In our amazing 21 Day Detox program one of the items suggested to cut out is dairy.
Why? Because many people react adversely to dairy.
That’s because the majority of dairy that is available these days is of low quality.
Milk is so processed that it’s barely milk. It’s certainly not what milk used to be like.
You can’t legally buy raw milk to drink any more because it’s deemed unsafe for human consumption by the powers that be.
It is possible to buy raw milk though, if you are prepared to pay a premium and look hard for it, as well as defy the label that it’s not for drinking.
Due to a coffee culture in which people seem to be addicted (at least to me), people are getting milk on a regular basis.
There’s also cheese. I’ve never been a big cheese eater so its not common that I’ll eat it unless on pizza.
But what is the cheese quality like? Is it organic, raw, unprocessed or just whatever you can find?
High quality cheese is expensive and difficult to find compared with what you see at the supermarket. And if you love cheese and want to eat it daily, you’ll likely not want to pay the price.
Then there’s yogurt.
We all know the yogurt with fruit at the bottom is way high in sugar. Are you still buying it?
What about yogurt with honey mixed in? Or perhaps you get the vanilla one, because the natural one tastes bland.
Yogurt is something I’ve been eating for a while now.
The best I’ve been able to find is a biodynamic, organic, whole milk yogurt, but it is more expensive compared to the majority of brands.
Even protein powder has risen in popularity over the last decade or two.
As it’s derived from milk, the quality can range from poor to pretty good depending on if its grass fed, organic, lacking artificial colours, flavours, etc.
Is Dairy Necessary?
No. We can live without it.
Why do we eat dairy?
Humans are the only animal(?) that consume dairy after infancy and the only one to consume dairy from another animal. Do we need it?
We can survive without it, and many will feel better with it gone from their lives.
But, dairy can be a good thing in some situations.
High quality dairy is packed with probiotics which are essential for a healthy digestive system.
Some of us end up with a poor digestive system due to whatever reason, but eating quality probiotics on a daily basis will help to raise the level of good bacteria in our gut and improve our health.
You may hear gut bacteria referred to as flora or microbia too. Same thing.
Due to a western diet and poor food choices through the last several generations, the majority of us have some decrease in good gut bacteria levels, an increase in bad gut bacteria, and some of us are in worse shape than others.
This isn’t good and can lead to many health issues, most commonly as I’ve seen recently as auto-immune diseases or conditions.
Rather than scare you with too much detail, I want to empower you with what to do.
Eat a small amount of high quality dairy each day.
You could have raw milk if you dare, organic or grass fed cheese or organic yogurt.
I have a small amount of organic yogurt in a smoothie each day. I can’t eat too much of it though or I react badly to it, so 2 or 3 spoonfuls is enough.
If you don’t want to eat dairy theres a few options for you too.
Perhaps take a probiotic supplement each night before you go to bed.
Probiotics must be taken on an empty stomach in order for them to reach their destination in tact to do their job. If you are taking them with food, you are throwing money away.
Always choose the one that’s stored in the fridge. They have more live bacteria in them.
You can instead supplement with fermented vegetables.
Fermented vegetables can also have high levels of bacteria that are good for the gut.
Stuff like pickles, sauerkraut, pickled capsicums, artichokes, etc are readily available.
Organic ones are crazy expensive, so I suggest choosing the ones without numbers or artificial flavours or preservatives in them. Look carefully.
Bear in mind that natural flavour is not natural flavour.
If they have to add ‘natural flavour’ then where are you really getting the natural flavour from?
I use all three measures above to get my good gut bacteria levels up as I know mine was way low and needs drastic improvement. You can choose what’s good for you.
