How do you deal with the Cravings?

[ReefyPuppy]

Hi there,

I've been Vegetarian for 5 years now with the exception that I will eat a can of Tuna every few months just to keep healthy. But sometimes I get the maddest cravings for a burger or pizza, like very intense cravings.

I can somewhat justify eating small amounts of Tuna as A: My intake is extremely conservative and B: According to science, Fish such as Tuna don't go through complex emotions or feel pain to the extent of other sentient life forms.

I do feel bad for consuming milk and Yogurt which is all of my dairy intake. But those represent my favorite foods in life. I don't even know if I could imagine life without milk. The substitutes I've tried don't taste anything like the real thing and apparently, Soy can be problematic in large and frequent doses.

Anyway, sort of going off-topic there. Just wanted to give some context.

Lately, I've been craving a pizza with pepperoni on it. I can't explain why. I have been eating Quorn imitation meat products for years, And while they taste pretty good, they are also prohibitively expensive and don't quite hit the same spot as real meat or give any animal fats or vitamins.

I was so close to giving in the other day, trying to justify to myself that I've been a good boy for so long and it's only a small portion, but then my reason kicked in and I realized that if only a handful of people thought that way, that would be another cow being murdered.

I don't even know what I want to accomplish by posting this. Maybe if anything people know ways to make the craving go away. Thanks for reading and appreciate any input.

 

[Emma JC]

welcome to the forum @ReefyPuppy and thank you for putting your challenges/cravings out there

Burgers/Pizza/Tuna - there is a company that is making extremely tasty products that I have been trying recently and in Australia they even have tuna (as I don't agree with your perception that it is either necessary for you or kind to the tuna)

https://www.futurefarm.io/en-au

Their burgers are amazing, don't have the horrid Beyond/Impossible smell and are the closest to meeting those cravings for us. I have not tried their tuna but you may find it helpful for you.

I have read more information regarding the negatives of Quorn that for anything other meat alternative and have never had it as it is not popular in Canada. We love Gardein and Field Roast and enjoy them about 3 or 4 times per week.

The pizzas that we make at home are far tastier than anything you can buy - we used Field Roast sausages (Italian usually) sliced to replace pepperoni and just a few shreds of Earth Island cheez and then lots of veggies like green onions, mushrooms, olives etc.

For milk we use/love Oat milk and Australia seems to have a good selection of them. We do not avoid soy as we also don't believe there is any issue with consuming it, we just prefer the taste of Oat Milk. Yogurt is not an issue for us as we didn't eat it before and if we did still wish to there are plenty of vegan options available.

In general we use a lot of spices, especially garlic, onion powders (and whole) and cumin, paprika, chili powder, pepper, hot sauces etc on everything we eat and find that cuts down on any cravings as it really is the taste of the item itself that matters and most meats/fish etc really don't have a strong taste themselves and it is the additions that make them amazing.

Hope this is helpful for you.

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Brian W]

I can somewhat justify eating small amounts of Tuna as A: My intake is extremely conservative and B: According to science, Fish such as Tuna don't go through complex emotions or feel pain to the extent of other sentient life forms.

A: The amount of tuna you are eating is not enough to be of any real value to your health, besides which you can get everything you need from plants.

B: You might be surprised to find that fish have very complex nervous systems and much of what was written in the past was more speculation than scientific fact.

https://thehumaneleague.org/article/do-fish-feel-pain

The wild wriggling and squirming fish do when they're hooked and pulled from the water during catch-and-release fishing isn't just an automatic response—it's a conscious reaction to the pain they feel when a hook pierces their lips, jaws, or body. One study looked at the faces and heads of rainbow trout who were hooked during angling, finding 22 receptors on the lips, jaws, and around the eyes that are likely associated with pain. In another study, researchers injected the lips of fish with an acidic substance. The fish swam slower, decreased social activities, delayed eating, and rubbed their lips against the glass walls of the tank or in the sand along the bottom. Considering that fish have a high concentration of nociceptors—sensory receptors for painful stimuli—inside their mouths and on their lips, it’s no wonder that a hooking injury can be devastating for a fish.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ead-to-major-changes-in-the-fishing-industry/

Then there’s Victoria Braithwaite, professor of fisheries and biology at Penn State University. She co-authored a groundbreaking study in 2003 that suggested fish anatomy was complex enough to experience pain and discomfort. She later wrote the book, “Do Fish Feel Pain?,” which includes this striking line: “I have argued that there is as much evidence that fish feel pain and suffer as there is for birds and mammals — and more than there is for human neonates and preterm babies.”

