Dairy Products Continued - The Nature of Milk

Last week I discussed the reasons why dairy products as conventionally used are not a good form of calcium for us to consume because in the end we end up losing more calcium than we take in. But what other reasons should this dairy product recommendation be eliminated from the Food Pyramid?

First, consider the source of the recommendation. The Dairy Industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. What food company wouldn't want their food products listed on the official Food Pyramid? There isn't much scientific evidence that cow's milk is actually good for the body, but there is a whole lot of advertising going on about milk products. Although some won't appreciate the suggestion of conspiracy in the Dairy Industry, there is growing evidence that money had more to do with the Dairy Industry's appearance on the Food Pyramid than actual scientific proof of its nutritional value - especially with information that is finally coming to light about how much harm dairy products actually do to the body. The FDA, USDA, and other organizations don't always have our best interest at heart, sad to say.

Now let's look at what milk really is. When a baby is inside the womb, it is fed by its mother through the umbilical cord. This is basically a blood transfusion from the mother to the baby. Predigested nutrients are going directly into the baby's bloodstream. When the baby is born, this process continues - through the mother's milk. Milk is a predigested food, a nutrient delivery system, designed to go directly into the new baby's bloodstream because the baby does not have any digestive juices of its own yet. A close analysis of milk shows that milk has the same make-up as blood, minus the red corpuscles. This is the perfect food for babies.
What causes a baby to wean from its mother? As soon as the baby's digestive juices come in, around 18 months, mother's milk mixes with those digestive juices and becomes acidic in the body, and the baby knows to wean. This is more apparent with other mammals who are more instinctual about this process, rather than weaning their babies for convenience and then forcing them to continue drinking milk from another mammal from then on.
So as I said, once the child has digestive juices, milk then turns acidic in the body. Acid creates not only calcium loss, but large amounts of mucus to protect the body's organs. Cow's milk is the number one cause of congestion, allergies, asthma, colds, and other mucus conditions.

Frank A. Oski, M.D., chief of pediatrics at John Hopkins School of Medicine stated that "at least 50 percent of all children in the United States are allergic to cow's milk, many undiagnosed. Dairy products are the leading cause of food allergy..., constipation, and fatigue. Many cases of asthma and sinus infections are reported to be relieved and even eliminated by cutting out dairy. The exclusion of dairy, however, must be complete to see any benefit."

Taking a closer look at cow's milk, this nutrient delivery system sends proteins directly into the bloodstream, which would be perfect for a growing cow, but these types of proteins are not right for a human's bloodstream, and the immune system has to go to work to get rid of these foreign proteins. The proteins in cow's milk are the same weight and structure as the beta cells of a human pancreas. When a child drinks cow's milk, those proteins can attach themselves to the pancreas. Then when the immune system discovers these proteins that are actually foreign, it will attack them, and many times it attacks the pancreas along with it, destroying the insulin-producing cells, creating Juvenile Onset Diabetes - Type 1. These proteins can attach themselves to other areas of the body as well, creating allergies or other auto-immune disorders depending on the individual's genetic susceptibilities. Rheumatoid arthritis if the proteins attach to the joints. Asthma if the proteins attach to the lungs & bronchioles. Crohn's Disease if they attach to the colon wall, etc.

An article titled, "More Evidence that Milk Causes Diabetes and Anemia" in Prevention and Nutrition revealed the following: "It has long been suspected that cow's milk proteins are a principal cause of diabetes in children, and a new report in the New England Journal of Medicine adds more support for this explanation. In comparisons of different countries, the prevalence of insulin dependent diabetes parallels the consumption of cow's milk." (The actual report being cited here was published in Volume 327 of the New England Journal of Medicine in July of 1992.)

