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Animal Proteins Part II: Does Milk Really Do Your Body Good?

Our Complete Spotlight on Body Ecology Series!

If consuming dairy products makes you feel like this, you’re actually normal! The truth is, milk doesn’tdo most bodies good.

This is the fifth article in our much requested Spotlight on Body Ecology series. To read previous articles, click here.

Flip through any magazine, and you are likely to see one of the most popular advertising slogans of our time, “Got Milk?” You will also see a celebrity happily sporting a milk moustache.

The U.S. Dairy Industry would like you to believe that milk is an indispensable part of a healthy diet because of its calcium, vitamin D, and low-fat protein content. They tout benefits ranging from osteoporosis prevention to muscle building and weight loss to cancer prevention.

On the other side of the coin, you have the “Not Milk” advocates, who link milk to a range of human diseases, like diabetes, respiratory problems, cancer, and allergies.

What’s the real scoop?

Did you know that despite its importance in the Western diet, millions of people around the world can’t drink milk?

That’s right. Most people aren’t digesting dairy properly.

By now, you are probably quite familiar with the term “lactose-intolerance”. Lactose is the sugar found in all milk.

Some scientists are now saying that we really shouldn’t call it lactose-intolerance because this term implies you have an abnormality when less than 40% of us retain the ability to digest lactose beyond childhood.
In other words, 60% of us do not retain the ability to digest dairy.

This statistic holds true all around the world. So if you have been thinking you are abnormal, and that you have a digestive problem, these scientists are telling you to think again. In their book, you are not abnormal, and you do not have a digestive problem.

Of the 40% of us that do have a genetic mutation that allows us to digest milk, 90% are Northern Europeans. However, only 50% of Mediterraneans and as little as 5% of Asians are able to digest it1.

But what if it weren’t really about genetics at all? What if you are simply not digesting milk because you don’t have the right microflora in your intestines? Having the right bacteria in your gut helps with the digestion of milk sugar. For example, certain beneficial bacteria are lactose eaters. Bulgaricus is one of them, which is commonly found in yogurt.

Another important component of milk is protein

Milk has two proteins: casein and whey protein.

In cow, goat, and sheep milk, casein makes up 80% of the protein and only20% is whey protein. In contrast,human milk has 70% whey protein but only has 30% casein. Casein is more difficult to digest than whey protein, and many people who are “allergic” to milk or think they are lactoseintolerant may, in fact, be caseinintolerant and not even know it.

Call it allergies, lactose intolerance, or casein intolerance – the inability to digest dairy products can produce any of the following unpleasant symptoms:

  • Cramping and stomach pain
  • Bloating, fullness, and/or gas
  • Diarrhea
  • Nausea
  • Headaches
  • Constipation
  • Asthma
  • Skin rashes, hives, eczema
  • Rectal itching
  • Nasal congestion

You may have some or all of these symptoms and not know that dairy is the culprit!
Casein has even been linked to negative effects in children with autism, ADD, and ADHD, and the Body Ecology Diet has provided much-needed support to parents whose children have these issues.

Dairy on The Body Ecology Diet

Kefir

If you want the highest quality kefir with a complete array of beneficial bacteria and yeast that your inner ecosystem desperately needs, making your own milk or young green coconut kefir with Body Ecology’s Kefir Starter is the way to go. And it’s easy!

The milk or dairy on your grocery store shelves these days is pasteurized. Even buying organic dairy products in order to avoid the hormones and antibiotics in milk doesn’t eliminate this concern.

Pasteurization destroys the active enzymes and nutrients found in milk, which would make it easier to digest.

It also kills friendly microflora (beneficial bacteria and yeast) that are naturally present in the milk of mammals, like cows, goats, and sheep.

The bottom line is that milk that is pasteurized is not a healthy food, especially when you are trying to heal. Aside from being “de-natured” from the high temperature heating, it is mucus-forming, dehydrating, and constipating. Worst of all, the sugar in milk feeds yeast in your body.

For this reason, dairy is not recommended on stage one of The Body Ecology Diet and is only recommended in stage two if it is fermented.

Even if you find that you are someone who thrives on milk, we recommend you refrain from it during the first stage of the diet, where your focus is to conquer candida.

When your inner ecosystem is restored, your symptoms have disappeared, and you look and feel much better, congratulations – you have reached stage two of The Diet.

At this point you may decide that you want to bring dairy back into your life. If so, we recommend you introduce it very slowly and begin with fermentedmilkkefir. You’ll digest it better if you eat itdiluted in 1) water, 2) a probiotic liquid like InnergyBiotic, or 3) your green, morning smoothie.

