SUFFERING FROM PAIN BUT STILL CONSUMING DAIRY?

As a wellness professional who helps people with pain I often get flooded with questions about what to do to get rid of it. 

Some people understand that chronic pain is a symptom and in most cases as a result of lifestyle choices, but some expect a quick and easy fix that in my opinion doesn´t exist.

Of course you can take a painkiller, but those have side effects and are just killing the symptoms, which is quite an insult of the body´s intelligence.

I believe that what got you here, won´t get you there. 

Something has to change and when it comes to chronic pain, it is the lifestyle.

Now, when you look up “healthy lifestyle“ on the internet, you will find all kinds of contradictory information about the “correct“ exercise, all kinds of different diets, supplements, different information on how many hours you should sleep and you most likely will end up overwhelmed and decide to carry on with what you´ve always been doing. You might even back up your decision with some mainstream ideas that from a certain age pain is normal. 🤦🏼‍♀️

You have 2 choices here - you decide to live with pain or you decide to do something about it.

There is no magic pill that will bring you optimal health, but there is a path that will work only for your unique body. Your job is to figure out what it is.

But hey, I´m here to help and there are definitely some basic guidelines. 🙌🏼

When it comes to diet, the world never has been so divided as it is now.

All kinds of diet labels are popping up and they all have one thing in common - they work for some people. But are you among them? It´s up to you to figure that out.

But a general rule to follow when it comes to pain is to avoid those foods that cause inflammation in most people like dairy, gluten and sugar.

Today I´d like to address dairy, because it is the easiest one to get rid of and also because people still seem to be surprised when I mention it and it´s because of more than half century of great marketing dairy industry invested in.

If you´ve grown up thinking milk is good for you, I can´t blame you. We all did.

I still remember me buying yogurts and milk for my kids when they were small, because I thought that was the right thing to do. 🤦🏼‍♀️

It was almost 20 years ago and even if the internet was slowly penetrating our homes, most of the information we consumed came from the television.  I wasn´t really connecting the dots, even knowing that only the most powerful giant companies could afford TV ads and all they were doing was manipulating facts in order to sell us their products.

Do you know where the dairy propaganda started?

During World War II, the milk production had to be boosted in order to make processed dairy products to send to soldiers overseas. But farmers weren’t producing enough to meet this demand because they weren’t getting paid enough. So the government decided, "Great, we’ll create demand for milk by giving milk to our kids, and that way we’ll have a demand for the fluid milk and we can make the processed products we need for soldiers."

Dairy became a vicious business circle. Even if now, the dairy industry recognizes that milk is not essential to health, the general message spread worldwide over the decades was trying to convince people otherwise.  They even came up with the idea claiming that milk products are the most convenient form of calcium. But that argument wasn´t true either.

The National Dairy Council recognizes that foods like kale, bok choy, and broccoli all have higher rates of calcium absorption than milk.

But the main problem with dairy is not that it´s not that beneficial as they were claiming, but over the past decades it became truly harmful for most people, creating not only allergies, intolerances and sensitivities, but lead to obesity and even cancer.

But why´s that dairy products are much more dangerous than 50 years ago?🤔

The propaganda was successful and has created a huge demand. Everyone was believing that daily intake of milk is the best thing for the healthy bones of the kids and adults. And the industry had to make adjustments, using hormones so that a factory cow could produce up to 30% more milk than an organically raised one. 

When you are consuming milk, yogurt, butter and cheese produced from conventionally raised cows that are also fed a steady stream of antibiotics, your dairy intake may be playing a role in antibiotic resistance, not only for you, but your family and everyone else in your community. 

Pasteurization process was invented to make the shelf life of dairy longer, but it also kills essential enzymes and probiotics and alters vital amino acids. Nearly all commercial milk is also homogenized, a process that oxidizes fats and creates free radicals - unstable oxygen molecules that are known to weaken the immune system and result in intestinal inflammation, leading to leaky gut.

So if you are a big fan of dairy, you might think - ok I´ll buy only organic milk then and I´ll be fine.

Well, while when it comes to veggies this approach works, but it doesn´t when it comes to dairy. And here is why.

1️⃣ LACTOSE.

This short chain carbohydrate found in dairy is a milk sugar and more and more people get sensitive or intolerant to it recently, mainly because of lack of enzymes that suppose to digest it - one of the main reasons why this is happening is that pasteurization kills off the beneficial probiotics and enzymes. Lactose intolerant people - which is around 75% of the world population experience uncomfortable digestive problems, from bloating to diarrhea or not so obvious issues like acne and skin problems.

2️⃣ CASEIN.

Some people can digest lactose without problems, but still be intolerant or sensitive  to the proteins in milk - specifically A1 beta casein, due to a relatively recent genetic mutation and can be more inflammatory to the body than gluten. A1 beta casein releases beta-casomorphin-7, an opioid with a similar structure to morphine that´s been linked to autism and schizophrenia.

Now if you are thinking that dairy sensitivity would manifest as digestive issues only, it is another myth. Even if you might not feel any uncomfortable digestive issues, dairy sensitivity in many people shows up as skin rashes, dermatitis, acne, chronic sinusitis, joint pain and autoimmune diseases related to inflamed gut.

Can you relate to some of these issues? Well, you are one of many and there is just one way to be really sure about how your body processes dairy - by not consuming it at all.

Luckily there are plenty of plant based versions of yogurts, milks and cheese you can use during the transition and you can still enjoy some great creamy dishes and play with new ingredients like nutritional yeast if you miss that parmesan taste.

Quitting dairy is not that difficult as sugar or gluten and it is a good place to start with an elimination diet.

If it´s not in your fridge, you won´t probably miss it too much. Especially when you have a good source of delicious plant based recipes you will be still able to enjoy creamy pasta, vegan “cheese“ sauce or fully vegan carrot cake with creamy icing.

For more plant based inspiration, revisit my previous blog post with meal plans.