Has anyone ever used milk as an ant-acid to curb heartburn or soothe an ulcer?? Here's where it gets a little tricky. It is true what I said about milk turning acidic when it mixes with digestive juices, however, milk itself is alkaline because of its high calcium content. Therefore when it first hits the stomach it will neutralize the acids in the stomach. Then after mixing with the stomach acid and bypassing the stomach it turns acidic, and that is the state it is in when it enters the bloodstream. It is the opposite of citrus fruits, like lemons, which are acidic themselves, and when they go into the stomach they increase stomach acid production, but then become alkalizing once they bypass the stomach and enter the bloodstream.
So milk and dairy products neutralize stomach acid, making it difficult to digest any foods eaten with the dairy products, allowing other foods' proteins into the bloodstream undigested. This is how milk contributes to food allergies. The immune system attacks those undigested proteins and creates an allergic reaction whenever that food is eaten.

"If you really want to play it safe, you may decide to join the growing number of Americans who are eliminating dairy products from their diets altogether. Although this sounds radical to those of us weaned on milk and the five basic food groups, it is eminently viable. Indeed, of all mammals, only humans - and then only a minority, principally Caucasians - continue to drink milk beyond babyhood." (March 1991 Medical Reader)

Stop and think about what you're drinking the next time you pick up a glass of milk. If it were human milk, might you be hesitating a little more? Yet, that would be safer for you to drink because at least it would be the milk of your own species. Think about those you know with allergies, asthma, colds, congestion, or juvenile diabetes - or this might be yourself. Try the no-milk or dairy products challenge for 2 weeks and see how you feel. Aside from the juvenile diabetes, the other symptoms and conditions will most likely improve tremendously.

Food Pyramid Myths Part 3 - Dairy Products

The Food Pyramid tells us that we should consume 2-3 servings of dairy products each day. This of all recommendations, is one of the most detrimental to our health. I would delete this recommendation from the Food Pyramid altogether. Those who insist on needing dairy products, whether for health reasons or for enjoyment of the foods, should turn to raw dairy products, or to goat dairy. Pasteurized & homogenized dairy products from cows have numerous negative health effects.
If you think about it, we are the only mammals on this earth who drink milk after we are weaned from our mothers, and we are the only mammals who knowingly drink milk from another species (cats being fed cows milk are no better off than we are with this mix up).
That we need to drink milk after we are weaned, and that we should drink cow's milk, is one of the biggest myths ever taught to us. From asthma & allergies to cholesterol & heart disease, from indigestion & irritable bowel to osteoporosis & diabetes... the list of diseases and their relationship to milk & dairy products goes on and on.

Let's begin with the most common question I get when I say I don't eat dairy products - "Where do you get your calcium?"

We have been taught that diary products are the only true source of calcium, and that without it we would be susceptible to weakened bones and osteoporosis later in life.
But this reasoning has come into question. It is being made public knowledge that all that we have been taught concerning milk and our dire need for calcium in order to have strong bones was never based upon scientific research, but was instead a product of advertising by the Dairy Industry, and the things they have ingrained in us have been doing more harm than good.
As new research was coming to light, a medical doctor, Dr. D.M. Hegsted, made this comment, “The first rule in formulating public health policy should be the assurance that the recommendations are not detrimental. It will be embarrassing enough if the current calcium hype is simply useless; it will be immeasurably worse if the recommendations are actually detrimental to health.”
Let us first take a look at the subject of calcium. It is the belief that we need to take adequate calcium into our diet in order to have strong bones, and if people around us are breaking bones and showing up with osteoporosis, then the logical thing to do is to increase the amount of calcium we are taking into our diets. This is following the “more is better” theory, which as we are finding with most things in life, is not always true.
In Dr. Hegstead’s book, Calcium and Osteoporosis, it shows that there is a close relationship between osteoporosis and the consumption of dairy products. In fact, the United States and other countries who consume large amounts of dairy products have much higher rates of osteoporosis than countries who consume hardly any or no dairy products at all. It appears that as milk consumption increases, the amount of calcium loss increases right along with it.
This doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense unless you realize what the real culprit with milk is. And that is it’s high protein content. Another big trend in our society is that we need to consume large amounts of protein, but excessive protein, especially animal protein, causes an extreme loss of calcium. There were at least 60 studies done between 1974 and 1988 indicating a definite relationship between excess dietary protein and increased calcium loss.
What happens is that large amounts of animal protein turn the blood very acidic. The body is always trying to maintain a slightly alkaline state, so in order to counteract the acidity in the blood, the body pulls calcium from the bones. Calcium is an alkaline substance that can be used by the body, when necessary, to neutralize acid. Whatever calcium there is in the milk to begin with is also quickly used up in this neutralizing process. So no matter how much calcium a person thinks they are getting by drinking lots of milk, there is always more calcium lost than retained. And as we have seen, how much calcium we consume is not the issue when it comes to strong bones, it is how much calcium is retained. Therefore, the more important question is 'how can I retain the calcium I already have in my bones?' Dairy products, along with soda pop, sugar, and other acid-forming foods, each contribute to calcium loss, and are directly related to osteoporosis.
Countries who consume a small amount of calcium in their diet, as well as little or no animal protein, have strong bones that stay strong their entire lives. We as Americans could learn some things from those whose health is so much better than our own.
It is true that calcium is an important mineral, but even calcium supplements at the grocery store are not assimilable. Most of them come from rocks. If you want to truly increase the calcium level in your bones, plant sources of calcium are the best to use, and studies have shown an actual increase in bone mass using calcium from plant foods. Dark leafy green vegetables are one of the best sources of assimilable calcium. Almonds and sesame seeds are also good sources of calcium. Herbal sources of calcium include Horsetail & Oatstraw.