Eventually some of us may be able to add in yogurt or a small amount of raw cheese, especially if it is grated into a salad.  Cheese can be very constipating, and when eaten in a salad, the high fiber vegetables in the salad will help move the cheese through your digestive tract.

Kefir Does a Body GREAT!

Kefir is a fermented dairy beverage with ancient roots. It’s a probiotic drink, which means it adds beneficial bacteria and good yeast to help restore and maintain a healthy inner ecosystem.

Besides being delicious and nutrient-rich, milk kefir does not feed yeast and usually doesn’t bother people who are lactose intolerant. That’s because the friendly bacteria and yeast growing in kefir consumes most of the lactose (milk sugar) during the fermentation process.

Milk kefir is slightly mucus forming. A small amount of very clean mucus can help protect the mucosal lining of your intestines and favors the colonization of beneficial microflora.

Talk about getting your money’s worth! In this day and age when money is tight for many, kefir is an excellent and economical high protein food.

The word about milk kefir’s probiotic benefits is finally spreading to the Western hemisphere of our world, and so it’s becoming easier to find in supermarkets.

Buyer Beware!If a product claims to be kefir, read the label carefully. Unless it has strains of friendly lactobacillus bacteria and good yeast, it’s most likely a drinkable yogurt. Kefir is the only fermented milk drink that contains good yeast.Traditional yogurt does not contain the same lactobacillus and yeast as milk kefir. Kefir is far more effective than yogurt at colonizing your intestines.

Don’t be led astray – for more information on yogurt and other probiotic products on the market, please read: Why Dannon Activia and Other Mass-Market Probiotic Products Aren’t As Healthy As You Think.

Home-made kefir is the best way to do dairy on the Body Ecology Diet, and it’s much easier to make than you think. Just click here more details on this simple treat!

(We like to say that it’s as simple as making Koolaid, but you will have to wait 24 hours to drink it.)

Simply warm the milk to skin temperature, add one packet of our Body Ecology Starter, and wait 24 hours to drink. Like any fermented food, you must keep it at a stable room temperature of 72 degrees while it ferments.

If you are not a big dairy fan, you can get the same probiotic benefits of kefir without the dairy by trying young coconut kefir. Body Ecology’s probiotic liquids (Innergy BioticWhole Grains BioticDong Quai, and Body Ecology CocoBiotic also provide beneficial bacteria and good yeast. If you are dairy intolerant, all of the latter are dairy-free. In fact, you won’t find betternon-dairy probioticliquidsanywhere else!

What About Calcium??

Most people believe that by eliminating dairy from their diets, they will have eliminated their best source of calcium.

Not so.

First, there is serious debate as to how much calcium we really do need in our diets. And the truth is it’s not just about the calcium you consume, it’s the calcium you absorb that is the most important.

Without a healthy inner ecosystem and proper digestion, you can be sure that you are not absorbing most of the calcium you consume anyway, so correcting your digestion should be your utmost goal.

Second, if you are following the Body Ecology principle of 80/20, and 80 percent of the food on your plate is from non-starchy land or sea vegetables, you will be getting plenty of calcium from ocean and dark green leafy vegetables.

Yes, dark green vegetables are a terrific source of calcium. In fact, just one cup of collard greens has more calcium in it than a cup of skim milk!2

Spinach, kale, okra, mustard greens, turnip greens, cabbage, broccoli, and all sea vegetables are also excellent sources of calcium. Try to get plenty of these in your diet throughout the week.

Sea vegetables are not only calcium rich, they are the broadest food-source of all of the minerals your body needs, which are essential to proper calcium absorption.

Following The Body Ecology Principle of 80/20 and pairing your vegetables with Body Ecology’s grain-like seeds (quinoa, millet, buckwheat, and amaranth) further ensures that you are getting the nutrients and calcium you need, and in our next Spotlight on Body Ecology series, we will tell you why!

Stay tuned!

Sources:

  1. Harvard School of Public Health, “Calcium and Milk: What’s Best For Your Bones and Health? What Should You Eat?”
    http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/calcium-sources/index.html
  2. Elizabeth Weise, “Sixty Percent of Adults Can’t Digest Milk”, USA Today, September 15, 2009.
    http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2009-08-30-lactose-intolerance_N.htm
  3. Harvard School of Public Health, “Calcium Sources in Food”
    http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/calcium-sources/index.html
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