MILK DOES A BODY GOOD?
There is no other food that is as difficult to digest as milk. Casein, which accounts for approximately 80% of the protein found in milk, immediately clumps together once it enters the stomach, making digestion very difficult. Furthermore, that component is homogenized in the milk sold in stores. Homogenization means equalizing the fat content in milk by stirring it.
The reason homogenization is bad is that when milk is stirred, air gets mixed in, turning the milk’s fat component into an oxidized fatty substance – fat in an advanced state of oxidation. In other words, homogenized milk produces free radicals and exerts a very negative influence on the body. Dr. Gabriela Segura, M.D. / heart surgeon
I had a patient ask me the other day why dairy might be off limits as far as a PALEO DIET is concerned (it’s definitely off limits when doing an ELIMINATION DIET). The first thing I told this person was that he needed to do an elimination diet and figure which foods (including dairy) he might be sensitive to, as not everyone is sensitive to milk / dairy — particularly true depending on what dairy we are talking about. Here are just a few reasons that milk or dairy — particularly the stuff off the grocery store shelf — might not be in your best interest.
- SUGAR CONTENT: Note that I am not talking here about flavored milks such as Chocolate Milk, which will more than double the sugar content in milk. In and of itself, milk has about 12 grams of sugar per cup. Not off the charts, but for some of you, not what you need. On top of this, more than half the world’s population are believed to have trouble breaking down milk sugar (lactose) — particularly as they get older. Do you get gassy, bloated, or have diarrhea after drinking milk or consuming dairy? You likely have some degree of lactose intolerance. Oh; and because the fat has been removed from much of the milk consumed here in America, it is not present to blunt the metabolic effects of the sugar. Bottom line, there is a strong possibility that you are not metabolically able to handle / digest milk sugar.
- MILK PROTEINS: Cows are big animals. Today’s average milk cow weighs between half to three quarters of a ton — much more than a century ago. The bigger the animal, the more likely humans are to react to it’s milk. Not only is cow’s milk one of the chief GLUTEN CROSS-REACTORS, for various reasons its protein molecules are prone to attack by our immune systems, creating not only allergies, but sensitivities as well (these two show up on tests differently). This does not even get into the whole issue of glutomorphins and caseiomorphins (proteins from either gluten — wheat protein, or casein — a milk protein, that attach to morphine receptors). And on top of this, there are any number of factors that are found in cow’s milk but not found in goat’s milk or human milk. Bottom line, there is great potential for various sorts of immune system reactions to protein from cow’s milk.
- MILK IS HIGHLY ANABOLIC: In a similar note to the previous bullet, milk is full of anabolic growth factors designed to rapidly turn baby calves into 1,500 lb behemoths. Several studies have linked dairy consumption with INSULIN RESISTANCE and TYPE II DIABETES, not to mention CANCER. Most of this has to do with the number and power of the growth factors. Cancer is essentially runaway cellular growth in a certain area or tissue — it does not need anything pushing it to grow more. Oh; and on top of milk’s endogenous anabolic hormones (hormones designed to turn little things into big things), commercial milk producers frequently use exogenous hormones such as rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) in order to dramatically increase production. With 70% of Americans overweight, and another almost 10% appearing so according to their blood work (HERE), suffice it to say that few American adults need to be consuming something whose very purpose is to make us bigger. Bottom line, there are several ways that milk will make you bigger that have absolutely nothing to do with fat content (you’ll find at least two others in the next bullet).
- COMMERCIAL COW’S MILK IS A PASTEURIZED, HOMOGENIZED, PRODUCT THAT’S FREQUENTLY LOADED WITH ANTIBIOTICS, HORMONES, HERBICIDES, AND PESTICIDES: The amount of antibiotics being given to commercially-raised animals simply to make them “bigger” is one of Big Ag’s many dirty little secrets. Not only is the HEALTH OF YOUR GUT arguably the most important part of your overall health, the antibiotics (along with the pasteurization process that is designed to kill all bacteria; not just the “bad” ones) destroys beneficial bacteria. The result of creating an imbalanced ratio of bad bad bacteria to good bacteria is DYSBIOSIS — a problem associated with almost every disease process you can name, including INTESTINAL PERMEABILITY, which is itself associated with the same myriad of diseases. Commercial dairy herds are also much more likely to be regularly exposed to chemicals that are known ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS. And then there is homogenization. I’ll not spend much time on it here, but there is plenty of evidence pointing to the fact that this process is not healthy. Around here I know several people who are making their own keifer or yogurt with raw milk (often goat milk) as it is widely available in OUR NECK OF THE OZARKS if you know the right people. Those of you living in the city will have a much tougher time with this.
- SUBSTITUTES: There are so many milk-substitutes out there (almond milk, soy milk, cashew milk, coconut milk, hemp milk, etc, etc) that it can make your head swim. What’s my opinion? First, stay as far away from SOY as you possibly can as it is a phyto-estrogen. As for the others, most are not really what they claim (they are essentially some nuts and sugar in water). I’m not really a fan, but you might find a product that you really love. Just make sure you do due diligence.
Let me reiterate that I am not an anti-milk person. The thing that you must remember, however, is that if you were able to bring your great great grandfather back and have him sample the product that we today call milk, he would undoubtedly find it all but totally unrecognizable. Furthermore; in similar fashion to MODERN GRAINS, milk continues to be altered to the point that people’s immune systems are increasingly viewing it as foreign and attacking it (for instance, virtually 100% of AUTISTIC KIDS will have issues with milk along with their other immune system issues).
What this means is that every bullet point above shows a different pathway that milk / dairy can drive INFLAMMATION in your body. Solve inflammation and you’ve gone a long way to solving your chronic health issues, including CHRONIC PAIN, CHRONIC DEGENERATIVE ILLNESSES, and AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES. For more useful tidbits on helping you stop inflammation in its tracks, make sure to check out THIS POST. And be sure to like, share or follow on FACEBOOK.