Food Pyramid Myths Part 2 - Fruits & Vegetables

Moving up the Food Pyramid, it is recommended that we eat 3-5 servings of vegetables, and 2-4 servings of fruit a day. This is a fairly sensible recommendation, however, once again the form of the fruit or vegetable is not specified. Is there a difference between fresh vegetables and canned vegetables? Or even fresh vs. cooked vegetables? Pickled vegetables? Frozen vegetables? Organic vs. inorganic? And how about bottled or canned fruit? Dried fruit? Fruit roll-ups? Do the blueberries in your blueberry muffin count? Or the cherry on top of your ice cream sundae?

In a day of modern conveniences, fruits and vegetables are not what they use to be. Yet many people don't see the difference between eating fruits & vegetables fresh, and eating them in the ways I just described. I will touch on the reason each of them is good or not so good, but it boils down to one main issue, which science is so far behind on. Fresh fruits and vegetables have LIVING ENZYMES in them. These foods are alive because of the growing process. When you pick your fruits & vegetables from the soil or plant they grew on, they will continue to ripen on your counter because they are still alive. That is the manufacturing industry's biggest problem, and why they have discovered so many ways to preserve these foods, but the truth is, most all of these ways to preserve them only preserve some of the vitamins and minerals, but always kill the living enzymes.
Just like with the grains, when they are in their hard dormant shell, they are acidic, and when they are soaked they become alkaline because the living enzymes have been activated - fruits and vegetables are the same way. When they are fresh and in their living state, they are alkalizing to the body (especially vegetables). But once the living enzymes are killed by over-cooking, processing, preserving, etc. they actually become acidic in the body.
If you remember nothing else, remember this: Living foods beget Life. Dead foods cause degeneration & death.


Now to touch on each of these ways fruits & veggies are processed, preserved or prepared.
1. Dried Fruit - The next time you pick up a package of dried fruit - check the ingredients list. You will find sulphur dioxide in most brands. Dried fruit is treated with this gas to preserve the color of the fruit so that it doesn't go brown. "Sulphur dioxide is produced mainly from the combustion of fossil fuels that contain sulphur, such as coal and oil... Sulphur dioxide is also produced from some industrial processes, such as fertiliser manufacturing, aluminium smelting and steel making." Sulphur dioxide can cause "respiratory problems, such as bronchitis, and it can irritate your nose, throat and lungs. It may cause coughing, wheezing, phlegm and asthma attacks... Sulphur dioxide has also been linked to cardiovascular disease." (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/air/breathe/sulphur-dioxide.html).

If you wish to eat dried fruit, at least search out the brands that do not use sulphur dioxide, because there are some that don't, although they may be more expensive because they will also be the more organic brands.

