I know that there are lots of mums out there who are breastfeeding little ones with CMPA and have started or are thinking about starting Slimming World. I personally started Slimming World a few years ago while I was dairy free and breastfeeding, and, despite creating the infamous Dairy & Soya Free Treat List, I managed to lose nearly 4 stone (although I recently fell of the wagon and put some back on) so I thought I’d share some tips and information for doing Slimming World whilst dairy free. There’s loads more ideas, tips and pictures on my SW Instagram account. I did go back to dairy but if you scroll down a little you’ll find loads of dairy and soya free ideas. All the photos below are phone photos from my Instagram account, so they are a bit rubbish sorry!

Remember that a lot of this is just my personal experience and things that worked for me, so make sure to discuss anything you’re concerned about with your Slimming World consultant.

For more support check out the CMPA Breastfeeding Mummies Doing Slimming World group on Facebook!

Make sure you check out my other resources for breastfeeding with CMPA, including the FAQ page. For a list of all my dairy free resources head over to the Breastfeeding With CMPA Directory.

Healthy Extras

Depending on how old your little one is you may be able to have some extra healthy extra choices, but when you’re dairy free the healthy a choices are obviously much more limited. Slimming World advise you to have 5 Healthy Extras if your baby is up to 2 months old and 6 once your baby is 2-6 months old. Once your baby starts to reduce feeds you can gradually reduce your healthy extras down to 2 A choices and 1 B until you finish feeding. Here are some dairy free options for your healthy extra A choice:

• 200ml Oatly Barista
• 275ml Oatly Original
• 200ml Oatly Chocolate (such a nice little treat warmed up!)
• 250ml soya milk
• 350ml unsweetened soya milk
• 450ml Koko Original
• 500ml Koko Unsweetened
• 250ml Koko Strawberry
• 225ml Koko Chocolate
• 500ml sweetened almond milk
• 1 litre unsweetened almond milk

Unfortunately none of the dairy free cheeses are fortified with calcium, and therefore none of them can be used as a healthy extra A choice.

Now, this is a little off plan technically but the healthy extra A choices are designed to provide you with calcium. As you probably know there are lots of vegan calcium sources out there, so it would be pretty easy to make sure you’re getting your recommended daily amount without your A choices. Even some of the healthy B choices (designed to help you get your daily amount of fibre) are good sources of calcium, so you could opt to use those instead. For example:

• Use a fortified bread
• Nuts like almonds (20g/16 nuts)
• Seeds like sesame (20g)
• Dried fruit like apricots (60g)

There are also loads and loads of speed foods that are great sources of calcium – like green leafy veg, pulses, sardines and tofu. Remember that a breastfeeding mother needs 1250 mg of calcium a day. Read more about calcium sources and other vitamins you need on my alternative milks comparison post.

Also controversially.. if you’re soya free it can be really hard to find a suitable bread, never mind one that can also be used as an healthy extra B choice. Because of this I do tend to use whatever bread I can find, and just make sure I have the right amount (1 slice of an 800g loaf).

Meal Ideas

Nearly all of the Slimming World recipes can be easily adapted to make them dairy (and soya if needed) free. A few of the below may be called tweaks by some, best to use your own judgment. Some of my favourites are:

Breakfast Ideas

• Eggs (scrambled, fried, poached)/Beans/Tomatoes on toast (healthy B choice)
• Omelette with veg
• Fry up – bacon, egg, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans
• Porridge with alternative milk (healthy extras) – try grating in some carrot or courgette to bulk it out
• Egg muffins – fill muffin cases with your choice of speed veg (I like tomato, pepper and mushroom – chop small), whisk eggs and pour on top, bake for 15-20. Alternatively line your muffin tray with ham first
• Baked oats – 40g oats, splash milk (hexa), sweetener, vanilla flavouring and 1 egg. Bake for 10-15 minutes
• Fopperholic pancakes
• French toast – B choice bread dipped in whisked egg, fry and serve with choc shot and fruit

