Unpopular opinion, but it seems to me that a lot of people in the sober community insist on having at least one unhealthy ‘vice’ to stand in for any previous addictions…as in being healthy most of the time is not actually ‘living’. I disagree. Sure, I’ll never turn a chocolate chip cookie down, but in general, I am clear that the more I raise my standards in terms of what I consume the better I fucking feel, plain and simple. So after being vegetarian for over a decade where I ate A LOT of cheese, I now eat it about once a week at most – almost always on pizza.
So here’s what I think you need to know to reconsider your love affair with dairy:
- Canada and the US have removed ‘Dairy’ as an official ‘essential’ food group on their dietary guidelines.
Although Canada is more general but on point with encouraging consumption of all nutrients from plants over animal sources: “Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits, whole grain foods and protein foods. Choose protein foods that come from plants more often.”
The US has now added ‘fortified soy milk’ as an equal to cow’s milk, which is a step in the right direction but still obviously heavily influenced by big agriculture lobby from soy farmers because there are a dozen alternatives to cow’s milk, not just soy.
Here are the updated US guidelines here and the Canadian here.
- Cheese is a condensed version of milk, so it is also condensed saturated fat, lactose, hormones, and chemicals that come in non-organic milk, such as the antibiotics they give the cows or toxic pesticides sprayed on the grass the cows ate. This is why quality over quantity is so important when preventing chronic lifestyle diseases. One or two morsels of local cheese or brie a week isn’t a problem; it is the supermarket industrial cheese you add to your breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily.
- Increasingly, milk products and meat are a source of microplastics we consume. Plastics, in all their forms, mess up our hormones, leading to many hormone-related health problems such as infertility, reproductive health, and cancers. Check out this highly informative podcast on hormone health here.
- In addition to microplastics, the natural hormones, mostly estrogen in dairy, wreak havoc on our hormonal cycles. Again causing problems such as Endometriosis, Fibroids & Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Infertility issues, Obesity, Diabetes, Mood Disorders, and Breast, Ovary, and Prostate Cancer, to name a few. Cow’s milk comes from lactating mothers who are full of estrogen to produce the milk, and our bodies make their estrogen; consuming other animals’ estrogen daily puts our hormonal balance at risk.
- Now, there are delicious alternatives! Forget processed soy cheese, I’m talking about artisanal, locally made, or shipped to your door luxury plant-based cheeses that will blow your mind. I sometimes make my own, but if I lived in the US, I would order SriMu from my doorstep and savor it. One super easy switch is using nutritional yeast on your popcorn, pasta, and salads instead of processed parmesan.
- The dairy produces mucus in the body. Whenever my kids get stuffed up, it is because I have lowered my guard on cheese consumption or let them have one of those sugary yogurt drinks. I used to have an annual bronchitis flare-up for over a decade until I stopped drinking skim milk like it was water, as I was taught as a kid growing up. The minute I stopped drinking cow’s milk, I stopped getting bronchitis, and I got less sick in general.
- Dairy is full of fat and, among other problems, causes acne. Have you noticed how many of those Keto girls have horrible skin?? A combination of the fat, hormones, and general inflammation that dairy provokes in the body, clearly it is not a recipe for beauty.
- Cheese is actually addictive; research argues that cheese is addictive in a way similar to drugs because of a chemical called casein, which is found in dairy products and can trigger the brain’s opioid receptors. To dive deeply into this fascinating fact, I highly recommend you read Dr. Neal Barnard’s excellent book The Cheese Trap: How Breaking a Surprising Addiction Will Help You Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Get Healthy.
- It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. One of clients’ most manageable switches is to a plant-based alternative in their morning coffee or tea. Here is a situation where you may think, “But it’s just a splash; what’s the difference?” but it is because it is daily that it does add up. I had one 75-year-old client drinking coffee with cream for over 50 years. When she tried drinking chai tea with oat milk and honey instead for 2 weeks, she dropped 5 lbs, slept better, had more energy, and had less congestion when she woke up in the morning.
- I promise you will have more energy because dairy slows down your digestion. Slow digestion means your body spends a lot of extra time and energy trying to digest things instead of thinking about being active or resting fully. Don’t believe me? I dare you to try my 7-Day Detox and report back to me at meganswanwellness@gmail.com
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