Wow, day two of blogging!!! Having a blast. Thanks to everybody who gave me such positive comments they're keeping me going.
Let me say this before I get into the subject of dairy. This blog is not meant to put down anybody who isn't vegan. Nor, is it my goal to convert you. The goal of this blog is to introduce you to a different way of life and to inform you that there are a variety of options out there. You don't have to eat dairy every day. You have choices. How you make them is up to you. I am giving you the information I have learned for myself. If it changes you great, if not hey at least maybe you got a good recipe out of it!
All right let's do this!
Like most Americans I was raised eating dairy, a lot of it! I grew up listening to slogans like "Milk, it does a body good." I remember a particular milk campaign that consisted of a variety of commercials where the premise was basically some kid complaining about his or her body and as they complained their older self would appear and let them know how life was going to be great if you just quit crying and chugged that milk down your throat like there was no tomorrow. Milk would not only get you strong bones and awesome abs but also some great arm candy as well. Well, I listened. I ate a ton of dairy products because after all, I didn't want to end up a social reject. I didn't drink much milk, but man did I eat a ton of cheese. I put cheese on everything. I would make a grilled cheese sandwich and then throw some more cheese on top of that. Cheese not only tasted good but it would also get me a social life!
Fast forward to my high school years. All was seemingly well until my junior year in high school when I began to have acne break outs. Normal right? No. I had very bad cystic acne that went on into my college years. Not only did I have acne, I began developing different skin conditions. This would be the beginning of my health deteriorating. I had no idea that the root of all my problems was yeast.
Yeast is a fungus living in humans. You eat, and it grows. Aww, cute! It's all very Alien-like. Our bodies can't get rid of it completely and it serves no purpose to us. However, you can control the amount of yeast in your body and it's what you eat that contributes to that. Apparently, yeast is fond of dairy and meat products. What?! Noooooooooo! My beloved cheese was working against me. I knew then I had to do something about my diet or I would probably die a slow and painful death.
I learned this four years ago. Well, I removed dairy from my diet completely and the results were astonishing. Within two weeks my skin cleared up and I had more energy. Even my bones stopped creaking. I felt great. Removing dairy from my life was the best thing I could have done. This marked the beginning of my health improving.
As good as I felt, I couldn't help think about my bones. What was happening to them. Sure they had stopped creaking but milk is supposed to decrease your chances of osteoporosis right? Wrong! In actual fact, studies show that milk may actually cause bone loss, http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/milk-for-your-bones. You can google it yourself and find tons of information on the subject.
I was disgusted by the idea of fungus taking over my body. Yeast is like that house guest that asks to sleep on your couch for a day. The house guest stays a second day, then a third, then stuff begins to take over your living room, your bathroom, your closet. Until wham, you've been taken over and now you're the one sleeping on the couch. But, that's another blog.
I realized that milk was not good for me, nor was it good for anyone else. It contributes to bone loss, bad skin, and other yeast related infections.
Milk did not do my body good. It made me feel self conscious about the way I looked. I was left with acne scars that serve as reminders and taught me that good diet starts at an early age, but with the knowledge that there is always time to change. I'm no longer bothered by my scars I've learned to live with them. They're part of who I am, and who I will never be again.
Melissa
Our Daily Veg
*Follow my blog by signing up. Tomorrow I will talk about how you can substitute certain dairy products for more healthy options.
Great blog, M! It's so funny that commercial up top, I saw that too as a kid and for years, yeeeaarrrs thought that if I could just drink enough milk I'd have some "hot arm candy" at my side... and look what happened, it worked!
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, I used to drink a ton of milk all through my youth because I thought it was so good for me and could never understand why I was consistently the "chubby" sick kid. I had horrible allergies that only got worse into my adulthood.
In 2006 when I started to ween myself off dairy, not only did I discover the absolute wonder of coconut milk, almond milk and other diary substitutes that honestly tasted even better to me, but I also noted a dramatic reduction in my allergies.
It started me doing a ton of research into the properties of milk and I then learned about all the antibotics, hormones, etc. that go into it. I learned about the homogenization process messing up my arteries and raising my blood pressure, I even learned that all those hormones, not just in milk but other things to, have sped up puberty so that instead of the 14 year old average onset it was in the 60's, it is now down to believe it or not, something like, if memory serves, 9 YEARS OLD!
AVERAGE! Say what?
For anybody interested I just recently read this fascinating book called "The China Study", which documents the largest survey on nutrition in history when the premiere of China got cancer in the 80's and called in top researchers from around the world to interview 800 million Chinese in every province of China, some of which had eaten the same food since birth, to figure out what was causing cancer and other diseases.
They found the highest occurrences of bone loss, cancer, and other diseases in places that had the richest, highest animal protein diets and found that people that stayed away from dairy and meat, eating mostly plant protein and higher non processed carbs, regardless of the polluted areas they lived in, had the lowest incidences of any disease, no bone loss even at advanced age, and overall great health and longer life.
All that said, I still evvveerry now and then love to go to Zelo's pizza for a pesto and cheese topped slice. It's my vice.
You see, I'm a big believer that education and moderation are the keys to long life. Nothing is going to kill you today, it's ten or twenty years from now you have to worry about.
Don't we owe it to ourselves to research the foods we eat and give to our kids? If we can at least eat intelligently and moderately we will have a much higher quality of life as a result!
Keep on blogging kiddo!
i recently discovered i developed allergies to milk but kept drinking it because i had all my life. but then i discovered my daughter was also having a negative reaction...i had no choice but to maka a change and i started trying other options. are we the only animal that drinks another species' milk? weird! so i just discovered almond milk. it's pretty close to the taste my daughter loves. i really want her to be healthy and not inherit my bad habits. i'm so glad you started this blog! i figure, you probably grew up eating the same stuff as me and if you can change for the better, there's hope for me and my fam.
ReplyDelete