A dear friend recently asked . . .or, prompted:
"I would like you to write a post about why you choose to eliminate dairy from your diet. Please. :)"
I am happy to oblige.
It's a very good question indeed since many are embarking on dairy, soy, or gluten free diets for various health reasons. And I certainly have my own, too.
First of all, I must be honest: I have not eliminated all dairy from my diet. However, the reason I'm joining the trend away from animal milks, most cheeses, creams and yogurts to consuming more nut milks (like almond and coconut) are for important health benefits; mainly disease prevention. Allow me to elaborate as best I can.
Basically, dairy from any non-human mammal is harder for the human body to break down. And the processed dairy that most Americans consume is of little benefit, too, especially pasteurized products (which heats a liquid for a length of time to kill pathogens, which in turn, kill the good enzymes, too). Even raw milk, while used for centuries and definitely has some nutritional benefits, is not a food I personally have easy access to, know enough about or want to consume on a regular basis anyway due to the overarching fact that animals and animal products in general are harder for our bodies to break down and assimilate.
Many wonder where, then, does one get their calcium if they're not consuming dairy products. Much research is out there supporting the knowledge that we can get (and properly absorb) more calcium from vegetables, nuts and various other foods rather than dairy because of the synergy between the nutrients within these particular whole foods. Many of us know that magnesium is essential for proper calcium absorption. Processed dairy and even calcium supplements lack magnesium and easily throw the body out of whack trying to figure out where to put this calcium. It can actually lead to deficiencies, even osteoporosis, where our bodies deposit unabsorbed calcium into our joints and organs. When this happens, we have ailments such as kidney or gall stones, arthritis, fibromyalgia, inflammation of every stripe, cancers . . .the list goes on.
As many of you may have read in previous posts, I fell victim to severe inflammatory pain in my back, neck and basically all my joints. And while I still get the occasional aches and pains, it is in NO way near the discomfort that it used to be. I attribute this not only to minimizing dairy, but cutting out most processed and refined foods and eating more raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouts and grains.
Other recent findings report that as people age, their ability to break down lactose diminishes since lactase, the hormone in our body that helps in this digestion, wanes. From this I understand that our bodies are designed to be able to break lactose down in small quantities. But as we are weaned off our mother's milk then lactase is less necessary. No other mammal continues to drink milk after they are weaned, so this presents an interesting dichotomy as we think about how we've been trained to eat in our society. "
In sum, the quality and quantity of dairy our society consumes today is dramatically different than the dairy our grandparents consumed. But overall, dairy is not really necessary to survive on a regular basis unless other food sources are obsolete. Please avail yourself to our Resources page (also, googling "Dr. Colin T. Campbell" may help) to affirm these historical and nutritional facts. As you will hopefully discover, it isn't any wonder why more and more people are becoming lactose intolerant (if they weren't already before) and/or are suffering from various ailments.
But if you drink cow's milk eighty thousand times a day and take yogurt baths without a health hitch, more power to you. You have genes of steel. In the meantime, I hope this was a helpful primer on why dairy is not a regular staple in our household.
Other dairy alternatives:
Rice/Soy/Nut milks
Nutritional yeast (Cheesy, buttery flavor. Good on popcorn, atop a pizza, spaghetti, etc)
Coconut butter
Calcium rich foods that aren't dairy:
Broccoli
Kale
Oranges
Oatmeal
Sesame seeds
Almonds
Salmon
White beans
Dried Figs
Turnip Greens
Arugula
Tofu
Sunflower Seeds
"I would like you to write a post about why you choose to eliminate dairy from your diet. Please. :)"
I am happy to oblige.
It's a very good question indeed since many are embarking on dairy, soy, or gluten free diets for various health reasons. And I certainly have my own, too.
First of all, I must be honest: I have not eliminated all dairy from my diet. However, the reason I'm joining the trend away from animal milks, most cheeses, creams and yogurts to consuming more nut milks (like almond and coconut) are for important health benefits; mainly disease prevention. Allow me to elaborate as best I can.
Basically, dairy from any non-human mammal is harder for the human body to break down. And the processed dairy that most Americans consume is of little benefit, too, especially pasteurized products (which heats a liquid for a length of time to kill pathogens, which in turn, kill the good enzymes, too). Even raw milk, while used for centuries and definitely has some nutritional benefits, is not a food I personally have easy access to, know enough about or want to consume on a regular basis anyway due to the overarching fact that animals and animal products in general are harder for our bodies to break down and assimilate.Many wonder where, then, does one get their calcium if they're not consuming dairy products. Much research is out there supporting the knowledge that we can get (and properly absorb) more calcium from vegetables, nuts and various other foods rather than dairy because of the synergy between the nutrients within these particular whole foods. Many of us know that magnesium is essential for proper calcium absorption. Processed dairy and even calcium supplements lack magnesium and easily throw the body out of whack trying to figure out where to put this calcium. It can actually lead to deficiencies, even osteoporosis, where our bodies deposit unabsorbed calcium into our joints and organs. When this happens, we have ailments such as kidney or gall stones, arthritis, fibromyalgia, inflammation of every stripe, cancers . . .the list goes on.
As many of you may have read in previous posts, I fell victim to severe inflammatory pain in my back, neck and basically all my joints. And while I still get the occasional aches and pains, it is in NO way near the discomfort that it used to be. I attribute this not only to minimizing dairy, but cutting out most processed and refined foods and eating more raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouts and grains.
Other recent findings report that as people age, their ability to break down lactose diminishes since lactase, the hormone in our body that helps in this digestion, wanes. From this I understand that our bodies are designed to be able to break lactose down in small quantities. But as we are weaned off our mother's milk then lactase is less necessary. No other mammal continues to drink milk after they are weaned, so this presents an interesting dichotomy as we think about how we've been trained to eat in our society. "
In sum, the quality and quantity of dairy our society consumes today is dramatically different than the dairy our grandparents consumed. But overall, dairy is not really necessary to survive on a regular basis unless other food sources are obsolete. Please avail yourself to our Resources page (also, googling "Dr. Colin T. Campbell" may help) to affirm these historical and nutritional facts. As you will hopefully discover, it isn't any wonder why more and more people are becoming lactose intolerant (if they weren't already before) and/or are suffering from various ailments.
But if you drink cow's milk eighty thousand times a day and take yogurt baths without a health hitch, more power to you. You have genes of steel. In the meantime, I hope this was a helpful primer on why dairy is not a regular staple in our household.
Other dairy alternatives:
Rice/Soy/Nut milks
Nutritional yeast (Cheesy, buttery flavor. Good on popcorn, atop a pizza, spaghetti, etc)
Coconut butter
Calcium rich foods that aren't dairy:
Broccoli
Kale
Oranges
Oatmeal
Sesame seeds
Almonds
Salmon
White beans
Dried Figs
Turnip Greens
Arugula
Tofu
Sunflower Seeds