 

[ReefyPuppy]

Thank you both for the input. I'm starting to believe a lot of my problems come down to availability and budget. I live in a backwater mining town and I can't even get enough vegetables from any local supermarkets. I'm out of the loop as to why that is, but 90% of frozen vegetables are out of stock up here. I'm lucky to get 1kg of vegetables to last me over week (which is all I eat) - 200g vegetables + rice + 2-3 slices of toast, that is breakfast lunch and tea.

Can only afford to buy those Quorn products at a half-price special. I've read some conflicting information on those Quorn products too, but they are the only semi-affordable vegan meats available to me. My biggest takeaway was that they provide plant-based protein and I didn't question much beyond that. They do seem to give me indigestion though.

All of the Vegan Burger products are outrageously priced, to the point I could not sustain myself on them. Most products in this range at roughly $7 per 200g. It doesn't help that we pay a premium for everything in this rural location.

You make a good point with the talk of spices, Emma. I do love Garlic and parsley. It's just unfortunate that I lack the skill to incorporate them into the foods I eat. I make my own vegetarian pizzas, but only very rarely can I afford to do that.

@Brian - I read that plant-based protein is not quite the same as meat, And it is possibly for this reason, among some others that people on strict Vegan diets need supplements to compensate. I am not a dietician so I can't say for sure, but my intake is 425g of tuna every 3 months or so, and I find my body is quite receptive to it. Almost like my body is telling me I need it.

I have read through similar articles that cover our understanding of those mechanisms. My understanding was that while fish could be considered sentient to some extent, their neurochemistry and physiology do not support higher-level emotional states and psychological responses to pain in the same way other mammals do.

I still consider it to be a bad thing that Fish of any variety suffer in any sense of the word. I just consider it be the lesser evil and a much better alternative to harming creatures whose physiology is unmistakably very similar to our own. Ideally, I would like to cut out all meat from my diet. I'm just concerned how that will impact an already diminished state of physical health.


I will think on it some more. Despite many of my egregiously ignorant lifestyle choices in the past, I still feel proud in being able to say that I am not supporting acts of cruelty on a larger scale. Perhaps if I can get out of this hellhole, I might be able to afford a lifestyle without any meat at all. At the present, I can barely afford to live off frozen vegetables and rice with absolutely no condiments/spices.

 

[Brian W]

@Brian - I read that plant-based protein is not quite the same as meat, And it is possibly for this reason, among some others that people on strict Vegan diets need supplements to compensate. I am not a dietician so I can't say for sure, but my intake is 425g of tuna every 3 months or so, and I find my body is quite receptive to it. Almost like my body is telling me I need it.

A can of tuna every few months is not adding anything important to your diet. It's far too little to be significant. If you are not eating meat and dairy, you have personal proof that plant protein is sufficient - you are still alive! I believe it is your craving for animal foods that causes you to continue eating tuna and not because your body needs it. I won't debate this any further though - you are entitled to make your own choices.

 

[bEt]

Hello, thank you for posting here! I only just now saw this. I'm curious if you use any vitamin supplements or if you even have those available?
Also it sounds like your local shopping is very limited. How long have you been in your current location? Is online shopping a viable option?
Is growing food an option for you?

I don't think you said anything about beans (also called legumes or pulses). Do you use those? Are they available to you? How do you feel about lentils and other legumes?

Have you heard of cronometer or myfooddata.com ?

 

[ReefyPuppy]

A can of tuna every few months is not adding anything important to your diet. It's far too little to be significant. If you are not eating meat and dairy, you have personal proof that plant protein is sufficient - you are still alive! I believe it is your craving for animal foods that causes you to continue eating tuna and not because your body needs it. I won't debate this any further though - you are entitled to make your own choices.

I would be incredibly surprised if this was the case. I'd say it's far more likely that under the circumstances it's just enough to keep my health from deteriorating completely.

I think you may be underselling the value of how much protein and vitamins that actually is relative to a diet completely devoid of any other sources for it. 425g is not exactly a small quantity either. It provides a full week of protein-rich meals for me with essential vitamins that my body obviously needs.

I'd say that's better than nothing at all. Probably a lot better.