Aside from additives (which may also include artificial colors & flavors), dried fruit itself is a concentration of the fruit sugar. It's high sugar content can cause blood sugar spikes and tooth cavities as much as any piece of sugary candy.
And as mentioned in a previous post, dried fruit has had the water evaporated out of it, and when ingested, the body uses it's own water supply to rehydrate the fruit before it can be digested. Most people are aware that eating dried fruit can cause you to feel sick afterward if you eat too much because it swells in your stomach.

For storage purposes, drying your fruit is an effective method for preserving fruit. But a thing to remember - dry it yourself or buy organic brands that don't contain the preserving agents, and before eating the fruit, soak it in water for 10 minutes or so to reconstitute it. If fruit is dried below 120 degrees F the enzymes will be preserved, but dormant. Once soak and rehydrated, those enzymes will reactivate.

2. Canned fruits and vegetables - Many sources will tell you that there is no difference between eating fresh fruits & veggies, and eating canned ones. Once again, look at the ingredients list. Most canned foods contain lots of salt, sugar, and other preserving agents. Many nutrients are lost during the cooking process before the canning is done, and canning has no way to preserve the living enzymes in the food, which were most likely killed during the cooking process anyway. In an effort to rescue the flavor of this lifeless, partially nutrient-depleted food they are canning, they add the extra salt and sugar. To test this fact out, try buying sodium-free canned vegetables and see how tasteless they can be.

Canning or bottling fruits and vegetables yourself can be a little better, as long as large amounts of sugar are not used. Once again, this can be a good food storage method, but canning does not preserve the live enzymes, so this is not the best way to eat fruit or vegetables on a daily basis.

Pickling is another way to bottle your produce. The problem with that is when unhealthy vinegars are used, or chemical preservatives are added. Most vinegars are acidic and not good for the body. Raw apple cider vinegar is a living vinegar with many health benefits. Pickling your own produce with this type of vinegar is a healthy way to preserve them. This type of vinegar does not go bad overtime. Instead it increases in its nutritive value.

3. Frozen Fruits & Vegetables - Freezing your fruits and vegetables is a fairly good method of preservation. Often the living enzymes simply become dormant in the freezer, and are reactivated once thawed. However, few people thaw their frozen fruits & veggies and eat them in their freshly thawed state. Most people cook them, or blend them up in their frozen state. Neither allows for reactivation of the enzymes. Another thing to consider - which crops are ruined when the temperature drops and frost begins to form? Fruits and veggies can't continue to grow once frozen. This seems like the dormant state that the hard grain is in for storage purposes. However, can a fruit or vegetable reproduce after it has been frozen and thawed? Or are the seeds completely ruined? Just some thoughts.

4. Cooked Fruits & Vegetable - As I have been mentioning throughout this article, cooking fruits and vegetables kills the living enzymes. But let's face it, we like our food warm some of the time, and certain foods like potatoes just don't taste good raw. So, if you aren't going to become a 100% raw foodist, and plan to still cook your produce, certain types of cooking are better than others. Steaming is the healthiest way to go, since most of the nutrients are still retained, and depending on how long you steam them for, some of the live enzymes may survive. Boiling is the worst way to cook them, as all the nutrients leech out into the water. Frying is generally not good unless a stable oil is used (such as olive oil or coconut oil), and then you want to keep the temperature on medium-low. It takes longer to cook them, but high heat will most quickly kill the live enzymes, and create free radicals - especially when regular vegetable oils are used. Baking is a good way to go, but ideally you could bake it under 200 degrees and preserve some of the live enzymes - if you've got hours to let it slowly cook.

5. Organic vs. Inorganic - Ok, so say you've decided to add some fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet each day. Does it matter if they are organic or not? Aren't all fresh fruits and veggies alike? Due to farms that mass produce, farming habits have taken a nose dive. One of the biggest problems they are up against is soil depletion. When crops are grown in the same soil over and over, without replenishing the nutrients in the soil, the soil becomes depleted and produce grown in this soil will be less nutritious. It is shown that produce grown organically has 300% more nutritional value than non-organic produce. Then there is the issue of the farmers use of pesticides to kill bugs, which not only pollutes the air, poisoning those who breath the pesticides (and I have met people with severe pesticide poisoning because they lived next to a commercial farm), but remains on the food which will later be ingested. Pesticides kill most of the bugs, but the strong ones survive, creating super bug species. Then there is the issue of genetic engineering. In an effort to reduce pesticide use topically, they are trying to create crops that have pesticides in their genes. But what does that genetically modified food do to us when we consume it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94d-KVorSHM
http://www.psrast.org/intro1.htm
GMO food is a whole topic in itself.

