Look, let’s face it. We’ve been marketed a bill of goods with the Diary Council’s milk and dairy campaigns.
Remember these?
- “Milk – it does a body good”
- celebrity white-mustache campaign (still alive and kicking?)
- the hourglass-shaped glass of milk campaign
…and that’s just the beginning.
What these campaigns don’t tell us is the baggage that comes along with the milk, the cheese, the ice cream. Lots of fat, cholesterol, and calories – without the fiber.
If you’ve been worried about ditching dairy because you are concerned about your need for calcium, then I’ve got great news. You can find it better delivered via plants. True story!
Here’s how to get your calcium delivered in a slimming, green outfit .
3 ways that plants are a better source for calcium than milk.
1) Calcium absorption from plants beats dairy, hands and hooves down.
Do you know that you can absorb a greater portion of the calcium found in a cup of kale, than that in a cup of cow’s milk? Even though a glass of skim milk contains 302 mg of gross calcium, you can only absorb about 32% of it. This is like trying to cram in as much calcium as possible and trying to shove it into your bones, without regard to its bio availability.
2) Plants save you from the cholesterol, fat and growth hormone overload of dairy products
When you get your calcium from kale, broccoli, bok choy or Brussels sprouts, you happily bypass the cholesterol or saturated fat found in cow’s milk.
Saturated fat and dietary cholesterol are recognized as contributors to heart disease, high blood pressure, and increased risk of stroke. And kale and broccoli, unlike cow’s milk, are not treated with potentially dangerous hormones such as rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone). rBGH a genetically-engineered hormone chemical injected into cows to boost their milk yields.
3) By getting your calcium from plants you bypass the dangerous consequences of protein overload from dairy.
True, cow’s milk also has three times the protein found in human mother’s milk. We have been led to believe by marketing that this is a good thing; after all, if a little is good, then more must be better, right? Not so fast.
For humans, at the time of our most rapid growth in infancy, we need only 5 % of our calories as protein in contrast to cows who grow at a much more rapid pace.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that men and women obtain 5% of their calories as protein. This would mean 38 grams of protein for a man burning 3000 calories a day and 29 grams for a woman using 2300 calories a day. This quantity of protein is impossible to avoid when daily calorie needs are met by unrefined starches and vegetables. For example, rice alone would provide 71 grams of highly useable protein and white potatoes would provide 64 grams of protein.8
Our greatest time of growth—thus, the time of our greatest need for protein—is during our first 2 years of life—we double in size. At this vigorous developmental stage our ideal food is human milk, which is 5% protein. Compare this need to food choices that should be made as adults—when we are not growing. Rice is 8% protein, corn 11%, oatmeal 15%, and beans 27%.8 Thus protein deficiency is impossible when calorie needs are met by eating unprocessed starches and vegetables.
~ When Friends Ask, Where Do You Get Your Protein? Dr. John McDougall, April 2007
After all, cows are genetically slated to double their birth weight in 47 days. This is in contrast to humans who double birth weight in 180 days! Excess dietary protein is also one of the top reasons so many Americans’ bones are being drained of their calcium.1
FREE download of Whitewash, Chapter 3: Udderly Ridiculous
To get your eyeballs ahold of more details, I’ve got a free chapter download for you today from Joseph Keon’s new book, entitled Whitewash: The Disturbing Truth about Cow’s Milk and Your Health.
In this book, Dr. Keon exposes one of the biggest nutritional myths of our time, and shows that our obsession with dairy is not only unnecessary but highly dangerous.
Want to read a chapter right now? I’ve got Chapter 3 for you!
Click here to read Chapter Three: Udderly Ridiculous
And get yourself so calcium without the side effects! Next time you’re in the market, grab the kale, the collards, the greens. Cook up a quick batch of simple soup.
Here, I’ll make it easier for you: If you haven’t seen it already, click HERE to see my short video of Simple Veggie Soup with only 5 ingredients, my ideal recipe! And one of them is, you guessed it, kale.
And if you are looking for more reasons to ditch dairy, click here to watch the Perils of Dairy video.
And tell me your thoughts in Leave a Reply below!
1 Dairy Products and False Promises, April 2003, Dr. John McDougall
About Lani
Lani Muelrath, M.A., CGFI, CPBN, is the creator of Fit Quickies™ & the Body Shaping Breakthrough Kit, a FREE collection you can download instantly to learn Fit Quickie #1: ‘7 Seconds to a Flat Belly‘ and your Burst Training Guide: How to fit 45 minutes of cardio into only 15 minutes. You can access your free kit here: Body Shaping Breakthrough Kit
Wowser Lani! Thanks for the free chapter. So simply put!
Great info as always 🙂
Lis
Hey Lis, glad you likey and thanks for taking the time to let me know!
Lani
Ok, I purposely did NOT read the chapter until after my special dinner that used feta cheese. While I did not put in the four ounces as suggested in the recipe (I only used a bit as a condiment as previously taught by Lani), I knew I would not want it after reading.
Sigh. I was right. Very informative, good choices, supports what we have been learning through Dr. McD – and so totally on for me!!
I think many of my allergies/asthma is due to the fact I just can’t stay away from milk/cream in my coffee in the morning. What an excellent reminder for me to try and cut down – AND a good incentive NOT to eat any more feta, except perhaps on a Feast Day.
-Paym
Paym, isn’t it funny how we do that? We know somethings coming that will alter a decision or choice, so play it out first. We are wild critters, us humans!
Cream in my coffee was the last to go for me. I understand!
Lani
cool
Bought a bunch of kale, Lani. I’m a kale pusher this week! ‘Ruminating on the dairy. 😉
Becky, kale rocks! Anyone who’s a friend of kale is a friend of mine. Thanks for the green hit! Ruminating on dairy? Watch the Perils of Dairy video right here on my blog!
Katie, did you send in the form? Then you’re good to go!
I’d really like to see the studies backing up everything you said.