Have you ever go Dairy Free? Why Should we consider it and how to do it.

Milk, ice cream, sour cream, yogurt, butter, and cheese.

What do these products have in common? Casein. This protein is commonly found in all the mammal’s milk.
Whey and lactose are also founded on dairy products, and all of these three components can cause problems in the digestive system, and they may become your brain and body’s worst nightmare.

Even Dr. T. Colin Campbell, the author of The China Study, during his researches and studied have found casein to be the most relevant cancer promoter ever discovered. I highly suggest you his book: https://www.amazon.com/China-Study-Comprehensive-Nutrition-Implications/dp/1932100660

It’s important sometimes to give our system a break from the products that can certainly cause dangerous problems within time. It’s worth trying a dairy-free diet for 7-14 days so you can notice the difference.

How do we go dairy free?

Simple and easy as drinking a glass of water. Avoid any animal milk-based products such cow-based, goat-based, sheep-based, camel-based.

What to avoid:
– whole milk
– low-fat milk
– 1% or 2%milk
– skim milk
– all cheese made out of milk
– sour cream
– puddings
– ice creams
– yogurt
– frozen yogurt

Let’s dig in.

While going dairy free for a certain period is surely a good experience, you will also notice how your body and system react to that.
Majority of people have allergic reactions to lactose for example, and this is the reason why big industries have created all these products “lactose-free”, “casein-free”, “blablabla-free”.

Researchers talk about all these intolerances that people experience while having dairy products. If we are intolerant, that means that our system can’t easily digest some specific things. In case of lactose for instance which is a type of natural sugar founded in milk and dairy foods, what happens is that when we introduce it into our body, it can’t be properly digested by our system. It will be the cause of many symptoms such as gas, bloating and diarrhea or even worse if we don’t give ourselves a break.
A human body is not designed to digest cows milk let’s be honest. We are the only species on earth that continue to drink milk from other animals such cows, goats or sheep for instance. Would you drink dog’s milk? Weird ah?
Dogs drink dogs milk, cats drink cats milk, pigs drink pigs milk, horses, donkey, monkeys and so on.

It’s amazingly interesting exploring the benefits of a dairy-free diet, and we are going to discover these benefits here.

1- Digestion

Studies have shown that 70% of the world’s population has some lactose intolerance. In fact lactose cause a variety of digestive symptoms such as stomach pain, bloating, cramps, nausea to mention some.
Nature wants us to drink our mother’s milk which is perfect to digest for an infant. When we stop to drink that or we didn’t have that possibility the first things we do is start to feed our babies cows milk or some formula. Doing this when babies we begin immediately to lose lactase which is the enzyme that helps to digest lactose in dairy milk.
Another sure symptom that lactose can be responsible for is the IBS (irritable bowel system) and chronic constipation.

2- Resolving Healthy Issues

When we give up having dairy products we “magically” stop having headaches, rushes, sinuses, chronic infections, migraines, arthritis, narcolepsy, osteoporosis as we age.

3- Skin Effects

You will notice how your skin will get clear and age differently.
If you experience inflammation or even worst acne on your face, you will observe how this issue will dissolve when you don’t eat dairy product anymore.
Researchers have shown that different reasons trigger these problems. Hormones present in milk and cheese, lactose, fats, iodine; all of these ingredients are responsible for allergies or inflammations.
If you are curious to see how your skin reacts, give it a try and take a break from dairy.

4- Are you concern about your weight?

I remember when I gave up milk and dairy products, I noticed my body shrank. In a cool way of course. I was losing puffiness, I didn’t have that bloated feeling anymore, and when I was eating maybe some cheese at dinner, you could bet the next morning my lips and my hands were swollen. It was a reaction to the products I ate, an important message that my body was sending me.
A dairy-free diet can lead you to lose body weight. You will eventually absorb more nutrients from other healthy food you eat and get rid of the bad fats while gaining healthy weight.

5- As parents we have responsibilities

There is huge speculation behind the milk industry. They will always tell you how good is milk for you and your kids while growing up. A lot of pediatricians nowadays often recommend while breastfeeding to go completely dairy-free; it is an important message that everybody should embrace. Moms often when they are done breastfeeding stay dairy-free as they experienced the enormous benefits of it.

6- Take care of your bones

The consumption of milk is often related to healthy bones. Is it true? Apparently no.
According to the enormous 12-year Harvard study of 77,761 female nurses, as published in the American Journal of Public Health (1997, volume 87): “…women consuming greater amounts of calcium from dairy foods had significantly increased risks of hip fractures, while no increase in fracture risk was observed for the same levels of calcium from nondairy sources.” (source: https://www.godairyfree.org/health-info/calcium/milk-calcium-king-or-jester)
Osteoporosis itself is an issue found in those countries where is present the most considerable consumption of dairy foods.

7- Good for our environment

Going dairy-free is good for us because of another aspect. Environmentally speaking, the impact that this industry has on our environment is brutal according to the University of Buffalo.
Around 52 percent of the GHGs produced by dairy is methane. It is estimated that cows produce between 250 and 500 liters of methane a day. Going back to our dairy factory farm with 700 cows, that is up to 350,000 liters or 325,500 pounds of methane pumped into the atmosphere every day. Gross. (source: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/the-dairy-industry-and-the-environment/)

These are just some of the benefits that you will experience going dairy-free without even mention the scary correlation between dairy diets and hormone-related type of cancers as ovarian and prostate ones.

You can give it a try and experiment a lot of other products that nowadays you can find in any supermarket store.

Here is a list that will make you things easier:

Dairy Milk Alternatives:

• Soy Milk
• Rice Milk
• Hemp Milk
• Almond Milk
• Coconut Milk
• Flax Milk
• Cashew Milk

Dairy Butter Alternatives:

• Earth Balance vegan spread
• Olive oil
• Avocado oil
• Coconut butter

Dairy Yogurt Alternatives:

• Soy yogurt
• Coconut yogurt
• Almond yogurt

Dairy Cheese Alternatives:

• Rice milk cheese slices
• Almond milk cheese slices
• Follow Your Heart and Chao are a popular vegan choice and it melts well

NOTE: Always double-check the ingredient label for casein and sodium caseinate since these are common additives even in non-dairy alternatives.

Always check that all the products you buy are organic, carrageenan free and sustainable.

In Good Health!

Annalisa