Hello, thank you for posting here! I only just now saw this. I'm curious if you use any vitamin supplements or if you even have those available?
Also it sounds like your local shopping is very limited. How long have you been in your current location? Is online shopping a viable option?
Is growing food an option for you?

I don't think you said anything about beans (also called legumes or pulses). Do you use those? Are they available to you? How do you feel about lentils and other legumes?

Have you heard of cronometer or myfooddata.com ?

Hi bEt,

Appreciate the warm reply.

I have been here for about 4 years now and I really hate it lol. I hate the people more than anything. But no I do not consume any vitamins or supplements, at least not beyond Vitamin C tablets. Those are what I consider to be my lollies.

I do all my grocery shopping online and typically order from Coles which is a major supermarket chain over here. But for whatever reason, the supply of vegetables has become extremely limited. We are for instance under some restrictions as to how much we can buy. But most of the time it's all out of stock.

I'm not very familiar with more fancy vegetables. I eat baked beans rarely as I'm not a huge fan. I will see if I can buy some of those Legumes you speak of. I do not so fondly recall having to eat Soybeans as a child, eeek! those were so nasty lol. My mum would force me to eat them and I tried everything to mask the taste (Ketchup, Salt) I even tried swallowing them whole with water lol. I hope the Legumes don't taste anything like that. :S

Not familiar with Cronometer or the other one. I will investigate shortly. Many thanks!

 

[Clairey]

Hi there,

I've been Vegetarian for 5 years now with the exception that I will eat a can of Tuna every few months just to keep healthy. But sometimes I get the maddest cravings for a burger or pizza, like very intense cravings.

I can somewhat justify eating small amounts of Tuna as A: My intake is extremely conservative and B: According to science, Fish such as Tuna don't go through complex emotions or feel pain to the extent of other sentient life forms.

I do feel bad for consuming milk and Yogurt which is all of my dairy intake. But those represent my favorite foods in life. I don't even know if I could imagine life without milk. The substitutes I've tried don't taste anything like the real thing and apparently, Soy can be problematic in large and frequent doses.

Anyway, sort of going off-topic there. Just wanted to give some context.

Lately, I've been craving a pizza with pepperoni on it. I can't explain why. I have been eating Quorn imitation meat products for years, And while they taste pretty good, they are also prohibitively expensive and don't quite hit the same spot as real meat or give any animal fats or vitamins.

I was so close to giving in the other day, trying to justify to myself that I've been a good boy for so long and it's only a small portion, but then my reason kicked in and I realized that if only a handful of people thought that way, that would be another cow being murdered.

I don't even know what I want to accomplish by posting this. Maybe if anything people know ways to make the craving go away. Thanks for reading and appreciate any input.

Sounds as though your body might be craving protein.
If i was in your situation i would stop eating meat and mock meat altogether and make sure i get all the nutrients i need by cooking proper lentil stews etc.
As it is i am not actually alright myself but i like looking after people, giving advice etc so i hope my guidance might be of some use.

 

[Clairey]

H

Sounds as though your body might be craving protein.
If i was in your situation i would stop eating meat and mock meat altogether and make sure i get all the nutrients i need by cooking proper lentil stews etc.
As it is i am not actually alright myself but i like looking after people, giving advice etc so i hope my guidance might be of some use.

Aving said that i did not realise you do not have much choice of foods.
Bean stew out of tins maybe?

 

[VeganRachel]

Thank you both for the input. I'm starting to believe a lot of my problems come down to availability and budget. I live in a backwater mining town and I can't even get enough vegetables from any local supermarkets. I'm out of the loop as to why that is, but 90% of frozen vegetables are out of stock up here. I'm lucky to get 1kg of vegetables to last me over week (which is all I eat) - 200g vegetables + rice + 2-3 slices of toast, that is breakfast lunch and tea.

Can only afford to buy those Quorn products at a half-price special. I've read some conflicting information on those Quorn products too, but they are the only semi-affordable vegan meats available to me. My biggest takeaway was that they provide plant-based protein and I didn't question much beyond that. They do seem to give me indigestion though.

All of the Vegan Burger products are outrageously priced, to the point I could not sustain myself on them. Most products in this range at roughly $7 per 200g. It doesn't help that we pay a premium for everything in this rural location.