Dinner Ideas

• Diet Coke Chicken
• Spaghetti Bolognese
• Chilli
• Tuna Pasta
• Jacket Potato with beans/tuna/prawns
• Egg Fried Rice Fakeaway
• Stir Fry flavoured with lemongrass and chilli
• Cauli-pizza/Spaghetti Pizza/Meatza (no cheese)
• Omelettes
• Hunters Chicken (no cheese/dairy free cheese synned) – use SW BBQ Sauce
• Slow Cooked Pulled Pork
• KFC style chicken with cous cous/smash/panko bread crumbs
• Slow Cooked Ham in Pepsi Max

Desserts and Sweet Treats

• Frozen fruit with Sweet Freedom Choc Shot
• Lemon Cous Cous Cake – 170g cous cous, and juice of 3 lemons and top with boiling water. Whisk 3 egg whites until fluffy. Add yolks to cous cous and sweetener. Gently fold in egg whites, pour into a loaf tin and bake for 35 min at 180
• Mini Meringues – low syn
• Slimming World Half Syn Brownies
• Scan Bran Cakes – 5 soaked Scan Bran (B choice), 2 eggs, 5 tbsp sweetener, 3 tbsp Walden Farm choc syrup 1/3 syn (could use Choc Shot), bake
• Rice Pudding using alternative milk
• Chocolate Panna Cotta (alt milk)
• Weetabix Brownies – blend 2 weetabix to a powder, add 2 eggs, 3 tbsp sweetener, 1 tsp cocoa powder (1 syn), vanilla essence. Bake for 15-20.

Snack Ideas

• Slimming World Scotch Eggs – use B choice breadcrumbs or cous cous, and sausages or pork mince
• Roasted Chickpeas
• Courgette Crisps
• Cold Meats/Seafood
• Kale Crisps
• Houmous and veg sticks

Eating Out

Looking for slimming world friendly AND allergy friendly places to eat out can be tricky, but actually there are some good choices out there and lots of the dairy free options will also be slimming world friendly.

• Carvery – most carveries can cater for dairy free, but always always check each dish. Often they will put butter on their veg, but are usually more than happy to boil or steam you some fresh, making them free on plan too! Look out for gravy, mashed potato, Yorkshire’s and bread sauce – all usually contain dairy and most will have syns too!
• Nandos – Nandos is brilliant for allergies, and there’s some good free/low syn choices. All of the chicken is dairy free, and free on plan if you remove the skin. Have yours with a side salad and corn on the cob for a super speedy meal. They do an amazing dairy free chocolate gelado, I can’t find the syns online so it must be free* (*joking, definitely not free, but very delicious)
• Subway – I do love a Subway. For dairy free and on plan food grab a salad, I used to get double chicken, and choose a low cal sauce like sweet onion. Lovely filling lunch for only a couple of syns!
• Cafes – obvious choices like salads and jacket potatoes are usually safe for most allergies and guaranteed to be on plan, so most cafes should have something suitable

Syn Values

• Vitalite 1 level tsp – 1.5 syns
• Violife Creamy 25g – 3 syns
• Violife Original 25g – 3.5
• Violife Original/Mozzarella style Slices – 3 per slice
• Koko Original Yoghurt 100g pot – 3.5
• Dark Chocolate 25g – 6.5 syns
• Nutritional Yeast 10g – 2
• Booja Booja Truffles – 3 syns each
• Oreos – 2.5 syns each
• Bourbon biscuit – 3.5 each
• Choc Shot 1 level tbsp – 2 syns
• Almond Dream Ice Cream in Salted Caramel – 5 syns per 100ml (23.5 for the whole tub!)
• Alpro Go On Soya yoghurts flavoured – 1.5 syns for 150g pot
• Alpro Go On Soya plain – 1.5 syns for 400g pot

Pin for later: