Free yourself from dairy and animal products.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, my nickname used to be “The Cheese Monster.” My sister and I could polish off an entire 24 pack of Kraft singles in two days. Judging by the fact that I was at a hefty 140 pounds in 5th grade, it was probably more me than my sister… When I was diagnosed with dairy allergies in 6th grade, I listened to the doctor and stopped eating dairy products for 6 months. I lost 30 pounds!
Unfortunately, after about a year, I rediscovered my love of cheese and suffered from constant sinus infections, headaches, never being able to breathe through my nose, and…well…a constantly uncomfortable tummy. I thought it was normal.
Dairy is NOT normal. We are the only species that drinks milk after infancy and the only species that drinks the milk of other species. And why did we pick cows? Cows produce the largest quantity of milk and it’s more economic to house them than elephants. (“Lucky elephants!” say the cows.)
“Cows’ milk, by design, grows a 90 –pound calf into a 2,000 pound cow over the course of two years. It allows calves to double their birth weight in forty-seven days and leaves their four stomachs feeling full. Sounds more fattening than human milk, right? It is.” –
Skinny Bitch
According to Freston, “So-called ‘2 percent’ milk may be 2 percent fat by volume, but it’s about 33 percent by calories, which is what actually matters.”
Remember all those nasty pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and steroids I mentioned yesterday that are in your meat? By eating dairy products, it is just as bad as though you ate the meat directly. As a matter of fact,
Eggs have 10 times the hormone content of meat and dairy, along with a hefty dose of cholesterol and very possibly, salmonella.
Dairy products have been linked to osteoporosis, allergies, acne, anemia, anxiety, arthritis, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, fibromyalgia, headaches, heartburn, indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome, joint pain, poor immune function, ear infections, colic, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, autism, Crohn’s disease, breast and prostate cancers, and ovarian cancer.
Dairy can have a strong, crazy hold over us. This picture was not taken during the cleanse!
I know that you are still saying, “but CHEEEESE! What would I do without cheese pizza?” That’s because you’ve been drugged. Casein, present in cheese, eventually breaks down through digestion to become casomorphins. Yeah, like “morphine.” So casein is an opiate, sending pleasure to your brain, soothing you and making you want more. You had no choice but to equate cheese with love. Not only are you drugged, but casein and milk proteins have been shown to “dramatically increase blood cholesterol and its associated lesion that leads to heart disease.” Not bad enough for you? It also promotes cancer development.
T. Colin Campbell is responsible for the
China Study, one of the most significant studies on the pitfalls of animal products and their link to cancer and other diseases. After one of his clinical experiments, he wrote, “Even when huge doses of cancer-causing toxins were given to study subjects,
tumors grew only when they were fed casein.”
The American Cancer Society recommends eating mostly plant sources and to limit high-fat foods, especially from animal sources, if you want to reduce the risk of cancer.
But your doctor said that milk “does a body good,” right? Did you know that medical doctors receive less than 3 hours of training in nutrition, according to a Senate investigation? So they are buying the garbage that those who profit from our drinking milk are spending millions of dollars to advertise.
As a matter of fact, milk actually leaches calcium from the body! Where are the lowest incidences of osteoporosis on earth? Surely America, since we drink all that milk, right? WRONG. Dairy –free countries. “
The more milk a population consumes, the weaker its bones get.” Yes, milk has calcium, but at the same time it also releases even more of it. According to
The Kind Diet, “Meat and dairy are the chief causes of osteoporosis, not the cures.”
So how to get your calcium? Easy! Eat fortified grains, kale, collard greens, mustard greens, cabbage, kelp, seaweed, watercress, chickpeas, broccoli, red beans, soybeans, tofu, seeds, and nuts.
Calcium Milligrams per 100-gram serving:
Butter
20
Whole Milk
118
Chickpeas
150
Collard
greens
203
Parsley
203
Soybeans
226
Almonds
234
Sesame seeds
1160
“The Chinese, throughout their long and complicated history, have never included milk or cheese in their diets. It’s only in the very recent past that dairy has been introduced as a daily food, and with it has come a rapid rise in health problems like obesity and breast cancer.” –
The Kind Diet, Alicia Silverstone
Where women consume high-fat, animal-based diets, the American Dietic Association reports incidences of breast cancer at the highest. In fact, “in countries where dairy is not consumed the incidence of breast cancer is so low as to be almost nonexistent. Once women in those countries begin eating Western diets, however, their breast cancer rates increased eightfold.” –
Kind Diet
So if you drop all animal products, these are the
long-term benefits:
1. More energy – Liver and kidneys work harder to digest – you are testing this right now! Do you feel lighter?
2. Clearer skin – Animal meat contains hormones
3. Alleviation of chronic conditions, like arthritis – “80 percent of milk protein comes from casein, and casein is believed to aggravate arthritis.” –Freston
Not to mention, much lower risk of all the other diseases listed above.
When sugar is back on the menu, check out SoDelicious ice “cream” bars. They are made with coconut milk and they are, well, SO DELICIOUS! I make “Tofutti” cheese sandwiches (best if you combine with veggies – the taste isn’t exactly cheese) and pizza with Daiya shreds (still looking for a tastier brand, but it melts like cheese and holds the veggies on my pizza.)
Kathy writes:
Yes, this is a lot of information, “but with awareness comes resolve. The more aware you are of why it’s so important to change the way you eat, the better you will be able to stick with the program. With this knowledge under your belt,
the cleanse will feel less like a restriction and more like the upgrade that it is. And should you decide to maintain these upgrades after the completion of the cleanse, you will do so with the awareness that you have made a profound lifestyle choice with far-ranging, life-long positive benefits.”
Carrot Ginger Smoothie – Refreshing!
1 large carrot, cut into chunks
1 small apple, skin and core removed, cut into chunks
½ avocado
½ banana
Juice of ¼ to ½ lemon (depending on how lemony you want it)
About ½ inch fresh ginger
¼ cup chia gel
½ cup water
Blend together. Add more water if too thick. Enjoy!