Although getting fruits and vegetables in your diet is important, eating fresh, organic produce full of live enzymes is the absolute best way to go. For preservation, dry or freeze them when possible, and only bottle if you can use a minimal amount of sugar. For cooking, try to stick to steaming and baking, or use good oils to fry with at a low temperature.

Going back to the Food Pyramid, it would be wonderful if we could get 3-5 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day. If the most important thing is getting live enzymes and alkalizing our bodies, vegetables (especially green vegetables) are the best thing to build our diet around. Green vegetables are highly alkalizing, and full of nutrition and living enzymes. Vegetables should really be at the bottom of the Food Pyramid. Filling our plates with vegetables, and having a side of more substantial food will help our bodies run more smoothly over time. Fruits are wonderful too, but should be eaten a little less often than vegetables because they are sweet and slightly less alkalizing. Also the fruit sugar, combined with the acids in many fruits, can break down the enamel of the teeth if eaten too frequently, even in their fresh form. Where I would put vegetables at the bottom at 6-11 servings a day, I would move fruit up the pyramid to 2-3 servings a day.

Grains Continued - Remedies or Recipes

In discussing grains last week, I mentioned that even whole wheat grains can create a problem in the body because they are still acidic unless soaked first. Yet, sprouted grains are not as easily available to us most of the time.

Unsoaked, or processed grain products (including white, refined grains) can cause:

Allergies/Asthma
Digestive upsets/Irritable bowel
Constipation
Celiac's Disease/Gluten-Intolerance
Chronic Sinus Infections
Blood Sugar Imbalances/Weight Gain
Colds/Mucus Congestion
Mineral Depletion

Although I recommend avoiding the types of grains that would cause these problems, this week I will direct you to a website with natural remedies for many of these symptoms. The website is www.daveshealingnotes.com. On this site you can go to an ailment, and it will discuss it, then give you rememdies in 3 categories: herbs, cell salts, and homeopathics. These remedies are focused on calming the body's over-reaction to the allergens, helping the body to cleanse from mucus and other toxins, and keeping the body's blood sugar stable. Unlike drugs, natural remedies work with the body, supporting it's healing processes rather than forcing an action that is contrary to the body's inherent wisdom.
The recommended remedies are available at Dave's Health & Nutrition. For phone number or location see www.daveshealth.com.

For Food Allergies:
http://daveshealingnotes.com/ailments/food-allergies-natural-remedies.html

For Irritable Bowel:
http://daveshealingnotes.com/ailments/irritable-bowel-natural-remedies.html

For Blood Sugar/Weight Gain:
http://daveshealingnotes.com/ailments/diabetes-natural-remedies.html

For Constipation:
http://daveshealingnotes.com/ailments/colon-cleanse-natural-remedies.html


On the other hand, if you are up to the challenge of eating grains in their sprouted form, here are a few recipes for you to try:

Multi-Grain Mélange
2 T. wheat, soaked 8-12 hours
2 T. rye, soaked 8-12 hours
2 T. barley, soaked 8-12 hours
2 T. oats, soaked 8-12 hours
2 T. raisins, soaked 8-12 hours (reserve soak water)

In a blender, combine all the ingredients, including raisin soak water and blend.
For a warm grain cereal, heat on low to 105 degrees. Top with berries, nuts or add apples and cinnamon. Be creative.

Hearty Buckwheat Breakfast
4 T. raisins, soaked 8-12 hours (reserve soak water)
¾ c. soaked or sprouted hulled buckwheat

In a bowl, mix the buckwheat with the raisins and enough soak water to achieve desired consistency. For a warm cereal, heat the raisin soak water to 105-115 degrees before adding to the cereal. For a vanilla-flavored cereal, soak the buckwheat in water with vanilla extract added.