You make a good point with the talk of spices, Emma. I do love Garlic and parsley. It's just unfortunate that I lack the skill to incorporate them into the foods I eat. I make my own vegetarian pizzas, but only very rarely can I afford to do that.

@Brian - I read that plant-based protein is not quite the same as meat, And it is possibly for this reason, among some others that people on strict Vegan diets need supplements to compensate. I am not a dietician so I can't say for sure, but my intake is 425g of tuna every 3 months or so, and I find my body is quite receptive to it. Almost like my body is telling me I need it.

I have read through similar articles that cover our understanding of those mechanisms. My understanding was that while fish could be considered sentient to some extent, their neurochemistry and physiology do not support higher-level emotional states and psychological responses to pain in the same way other mammals do.

I still consider it to be a bad thing that Fish of any variety suffer in any sense of the word. I just consider it be the lesser evil and a much better alternative to harming creatures whose physiology is unmistakably very similar to our own. Ideally, I would like to cut out all meat from my diet. I'm just concerned how that will impact an already diminished state of physical health.


I will think on it some more. Despite many of my egregiously ignorant lifestyle choices in the past, I still feel proud in being able to say that I am not supporting acts of cruelty on a larger scale. Perhaps if I can get out of this hellhole, I might be able to afford a lifestyle without any meat at all. At the present, I can barely afford to live off frozen vegetables and rice with absolutely no condiments/spices.

Thank you for sharing. Old habits can be hard to stop. I find the packaged/frozen vegan foods are very pricey and loaded with sodium.
Can you drive somewhere once a month to load up on vegetables, etcetera?. If you can get some beans and grains and some veggies you
can learn to make your own and save 75% of the cost of packaged. You can make 12 burgers at a time and freeze the extra. Soups, stews, beans and rice, homemade pizza with vegetables, pasta, hummus....Fish is loaded with heavy metals including mercury, not to mention the cruelty involved in the fishing industry. There are always options that do not involve the harm of animals, but the healthier plant options are the best choice. cheers. see: www.fishfeel.org

 

[Clairey]

I am eating cooked lentils as a source of protein. I am only just picking up on the vvegan/plant based diet and actually really enjoying it. Only a carrot or two and one or two spuds needed with the lentils for a healthy filling meal. Cost effective.

 

[bEt]

I'm glad to hear you enjoy your vitamin C. One of the many benefits of vitamin C is that it improves the body's absorption of iron.

Do you remember how your mom cooked the soybeans? Did she start with dry beans and boil them? Did she put them in a soup?

I know beans can be bland and boring. Most cultures that use beans use them in creative ways, often with a lot of spices or dressed up in other ways. You can read online about hummus with creamy tahini (tahini is like peanut butter except it is made of ground sesame seeds instead of ground peanuts). In India lentils and other pulses are cooked into spicy dahls. Here in the southwest united states beans are often eaten with spicy salsa with hot peppers. My grandma used to put beans in a minestrone soup.

There are a lot of different varieties of beans besides soy, but I don't know what may be available to you. A few other legumes are kidney beans, lima beans (both baby green fresh/frozen and mature dry), garbanzo (also called ceci or chickpeas), black beans, split peas (either greeen or yellow), black-eyed peas, pinto beans, lentils, mung, adzuki, and navy beans.

Even peanuts are a legume. Legume or pulses just means the plant grows its seeds in a pod. Mostly just another way to say bean or lentils.

I hope you can get to look into the cronometer site and/or the myfooddata.com site. They can help you see how much of different nutrients you are getting. I'm pretty sure you need to sign up for a free account to use cronometer. The myfooddata makes it look like you need to sign up for a free account but really you can use the tools even if you skip signing up. If you can carve out some time to sit down and play with it, you can learn some of what it can do. You can go to 'tools' and choose 'recipe calculator'. You can choose foods from the list it offers when you search. You can change the portion of each food and the number of portions. You can even set the number of portions for a food to one-half (0.5) or even one-quarter (0.25). Or an unrealistically large number like 14. (if you want to see what nutrients are in 14 apples for example, just for fun!) You can see the amino acids amounts or the vitamins or minerals. Sometimes some of the data is missing for some foods but there is still a lot you can do.

It sounds like you are interested in making your diet work for you, but you have some very difficult restrictions to work with in terms of what is available to you.

