hemp milk is really delicious and, in my opinion, the closest thing to "real" cows' milk.

I use unsweetened soy milk in my tea and find it tastes good. I use unsweetened almond milk in everything else, but find it gives a strange taste to the tea.

Kim - I totally agree that hemp milk is the tastiest of the alternatives, but, unfortunately, the brand Tempt is made with carageenan, a carcinogenic preservative. Too bad because it was the tastiest brand, but I had to switch.

Thank you, Niki! Did not know that. :(

What did you switch to?

Pacific now makes hemp milk. It's ok. I also tried Hemp Bliss, not so great - really thick. I'm going to keep looking though.

Niki - I did some research on carrageenan and apparently there are two types: "degraded" and "undegraded." The undegraded is supposedly ok (and the one used in some soy and hemp milks) but I think I would rather be safe than sorry. 
Thanks again for the heads-up! It just proves that we really have to look at that ingredients list and know EVERYTHING on it!

Soymilks seem to vary a lot. I don't like Silk or 365, but I like Earth Balance original soymilk in my tea. I hated it for a couple of days, because it just didn't taste the same, but I've gotten used to it extremely quickly. I was actually surprised, because I thought that would be one of the hardest things to get used to, because I love my tea (2-3 cups a day)! That's actually a lot of dairy to cut, so I think it's worth it to get used to it. Tea is a comfort thing, and changing up any comforthing thing is bound to be... uncomfortable. haha