The Dangerous Success of the Dairy Industry

I have spent 30 years in the field of advertising and marketing, and so I  know the power of advertising.  One of the most successful marketing campaigns over the past 50 years has been that of the dairy industry.  They have convinced us that drinking milk is essential to our health.  However, the more research I do, the more I realize that this is totally untrue!  Casein, the protein found in milk and other dairy products is in fact detrimental to our health.  Did you know that:

• 75% of the people on the planet don’t consume any dairy products because they are lactose intolerant and they are doing just fine.
• The Japanese consume much lower levels of dairy than we do, yet they maintain a higher life expectancy and better health than the United States.
• Calcium can be found in non-dairy foods such as spinach, kale, broccoli, tofu, soybeans, almonds and molasses, and these foods provide more calcium per calorie than milk.
• As for cow’s milk’s role in building strong bones, that the countries with the highest dairy consumption also have the highest rates of osteoporosis
• Dairy consumption has been linked to cancer, diabetes, autism and schizophrenia, and many autoimmune disorders including Multiple Sclerosis.
• The fat and hormones in dairy have been strongly linked with a variety of hormone-related illnesses in humans, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, and acne.
•  Most of the milk in the US is produced on large factory farms, where cows are kept in unhealthy conditions, and fed hormones and antibiotics, we need to pasteurize the milk so we don’t get sick, but this process destroys many of the nutrients
• And lastly dairy cows suffer immensely in dairy farms/factories, and they also account for huge amounts of CO2 emissions, land degradation, water consumption, and water contamination

I strongly recommend that you read The China Study and read or watchForks Over Knives for more information.

For more information and references please refer to my earlier post on this subject.

Three Years of Health and Blogging

Today this blog is 3 years old!  Cool, I’ve never managed to keep a journal for more than a few weeks, and I’ve been pretty faithfully posting here for 3 years.  I started this as a means of motivating myself to get back into shape (which you might have guessed from the name of this blog!)  For most of my adult life I was physically active and health conscious, but then I had a 2-3 year lapse while I was dealing with some personal issues.  I ended up gaining about 20 pounds, but even more troublesome was that my cholesterol and triglycerides went up to unhealthy levels.

So in February 2010, I took the first step…I went to the gym.  I also started this blog with this post   The goal of the blog was to 1) keep me motivated to get back into shape and 2) to share my journey and hopefully motivate others.

One year later, in February of 2011  I reported that I had lost 12 pounds, and had gone from barely fitting into the size 8 clothes I had to buy when I gained weight, back into my size 6 clothes.  I had also started making smarter food decisions and eating better.

In my birthday post in 2012 I proudly stated that I had lost most of the excess weight I had gained, and more importantly that my cholesterol numbers were moving back down.  My objectives were to eat healthy are to buy (and use) a juicer and start buying organic vegetables.

Now, three years later, I am doing great!  I am exercising regularly, either running, weight training or practicing yoga. And over the past year, (as you may have noticed in my posts), I have completely changed my dietary habits.

 I am now eating a plant-based diet and have eliminated all dairy products.  If you want to know why I have eliminated dairy, you can check out my earlier post on dairy!  I did indeed buy a juicer and I use it regularly, and I eat mostly local organic fruits and vegetables.

I feel great; my running has improved, and since changing my diet my cholesterol has dropped 34 points and my triglycerides dropped to less than half of what they were!  I attribute this completely to my vegan diet.

My physical fitness goals for the upcoming year are to improve my running times to run a 5K in 24 minutes and a 10K in 50 minutes, to improve my flexibility so that I can stretch out over my legs and get my chest to the floor, and be able to 20 military push ups.

Phew, I have a lot of work to do, stay tuned…

Where Do You Get Your Calcium?

We have been trained since childhood that dairy products are good strong bones and teeth, in other word they are our best source for getting calcium.  But it turns out that the Dairy Industry has been the source of almost all of this information!  Let’s look at some facts as reported in The China Study.

• “Casein, which makes up 87% of cow’s milk protein, promotes all stages of the cancer process”
• “Plant protein did not promote cancer cell growth, even at higher levels of intake”
• “Milk has been linked to Type I diabetes, prostate cancer, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases…casein, the main protein in dairy foods has been shown to experimentally promote cancer and increase blood cholesterol and atherosclerotic plaque”

And interestingly,

• 75% of the people on the planet don’t consume any dairy products because they are lactose intolerant, and they are strong and healthy.
• The Japanese consume much lower levels of dairy than we do, yet they maintain a higher life expectancy and better health than the United States.
• The countries with the highest dairy consumption also have the highest rates of osteoporosis

Whoa!

