Meatless Monday: 11 Reasons Why Dairy Kinda Sucks

I'm getting kind of anxious about this upcoming vegan experiment. The more research I do, the more I realize that it's about more than simply cutting out eggs and dairy, but a change in almost everything. Those two are actually the easiest!

And this is coming from a lover of cheese. I mean, I plan to have pizza tonight and make lasagna tomorrow (did I mention my mom is going to be in town from tonight through next Monday morning? She is! I'm so excited!), and they will both have copious amounts of cheese.

This seems to be the downfall for all vegetarians, actually. Eggs? No problem. Straight-up milk? Soy or rice or almond is even better. But you put some cheese in front of them... and their willpower crumbles.

I'm one of those.



However, I imagine this month won't be nearly as hard after picking up Whitewash: The Disturbing Truth About Cow's Milk and Your Health. We all know the daily mantra: Drink your milk so you'll grow big and strong, have healthy bones and teeth, and so forth. This book? It challenges all that. Y'all should read it; it'll forever change how you see milk.

I, for one, am willing to take the challenge, and the reasons below (among many others) are why.

1. Cow’s milk is intended for baby cows.

Think about it: When you ask someone why we don't drink elephant milk, we (typically) reply, "Because that's for baby elephants!"

Exactly.

We are the only species, aside from those we're domesticating, that drinks milk after infancy and, even more odd, drinks the milk of other species.

2. Hormones and nutrient amounts are different.

The hormones and nutrients contained in cow's milk are naturally higher in some areas and lower in others, as those are what a baby cow requires. When compared with the milk created by humans for their babies, the differences between the nutrients can be astounding:



Add to that the amount of hormones and steroids given to cows to keep them lactating, increase milk production, and otherwise "plump" them up, and you have a recipe for disaster. These hormones can negatively impact our hormonal balance!

3. Most cows are fed inappropriate food.

Cows are supposed to chew cud --the portion of grass and other foods in a cow's natural diet that returns from the stomach to the mouth to be chewed a second time. Gross, yes, but this process if vital for a cow's digestion.

Nowadays, your average cow is eating feed containing ingredients that include genetically modified (GM) corn, GM soy, animal products, chicken shit (no, seriously), cottonseed, pesticides, antibiotics, and other nasty stuff. You are what you eat? Well, imagine eating that stuff... through your milk!

4. Dairy products, when metabolized, are acid-forming.

Contrary to popular belief, the milk you're drinking is actually working against your bones. Our bodies strive for biochemical balance to keep our blood acid levels at 7.365 pH, and eating excessive acid-forming products can cause our bodies to overuse its acid-balancing mechanisms... including our bones, which contain alkaline calcium that are released to combat excessive blood acidity. This leads to bone fragility.

In turn (and shockingly)...

5. Research shows that the countries whose citizens consume the most dairy products have the HIGHEST incidence of osteoporosis.

Yes, really.



6. Most dairy cows live in confined, inhumane conditions.

All right. I'm never one to really preach about animal cruelty or anything, but it needs to be said: Some of the cows that are milked their entire lives suffer with bone fragility, illness, abuse, and oftentimes premature death. Being a milk cow in the dairy industry can cut down a cow's life by two-thirds. And that green grass we mentioned before? Most cows go never knowing what a blade of grass even is.

7. During the pasteurization process, vitamins, proteins, and enzymes are destroyed.

Most dairy products are pasteurized to kill potentially-harmful bacteria. Enzymes are what assist with digestion, and when they're destroyed or otherwise removed via pasteurization and other processes, the milk becomes harder to digest. This puts a strain on our bodies' enzyme systems. It is one of many reasons why many people are intolerant to milk and dairy products.

8. Dairy products are mucous-forming.

There was once a time when I cut out dairy and wheat from my diet, just to see what would happen. I did it in spring, a time when flowers are blooming and I'm sneezing my head off and reaching for my inhaler ever few hours. That year? Not one sniffle, not one wheeze.

Dairy products are mucous-forming, and they can easily contribute to respiratory disorders, allergies, and other ailments as a result.

9. Research links dairy products with arthritis.

Scientist Richard Panush was actually able to produce inflamed joints in rabbits by switching their water to milk. In another study, scientists observed a more than 50% reduction in arthritic pain and swelling when participants eliminated milk and dairy products from their diets. Powerful stuff there!

10. Most milk is homogenized, which denatures the milk’s proteins, making it harder to digest.

When you get sick, the "foreign invaders" are attacked by your immune system and either keep you from getting worse (and actually make you better!) or prevent you from getting sick in the first place. The milk proteins, since they're a foreign substance when homogenized, are seen as "foreign invaders", so your immune system reacts as if they were something dangerous, and everything overreacts.

11. Milk can lead to a myriad diseases...

... including but not limited to hypertension (due to elevated sodium in dairy products), heart disease (due to elevated amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol in dairy products), overweightness and obesity (due to the same and the popularity of chocolate and other flavored milks), diabetes (due to the same), and a generally shorter life span.