How do you feel about oatmeal? I think you said you eat a lot of rice? Rice is nice, but a variety of grains is good, too. And oatmeal has a lot of protien compared to some other grains. For example, if you eat 200 calories worth of rice, you log 4% of your protein for the day. 200 calories worth of oatmeal provides 14% of your protein for the day.


Do you mind if I ask what area of Australia you are in and what the climate is like? (I have the impression that Australia has a lot of different climates?) I ask because that might be relevant to what vegetables you may be able to grow or forage, if you have time for that and if other circumstances allow.

I'd like to add that if you are looking to cut back on animal products in your foods, it would be wise to find a B12 supplement and/or a B complex supplement that includes B12. Anyone who eats only plant foods needs to supplement B12, but in my opinion it doesn't hurt to begin supplementing even when you are transitioning to more plant foods and less animal products.
If you want to read a whole lot of detailed information about B12:

Subclinical B12 Deficiency and Homocysteine in Vegans

The latest blog post from VeganHealth.org

veganhealth.org

 

[Clairey]

I'm glad to hear you enjoy your vitamin C. One of the many benefits of vitamin C is that it improves the body's absorption of iron.

Do you remember how your mom cooked the soybeans? Did she start with dry beans and boil them? Did she put them in a soup?

There are a lot of different varieties of beans besides soy, but I don't know what may be available to you. A few other legumes are kidney beans, lima beans (both baby green fresh/frozen and mature dry), garbanzo (also called ceci or chickpeas), black beans, split peas (either greeen or yellow), pinto beans, lentils, and navy beans.

I hope you can get to look into the cronometer site and/or the myfooddata.com site. They can help you see how much of different nutrients you are getting.

It sounds like you are interested in making your diet work for you, but you have some very difficult restrictions to work with in terms of what is available to you.

Do you mind if I ask what area of Australia you are in and what the climate is like? (I have the impression that Australia has a lot of different climates?) I ask because that might be relevant to what vegetables you may be able to grow or forage, if you have time for that and if other circumstances allow.

I'd like to add that if you are hoping to cut back on animal products in your foods, it would be wise to find a B12 supplement and/or a B complex supplement that includes B12. Anyone who eats only plant foods needs to supplement B12, but in my opinion it doesn't hurt to begin supplementing even when you are transitioning to more plant foods and less animal products.

To me a legume is french for a vegetable. Légume.
Dried beans, peas and lentils are pulses.
They also come in cans and packets pre cooked.
I am thinking about wholemeal pastry. There are plenty of choices of vegan or plant based foods. Just a case of finding a few bits and bobs that suit you.
Now i have looked it up i have found the meaning to legumes.

 

[bEt]

I just tried to find oatmeal on the Coles grocery store website and I had to type in 'oat rolled', not 'oatmeal'. There was a Coles store brand Rolled Oats value pack 1.8kg for $3.10 but maybe that was a sale price?
Not everyone likes the texture of oatmeal. I do, but some people like it better if it's not too mushy, which you can partly achieve by boiling the water first and then adding the rolled oats after it is boiling and cooking for a shorter time, maybe 2 or 3 minutes instead of 5.
On the Coles website I saw, there was a Blackmores brand B12 gummies for $14.50 for 75 gummies with 100mcg of B12 each. I don't know if it would be available locally near you.
There was a Coles store brand hot pepper (cayenne pepper) ground spice in a bottle which could be sprinkled on canned beans to dress them up. It may be hot, so I'd start with a very tiny amount and see what you think. It is easy to add more, but if you add too much, you can't go back and undo it! Maybe with a splash of vinegar and/or a few slices of fruit. That is mostly what a Mexican-style salsa is-- some fruit (usually tomato but other fruits can work too), some acid (citrus or vinegar or other), and some hot pepper, fresh is good but dried can substitute. If you wanted to try canned beans this way, I'd suggest rinsing the beans first.
Another creative way to dress up beans if you like peanut butter would be to mash a few tablespoons of beans and mix in a tablespoon of peanut butter and maybe some sweetener and/or other flavoring to make a sandwich spread. You don't need to be a cook, just try something and see what you like. With the beans in it, the spread would last only a couple of days in the fridge.
I tried to find molasses on the Coles website but couldn't find any. Then looking on the internet I started to wonder if maybe molasses is just not really popular in Australia as a human food, but is mostly marketed to feed cattle and horses?