Given the research linking dairy products with heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis and autoimmune diseases, I have decided to look for other, plant-based sources of calcium!

First of all, how much calcium do we need?  The recommended daily allowance for calcium is 1,000 mg for adults 19-50 and men over 50, and 1,200 mg/day for women over 50.

Vegetables, Nuts and Seeds, Grains, Legumes and Beans, and Fruit are great sources of calcium.  And, green vegetables also have calcium absorption rates of over 50 percent, compared with about 32 percent for milk. (3)

VEGETABLES (per cup)
Bok Choy	330	mg
Bean sprouts	320	mg
Collard greens (cooked)	260	mg
Spinach (cooked)	250	mg
Turnip greens (cooked)	200	mg
Kale	180	mg
Mustard greens (cooked)	100	mg
Swiss chard (cooked)	100	mg
Seaweek (Wakame)	120	mg
Okra	130	mg
Broccoli	45	mg
Fennel	45	mg
Artichoke	55	mg
Celery	40	mg
Leeks	44	mg
NUTS, NUT BUTTERS AND SEEDS
Almonds 1/4 cup	95	mg
Tahini 1 Tbsp	65	mg
Sesame seeds 1Tbsp	63	mg
Brazil nuts 1/4 cup	55	mg
Hazelnuts 1/4 cup	55	mg
Almond Butter 1 Tbsp	43	mg
GRAINS
Cereals (calcium fortified, 1/2 cup)	250-500	mg
Quinoa, cooked, 1 cup	80	mg
Brown Rice, cooked, 1 cup	50	mg
LEGUMES AND BEANS
Soy beans, cooked, 1 cup	200	mg
Tempeh, 1 cup	150	mg
White beans, cooked, 1 cup	140	mg
Tofu, 4 oz	120	mg
Navy beans, cooked, 1 cup	110	mg
Chickpeas, cooked 1 cup	80	mg
Pinto beans, cooked 1 cup	75	mg
FRUIT (per cup)
Rhubarb	350	mg
Figs, dried	300	mg
Apricot, dried	75	mg
Prunes	75	mg
Orange	70	mg
Kiwi	60	mg
Blackberries	40	mg
OTHER
Blackstrap molasses, 1 Tbsp	135	mg

Lastly, it is important to look at factors that leach calcium from our bones: (3)

• Animal Proteins
• Salt
• Caffeine
• Refined Sugar
• Alcohol
• Vitamin A supplements
• Nicotine
• Aluminum containing antacids
• Antibiotics, steroids, thyroid hormone drugs

Sources

• The China Study, T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II MD
• 2. One Green Planet
• 3. drfuhrman.com

Weight Lies!

Haha, this is a good one!  Yes, I have been guilt of rounding down when I gave my weight to DMV.  I figured that my license was good for 5 years, and so I’d use the weight that I planned to be in 5 years (always less than I currently was!)

The funny thing is, having gone to a diet that is almost 100% plant-based, eliminating meat, dairy and almost all refined sugar, I have achieved that goal weight.

Neglecting Blog, but Staying on Track

I’m not going to start with, I’ve been neglecting my blog…..

Although I have been neglecting my blog!

However I have been running and eating well and visiting friends!

These were three of my New Year’s Resolutions, and I am very pleased with my progress on them this year. One of my goals was to visit with at least 2 girlfriend each month. As August winds down I am happy to report that this week I spent a wonderful afternoon with two dear friends, Jeannette and Cathy; and today I saw my old friend Wendy (I can say that as she is younger than me!) We spent the day together laughing, talking, having lunch, drinking some tea and talking some more! Did you know that they make English Afternoon Tea? It was very good!

As for running, I ran a 10k last Thursday night in Rye. While it wasn’t a PR as those days are loooong gone, I was very happy with my run. It was my very best 10k time since I’ve been running again. I even finished #10 in my age group–yeah me! One more 5 miler coming up in early September than nothing but training for the Seacoast Half Marathon in November!

And lastly, my goal for the year was to eat healthy and lose those last 5-8 pounds that have been lingering. Well I went from eating well, to eating VERY well. I haven’t been eating processes foods, desserts or added sugars, dairy or meat. I’ve been making a fruit and vegetable juice 5-6 times a week, eating mostly vegan fare, and I feel physically (and mentally) healthy and strong. As a matter of fact, my running has improved greatly on this new meal plan, and I lost those 8 pounds rather easily! I will be posting more in the future on the benefits of a plant based diet, stay tuned…..