So many reasons to remove DAIRY from your diet. In this episode we'll explore WHY we are led to believe that dairy is an essential part of a healthy diet and WHY you may want to consider removing dairy as well as helpful tips & ideas to transition away from cows milk.
Stop Chasing Wellness is an online wellness coaching company founded by two Holistic Health Coaches, Gina and Kristin. Be sure to check out all of our offerings including our book, Stop Chasing Wellness; Create It, and our growing catalog of Hormone Specific coaching courses. All of our courses and offerings are designed to help you feel and live your best life in a simplified way that works for you. You can find Stop Chasing Wellness on Facebook and Instagram
So many reasons to remove DAIRY from your diet. In this episode we'll explore WHY we are led to believe that dairy is an essential part of a healthy diet and WHY you may want to consider removing dairy as well as helpful tips & ideas to transition away from cows milk.
Stop Chasing Wellness is an online wellness coaching company founded by two Holistic Health Coaches, Gina and Kristin. Be sure to check out all of our offerings including our book, Stop Chasing Wellness; Create It, and our growing catalog of Hormone Specific coaching courses. All of our courses and offerings are designed to help you feel and live your best life in a simplified way that works for you. You can find Stop Chasing Wellness on Facebook and Instagram
Welcome to the Common Sense Nutrition Podcast.
This podcast is all about transitioning off dairy.
Well hey everybody, this is Kristen Peterson and welcome to my Common Sense Nutrition Podcast.
I'm so excited that you're here with me today.
And today we're going to be talking all about transitioning off of dairy.
And before I get started, I wanted to remind everyone to go ahead and check out my website
at commonsensenutritionaz.com for more information on what I do as a health coach.
And let's go ahead and just dive right in.
I said we're going to talk about dairy today and why we would want to remove it.
Why do we think that we need it?
And then I'm going to give you some four easy steps on how to remove it.
So first off, let's just dive right in and try to understand a little bit more about
why would we want to remove dairy in the first place.
We love dairy, right?
Everybody's got this, people that love dairy love their dairy and they are like, I'll go
to the grave with my dairy.
But why would we want to remove it?
There are a lot of really good and compelling health reasons why you would want to.
First off, the biggest one that I can think of is that dairy is acidic.
It causes an acid condition in our blood and the reason that's important is that an acid
condition, our blood being in a state of acidity is a breeding ground for disease, in particular
diseases like cancer.
We know through science that cancer cannot survive in an alkaline environment and dairy
is a big contributor to turning our blood to an acid condition.
So removing it just for that reason alone is really important and the quantity of dairy
that we're usually consuming is large and it just keeps our blood in that state of acidity.
Also it is mucus forming.
You see people with sinus issues, respiratory conditions, if you're prone to colds and flus
or just seasonal and sinus allergies, removing dairy can just help with this tremendously.
I also see when I'm out in public and I see teenagers out walking around with acne prone
skin, I just want to tap them on the shoulder and ask them just out of my own curiosity,
how much dairy are you drinking?
People aren't associating the link here, but there is a huge link between the amount
of dairy that you're consuming and the way your skin looks and it definitely contributes
to acne.
So I encourage teenagers and adults alike who have skin issues and acne in particular,
remove dairy for a period of time.
Give it at least one month and notice the changes in your skin.
You will see differences and that alone should be enough proof to help you get yourself off
of dairy.
Some people are lactose intolerant.
Myself and my youngest son were both lactose intolerant and for this reason we have not
had dairy in 14 years in our home.
You don't have to be lactose intolerant just to remove it, but that is definitely one reason.
But also just a planetary issue.
Cattle and cattle farms are, you know, we're not benefiting the earth with what we're doing
with factory farming and I don't need to get into all that and sound like, you know, chicken
little, the sky is falling, but that definitely is a very important reason and if you care
about the planet and the health of the planet and you care about the impact and the footprint
that you're leaving as a human being, removing dairy can, then you'll feel a little bit better
knowing you're contributing to a little less damage on the planet.
So when I do, I lead a clean eating program once a month for 10 days every month.
It's like a jumpstart program and you can learn more about that on my website when you
click on that.
But one of the things that we focus on during this program is that we are eliminating dairy
for those 10 days and really the point is to teach people that you can get healthier
sources of what you think that you're getting and what you need from dairy in other sources
without all of the, you know, the unwanted things that come with dairy, like, you know,
we're drinking and consuming dairy, we're getting cholesterol and saturated fat.
We already talked about what it's doing to our blood with an acid condition and the mucus
forming thing and what it's doing to our skin with acne.
So we think that we need it though because we're told that we're getting calcium and
vitamin D and protein and that's a healthy source of calories, but you know, who's telling
us this?
And this is where I do risk a little bit sounding like Chicken Little.
So it is a government subsidized entity.
The dairy industry is government subsidized.
So it's in the government's best interest to make sure that all Americans are drinking
dairy and that we think that it's healthy and that we need it.
But the truth is that there are better and healthier sources of these things that we
think are benefits like the calcium, vitamin D, and protein and calories.
So let's break this down really quickly.
Calcium, let's start with that.
So I always tell people, if you want the calcium, eat what the cows eat.
It's not necessarily the milk that has calcium.
The milk has calcium because the cows are supposed to be eating the, like when cows
like think about your great grandmother's farm or her, she probably had a cow, right?
And they're roaming around in the back on the farmland and they're eating the green,
they're eating the grass off the earth.
