You Are What You Eat

Several days ago I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts by Naturopathic physician Dr. Stephen Cabral.  The topic of the day happened to be about all of the repellent things (like pus and bacterial cells) found in milk. The timing was fortuitous.  Since dairy was the “mother” of all inflammation for me, I figured I would give you a breakdown of what he said and draw the connection between dairy and chronic health issues.

By the way, if you’ve never listened to Dr. Cabral, I would recommend giving him 10 minutes of your time, at least once.  He’s a very smart guy.

I suppose there are ways to soften what I’m about to tell you, but I’m a firm believer in telling it like it is.  So if you don’t like where I’m going with this, or if you’re the squeamish kind, this may be a good jumping off point for you.

THE MOMMA AND HER BABY:

Before I get into Cabral’s podcast, I’ll give you a brief background on the Cow herself. On most modern U.S. Dairy farms when a Holstein (most dairy cows are of this variety) delivers a calf, her baby is allowed to stay with her for up to 14 days. Though the calf is usually removed within three days.  As the mother/calf bond intensifies over time, delayed separation can cause extreme stress on both cow and calf. (1) Because her milk is  for human consumption and not for her baby, the calf is either given a commercial formula, or milk that has been deemed unfit for human consumption.

All animals (humans included) bond with their babies, it is intrinsic to their survival. It is not uncommon to hear a momma cow bellow when her baby is taken from her. Noted psychiatrist and author Dr. Oliver Sacks, discussed a visit that he and Temple Grandin once made to a dairy farm: “When we arrived, we heard many cows bellowing, causing a very loud and unnerving sound.”  Temple commented, “They must have separated the calves from the cows this morning,” and indeed, that was exactly the case. (2)

Female calves are reared to follow in their mother’s footsteps, but male calves are either put in small “veal” crates or they’re culled.  Most veal slaughter comes from dairy calves, (3) and culled is a benign way of saying they are not deemed useful and they’re killed.

Dairy cows are milked even during their pregnancy.  In the United States, the typical dairy cow is milked for 10 months a year, which is only possible because she is impregnated by artificial insemination while still secreting milk from her previous pregnancy. This process increases the estrogen in their milk upwards of 60%.

Studies have shown that elevated estrogen rates are linked to early onset of puberty, and higher rates of hormone dependent IgF1 cancers like breast cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer in men.  (4)

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT:

We’ve all heard the saying, “You Are What You Eat.” But guess what, You Are Also What You Eat “Eats”.  This information is directly from Dr. Cabral’s podcast.

• USDA allows 1.5 million white blood cells per ml of milk sold (cows get mastitis infection from constantly having to produce milk.)
• Cows are given antibiotics to combat the mastitis infection.
• Now we have the cow’s foreign white blood cells (immune cells) in our body and our own immune system is stimulated to turn on. There is an average of 322 million cell counts of pus in one cup of milk.
• Cows are given steroids, estrogen, rBGH (Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormones) to increase milk production so they grow larger to produce more meat. Dairy stock is often used for both milk and meat production.
• Increase in Type 1 Diabetes and other autoimmune diseases like MS, due to the size of a cow’s protein (casein) molecule.  Our body’s immune system doesn’t recognize the cow’s proteins and it begins to fight them off thinking they are intruders.

Cows are ruminants and should be eating greens like grass, clover, alfalfa, etc. Instead, they are fed GMO corn, which they were never meant to eat. They feed them corn and soy because it is the cheapest form of “calories” on the planet. Often however, this results in the cows becoming sick. Their rates of liver infections, chronic acidosis, and E. coli production increase dramatically. As a matter of prevention, dairy farmers throw antibiotics directly into their cow feed.

Cows are given over 85 different drugs, but the regulating committee that tests the milk only requires testing of  four. Studies have shown that 38% of all milk is contaminated with residues of antibiotics and sulfa-based drugs. (5)

A 20 year longitudinal study of women who drank 3 glasses of milk per day, were shown to have twice the mortality rate as women who drank only one glass of milk per day. (6)

Dairy has been shown to increase acne, ear infections and constipation. (Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Crohn’s disease are also linked to dairy consumption)  Dairy is also the number one allergen for infants and children in the world, (7) likely because of their immature immune system.

There are so many alternatives to cow’s milk.  You can get 50% more calcium in a nut-based or plant-based milk.  There are so many options available on the market today. “Ripple” milk at Target is my favorite, and the kids love Silk Original Soy milk.

Dr. Cabral recommends removing all dairy products from your diet for at least 21 days to see the positive health effects.   We removed dairy from our son’s diet and all signs of his hyperactivity disappeared.  My chronic inflammation resolved within 3 weeks and my cholesterol dropped 40 points in six months.

I don’t miss milk, but I sometimes miss cheese. Even though I can make a delectable chocolate cheesecake out of whipped nut cream, and a spicy cashew cheese “Rotel” dip that is out of this world… I’m not gonna lie, the smell of cheese pizza still gets me.  But I know what will happen to me if I eat it, and it’s not worth it. It’s not worth if for me, for my kids, and definitely not worth it for the cows.

Next time on “All Shook Up,” Healing the Gut