 

[silva]

I just tried to find oatmeal on the Coles grocery store website and I had to type in 'oat rolled', not 'oatmeal'. There was a Coles store brand Rolled Oats value pack 1.8kg for $3.10 but maybe that was a sale price?
Not everyone likes the texture of oatmeal. I do, but some people like it better if it's not too mushy, which you can partly achieve by boiling the water first and then adding the rolled oats after it is boiling and cooking for a shorter time, maybe 3 minutes instead of 5.

All I ever do with reg rolled oats is add hot water and stir. I can't stand them getting mushy, and never can eat quick cooking, or overnight

Steel cut, or even better, oat groats are my fave

 

[bEt]

I was wrong about that grocery not having molasses. They do, and treacle, too.
But I doubt the OP will be back, so . . .

 

[Emma JC]

I was wrong about that grocery not having molasses. They do, and treacle, too.
But I doubt the OP will be back, so . . .

I put molasses in every oatmeal breakfast that I make, so 3 or 4 times per week.

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Lou]

Hi, Reefy.

I'm sorry I'm late to the party. I just saw this thread.

I haven't finished reading all your replies yet but I think I have a very important point to make.

Human cravings are totally unreliable. There have been a few instances of cravings revealing some kind of deficiency but they are very rare. Even hunger is an unreliable craving. The only reliable craving is thirst.

Anyway there are several strategies for dealing with cravings. I just skimmed a few articles I found on google and they were a mixture of science and pseudoscience

I thought this one very good

Why you shouldn't trust your food cravings

Many of us believe that a food craving is our body’s way of signalling that it needs a certain nutrient. But research shows that’s unlikely to be true – with one possible exception.

www.bbc.com

As far as a solution goes, some of our cravings are caused by out gut bacteria hijacking our blood/brain chemistry. Gradually replacing low fiber foods with high fiber foods will solve that problem over a period of time - I've been told that takes between 3 days and 3 months. Three weeks seems to be the average.

And some foods do have addictive properties. That cafe latte that people line up for and pay $7 for is the perfect combination of fat, sugar and caffeine. As addictive as an opioid.

Then there is salt. Which is added to everything.

The 18 Most Addictive Foods

Here’s a list of the 18 most addictive and the 17 least addictive foods.

www.healthline.com

Other cravings are conditioned. Good times with pizza creates a link better pizza and happiness. Family dinners with roast beef might make an association with love and beef. One way to defeat this is to use replacement. Every time you want roast beef have a baked potato or when you want a pepperoni pizza make a vegan sausage pizza.

 

[bibibis]

wow im really glad i stumbled upon on this thread. it's nice to read these alternative ways to fight cravings

 

[bEt]

Hi, bibibis, I'm glad you refreshed this thread, because I looked at what the OP was eating and it looks like mostly white rice, white bread, limited frozen vegetables, and cow milk. When I typed this kind of diet into a nutrient-tracking website, it came up low in iron. Since the OP said he was craving pizza (which has tomatoes) and meat-based burgers, I couldn't help but wonder if those kinds of cravings may stem partly from a need for more iron. A lot of people talk about women needing iron, but men need iron, too.

I read somewhere that craving tomatoes and tomato products is sometimes associated with iron deficiency. I don't remember where I read that, though. Most people take the view that cravings never or almost never point to what we need in our diets. I tend to think, from my own experience, that sometimes they can provide some clues, although usually not in a very obvious way.

Craving Tomatoes: What Does It Mean?

Food cravings are a common condition earmarked by an extreme desire for a specific food or food type. An insatiable craving for tomatoes or tomato products is known as tomatophagia. Tomatophagia may sometimes be associated with nutritional deficiencies, especially in pregnant women. Learn about...

www.healthline.com

"Tomatophagia . . . may also occur in people with iron deficiency anemia, even though raw tomatoes are low in iron."


Another thing I read, and also don't remember where, is that cow milk can actually reduce the absorption of iron from other foods eaten with it.

This is not the original source I had seen before, but it does talk about cows' milk inhibiting iron absorption:

What Decreases Iron Absorption? – Medicaregate

There is a variety of dietary factors that could decreases iron absorption. It could be a combination of inhibitory and enhancing factors.

medicaregate.com

"Milk proteins, egg proteins, and albumin have all been found to inhibit iron absorption.

The two major bovine milk protein fractions, casein, and whey, as well as egg white, have been shown to inhibit iron absorption in humans."