So if you want the calcium, eat what the cows eat and you get more calcium from dark green
leafy vegetables than you do from dairy.
And it's also dark green leafy veggies are a lot lower in calories and they don't have
saturated fat or cholesterol, right?
Much healthier source.
Things like kale and broccoli are very high in calcium and vitamin D is another thing
that we are told that we're getting from cow's milk, but basically they're adding
vitamin D to the cow's milk because the cows aren't being fed leafy green vegetables, right?
Cows are eating things in factory farms that cows are not by nature meant to be eating.
Like grain and things like that, like cows by, you know, think about cows on their own
are not going to go out and like eat corn and grain.
They're going to go eat the grasses because that's what cows should be eating.
So you're better off getting your vitamin D.
Either take a vitamin D supplement and also just from some foods, certain foods are higher
in vitamin D, in particular mushrooms are higher in vitamin D and the shake mix that
I drink and recommend has mushroom powder added to it.
So I know that I'm getting a consistent amount of vitamin D through that mushroom powder
in my diet every single day, so that helps keep me from being deficient.
And protein, we are told that we need the protein from cow's milk, but protein from
cow's milk is an animal protein, which also contains cholesterol and saturated fat.
And guess what?
All plants have protein, so we don't necessarily need to be getting protein from animals.
So when we're thinking about protein, whether it's from animal protein or cow's milk,
which is also an animal protein, I tell people, look at it this way.
Try to consider getting the protein from plant sources instead because it's cleaner.
It's clean fuel.
It doesn't have cholesterol and saturated fat.
And things like beans, quinoa, and nuts and seeds are very high in protein and none of
the downfall from it.
So that kind of covered some better sources for you, so hopefully I'm painting a better
picture of why we think that we need it and finding some better ways to get it.
Now let's talk about removing it.
So you're going to do this in four weeks.
You could shorten the duration if you want, but this is how I recommend, and this is what
I did in my own home to remove everybody in my household from dairy.
In the first week, you're going to make a mixture of use a jug, use a container, or
pour it back into the milk jug.
75% cow's milk and 25% non-dairy milk, like almond milk, rice milk, and there's great
alternatives now like oat, hemp, or flax milk.
In your second week, you're going to make a 50-50% mixture, 50% cow's milk, 50% nut
milk.
And the third week, you'll do 25% cow's milk and 75% nut milk, so we're going backwards
as you can see.
But by week four, you should be able to go with 100% nut milk or a non-dairy based milk.
And if you still need to add a little bit of the dairy milk to it, just because you're
not quite there yet, that's fine.
But you see the transition that I'm making and you understand how that, you can see where
I'm going with this basically is what I'm saying.
I have had people say that they're trying this and it's still not working.
Like if you have kids, people get really addicted to dairy.
Like there is that mother's milk thing going on here.
And if you need to, you can use vanilla flavored milk or even the vanilla sweetened milk, which
I don't recommend sugar, but if it helps you transition off of this in the first week or
two to be using the vanilla sweetened milk when you're adding it to the cow's milk, that
may help the people that you or your kids or teenagers in your house maybe appreciate
the flavor of it a little bit better.
And then just gradually start transitioning over to the unsweetened versions of the milk.
So vanilla flavor is fine, but the unsweetened is definitely what we consume in our house.
So we are completely off of all dairy and I'll tell you what, we don't miss it.
So by the time you get to week four, just take a little, take some account and check
in with yourself and just look at your skin or look at the skin of the teenagers in your
home and just see how is that looking?
How is the mucus?
How is the congestion?
How are the sinuses?
Are you breathing better?
Are you taking less allergy medications?
And even mood, dairy has a big impact on the mood.
So I think that when people are transitioning off, there's actually some sort of this where
they miss it and they kind of get a little bit depressed.
So it can affect the mood, but stick with it.
It's certainly worth weaning off of it because like we said, the benefits are better.
So I mean, just to kind of, just to give a quick recap, we're going to remove dairy
for the benefit of our health and the benefit of the planet.
So many, so many health benefits as to why cholesterol saturated fat, it will help improve
our sinuses, our mucus, our acne, and really it removes an acidic food from our diet, which
makes us less prone to diseases in particular like cancer.
And we can find healthier sources of those benefits that we think we're getting from
cow's milk, healthier sources of calcium from dark green leafy vegetables, mushrooms
for vitamin D, plant-based protein, all of these things we can find in healthier sources.
And in four weeks after transitioning, I really don't think you're going to miss it.
So I just want to go ahead and wrap things up for us today and just want to say thank
you guys so much and really a great big huge thank you for joining me and listening in
today and I hope you found this content to be of value.
And if you like what you hear, I really do hope that you'll share this with a friend.
So be sure to check out my website, which was commonsensenutritionaz.com once again.
And feel free to shoot me a message, let me know what you'd like me to touch on for future
podcasts.
I love knowing what content is relevant and important to you.
And while you're in my website, be sure to click on that programs button to learn a little
bit more about that clean eating program that I lead each month, where I've taken my knowledge
of holistic nutrition, health coaching, and preventive health.
And I combine that with my knowledge of different dietary theories.
And I use this to help coach you through this lifestyle program with a 10 day jumpstart
every month.
I love the program and it's been so beneficial to me to see people improving their health
by sticking with it.
So I'm excited for you to check it out.
And message me through my website once again, commonsensenutritionaz.com to get started.
And until next time, this is Kristin Peterson, and thank you for listening to my Common Sense
Nutrition Podcast.