Did you know that humans are the only species that drink milk from another animal? If you take a second to think about it, it is actually perverse. Cow’s milk is designed to grow a calf as fast as possible from 30kg to over 300kg, which weighs three or four times more than a human adult. Its purpose is to increase weight and promote growth. So, what do you think will happen when a human drinks cow’s milk? I think we can agree that you don’t want to drink it if you want to keep a lean body or lose weight.
Why I will never drink milk again
I wish I knew all I knew today when I was a kid and my parents started giving me milk to drink because they believed it will make me grow taller, which by the way never happened, haha. Instead, it undeniably gave me two things: acne and allergies! I only noticed the cause after the dramatic change I experienced when I instinctively stopped consuming dairy.
So how did it come to this? About six years ago I reached my peak with my allergy to dust mites, pollen and grass. It was so horrible that I needed to carry handkerchiefs everywhere and was constantly sneezing, having itchy eyes, nose and throat etc. – well, you know, all the symptoms of a hay fever. I was feeling sooo bad and even taking anti-allergy medication wasn’t helping much. During this time I started paying attention to my body and noticed that on days I consumed dairy I was feeling way worse than when I didn’t. It was so apparent that it led me to test my theory of not having any dairy at all and … voilà – best decision ever! 😀
Not only did my allergy improve – I don’t take any anti-allergy meds anymore – but my acne is gone!! It is something I like to forget that ever existed, but I used to have days with pretty bad acne, in which I couldn’t actually imagine ever having clear skin again. Looking into the mirror just made me so sad…
However, just cutting dairy out of my diet did the trick! I believe it’s caused by all the hormones I’m consuming with the milk, which brings me to my next point.
Milk and hormones
Cow’s milk like any mother’s milk, contains dozens of female hormones, estrogens. A study conducted in Japan shows that shortly after drinking milk, active and potent female hormones are flowing through the body in both male, female and children. Moreover, within minutes after consuming milk the level of male hormones, testosterone, in men and boys plunged.
Messing with female hormones is never a good idea and can cause tumors in the reproductive system of women, especially breast cancer, menstruation problems, prostate cancer in men, sexual maturation of pre-pubertal children etc., which is reason why milk has been linked numerous times with these diseases.
The truth about milk and calcium
Many of us have somewhat been brainwashed that only milk contains calcium and that the calcium in it makes us healthy and strong. Yes, that is indeed what the dairy industry wants us to believe and many studies are manipulated to make us think this way.
Firstly, I want to state that there is abundant protein, calcium and other minerals in plant based whole food (e.g. vegetables, especially sea vegetables, nuts, seeds etc.) and there is absolutely no need to consume dairy for either calcium or protein. How did cows come to have a high amount of calcium and protein in the first place? By eating grass …
Secondly, the Western population consumes the highest amounts of dairy, but are also the ones with the highest incidence of osteoporosis, a bone disease that is believed to be cause by a deficiency of calcium. Isn’t this a contradiction in itself? Well, it turns out that milk is actually depleting the calcium from your bones instead of adding it to it!
How does this happen?
Milk like all animal products is acidic to our body’s ph level and when we consume too much of it, our body has to neutralise it to keep functioning well. It does so by using minerals as a neutraliser and calcium happens to be an excellent one! Therefore, a highly acidic diet, without enough vegetables and fruits to counterbalance it, will pull out calcium from your bones and it will usually leave the body through urination. There are some diseases in which calcium is found at places within the body (e.g. deposits in the shoulder), where it should not be, which impairs our bodily function. I believe this is largely caused by an unbalanced/acidic diet.
Another reason why milk is not a good source for calcium is the fact that we cannot absorb it well from it. If you read my 5 guidelines for healthy food, you will know that certain nutrients can only be absorbed in combination with other nutrients, which applies for calcium as well. What is more, some nutrients can also impair the absorption. In this case, it is phosphor that prevents the calcium from being absorbed. According to Dr. Frank Oski from Sate University of New York, we should only consume foods with a calcium to phosphor ratio of 2:1 or above. Cow milk’s ratio is 1.27:1 and interestingly human milk has a calcium to phosphor ratio of 2.35:1. So even though human milk contains less calcium, we can absorb more from it than from cow’s milk.
Milk is a processed food!
Before the 19th century, milk was consumed raw and unpasteurised. Today, we are only offered pasteurised ones, which as a result has an even more acidifying effect!
What is more, it is so commercialised that cows are given antibiotics and synthetic hormones to increase milk production, which we consume with the milk as well! There are further processing as in depleting the fat content or fortifying it with Vitamin D and even turning it into a powder. I believe there are negative effects to it that we are not fully aware yet. What nature gave us is perfect as is it and altering things will create an imbalance.
What happens when you stop consuming dairy?
I did some research about what real people experienced after they stopped consuming dairy, including my own changes. Here are five points:
- We lost weight.
- Our digestion improved. (e.g. bloating; Better digestion = more energy for detox and repair => Anti-aging and better overall performance)
- Our skin cleared up (e.g. acne)
- Their bones strengthend (I didn’t realized it on me – since I’m still young haha, but I’ve listed the reasons above for this point).
- Our allergies went away or improved considerably
If that isn’t reason enough to quit dairy, I don’t know what else will.
Convinced to avoid dairy or at least want to lower your intake? Stay tuned for my next post, in which I will explain how you can best avoid dairy 😉
If you find this post helpful, please share it with your loved ones, so they can benefit from this knowledge. Sharing is caring! =)
It is Christmas time and like any festive holiday, we tend to celebrate it with a lavish feast. This certainly applies for the Chinese New Year, which is mainly celebrated by eating with your family and friends. 
, which is very easy, 
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tastes almost like parmesan, you can also use grated cashews as a topping for pasta.