This week the people that are participating in my 12 week program, have been asked to eliminate dairy from their diet. The first week they eliminated artificial and processed foods...not only did everyone FEEL better, they ALL lost weight. The second week we started eliminating meat...that included beef, chicken, turkey, pork and fish. Yes, fish...anything with a face or a mother I asked them to eliminate. I did give everyone a choice.....maybe eliminate one particular group such as red meat for one week and then gradually eliminate chicken the following week, etc. Some people did choose this route, others gave meat products up altogether. Again, we had great success!
This week, however, I asked them to start eliminating dairy products. That means, milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, sour cream, butter, etc. Any by-product of milk is dairy. This was difficult for me to do.....I was a vegetarian for about 1 1/2 years before I was educated on the effects of dairy. Once I knew the facts, I gave up dairy cold turkey! However, I will tell you it was hard for me. I loved yogurt...I ate it everyday, it was my "treat"...with ice cream being a very special treat. But, that was almost four years ago and I never looked back.
Let me give you some FACTS about dairy and WHY it's not healthy for us...even though the dairy industry tells us a totally different story:
Misinformation builds profits, not bones...The dairy industry makes a $100 billion a year...BILLION with a B. That gives them plenty of money to support the approximately $202 million they have to spend on their OWN scientific research and other "propaganda" each year to spread the MYTH that dairy foods are not only healthy, but essential to avoiding illness. This kind of advertising is working....children under the age of 18 drink 46% of ALL MILK CONSUMED. This comes as no surprise because the industry markets to school aged children....but neglects to educate people on the effects their product has on health.
The dairy industry LEADS us to believe that without dairy products we will become deficient in calcium...something we all need to stay healthy. REALLY?? Where do the cows get their calcium from? They don't drink milk after being weaned from their mother. The same goes for any animal...once weaned from their mother, no more milk is required. Look at the huge animals such as elephants, horses, rhinos....these animals are strictly PLANT EATING ANIMALS....no worries about protein or calcium...they get all they need from PLANTS.....if these animals are big and strong, you don't think humans can be healthy eating a plant based diet?
Calcium comes from the soil...it is a basic mineral element that is neither created or destroyed. Plants absorb calcium and other minerals from the soil through their roots. As the plant grows, that calcium is built into its fabric from root to stem to fruit or vegetable to seed. The calcium gets into the cow when she eats grass and other plants. Why not skip the cow altogether (along with the saturated fat, cholesterol and over-abundance of protein), and go straight to the plant for your calcium? Cut out the middle man.
The problem is not getting enough calcium...it's holding on to the calcium we get that the problem arises. By eating animal products, we get an excess of acid and protein.....calcium is leeched from our bones to neutralize this overload and we excrete the calcium through our urine. The more animal products you eat, the more calcium is taken from your bones and lost. (Not to mention the strain this puts on your kidneys).
Let me give you an example of the Bantu women living in Africa. These women consume NO DAIRY products. ZERO. They eat a plant based diet. Now, these women typically have 10 children and will breastfeed each of them for about 10 months. With no dairy in their diet, no calcium supplements and the repeated pregnancies and breastfeeding, you would think osteoporosis would be rampant. Guess what?? Osteoporosis is unknown in the Bantu women.
However, once these same women migrate to cities or Western countries and adopt their diet, animal products including dairy, they are in the same boat as the rest of us...osteoporosis is now a problem. All that excess protein and calcium is just too much for any body to handle. Then the other disease states become prevalent....heart disease, cancers, stroke, and all the rest of the chronic diseases we have in this country.
Much to the dairy industry's dismay, our body's are just not designed to consume milk products. 97% of the world's population is lactose intolerant.....that's HUGE! Some people don't even realize dairy is at the root of some of their medical issues. We are taught from childhood that meat and dairy are absolutely essential to have a strong, healthy body....this is so far from the truth. Because so many people believe this, we have become a fat, sick nation with health care costs totally out of control.
However, you don't have to be one of these people....take control of your health one day at a time. A Whole Food Plant Based diet has been scientifically proven to be the BEST way of eating there is. I try and encourage EVERYONE to just TRY it....try it for 3 months....start by eliminating processed, artificial foods, then step 2 would be to eliminate meats, step 3 to eliminate dairy products....you have to do what is right for you. If eliminating certain foods gradually works, then that's great. It doesn't matter how long it takes you to do this, what's important is you're doing it!! Once you begin to feel the difference, (and people in my class felt improvements in the FIRST WEEK!!) you will be motivated to keep going.
Of course, the longer you follow a WFPB diet, the better you will feel. Disease states start to disappear, your energy returns AND, the best "side effect" from eating this way: POUNDS start melting off! Now there's a side effect that everyone wants to experience.....
This week, however, I asked them to start eliminating dairy products. That means, milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, sour cream, butter, etc. Any by-product of milk is dairy. This was difficult for me to do.....I was a vegetarian for about 1 1/2 years before I was educated on the effects of dairy. Once I knew the facts, I gave up dairy cold turkey! However, I will tell you it was hard for me. I loved yogurt...I ate it everyday, it was my "treat"...with ice cream being a very special treat. But, that was almost four years ago and I never looked back.
Let me give you some FACTS about dairy and WHY it's not healthy for us...even though the dairy industry tells us a totally different story:
Misinformation builds profits, not bones...The dairy industry makes a $100 billion a year...BILLION with a B. That gives them plenty of money to support the approximately $202 million they have to spend on their OWN scientific research and other "propaganda" each year to spread the MYTH that dairy foods are not only healthy, but essential to avoiding illness. This kind of advertising is working....children under the age of 18 drink 46% of ALL MILK CONSUMED. This comes as no surprise because the industry markets to school aged children....but neglects to educate people on the effects their product has on health.
The dairy industry LEADS us to believe that without dairy products we will become deficient in calcium...something we all need to stay healthy. REALLY?? Where do the cows get their calcium from? They don't drink milk after being weaned from their mother. The same goes for any animal...once weaned from their mother, no more milk is required. Look at the huge animals such as elephants, horses, rhinos....these animals are strictly PLANT EATING ANIMALS....no worries about protein or calcium...they get all they need from PLANTS.....if these animals are big and strong, you don't think humans can be healthy eating a plant based diet?
Calcium comes from the soil...it is a basic mineral element that is neither created or destroyed. Plants absorb calcium and other minerals from the soil through their roots. As the plant grows, that calcium is built into its fabric from root to stem to fruit or vegetable to seed. The calcium gets into the cow when she eats grass and other plants. Why not skip the cow altogether (along with the saturated fat, cholesterol and over-abundance of protein), and go straight to the plant for your calcium? Cut out the middle man.
The problem is not getting enough calcium...it's holding on to the calcium we get that the problem arises. By eating animal products, we get an excess of acid and protein.....calcium is leeched from our bones to neutralize this overload and we excrete the calcium through our urine. The more animal products you eat, the more calcium is taken from your bones and lost. (Not to mention the strain this puts on your kidneys).
Let me give you an example of the Bantu women living in Africa. These women consume NO DAIRY products. ZERO. They eat a plant based diet. Now, these women typically have 10 children and will breastfeed each of them for about 10 months. With no dairy in their diet, no calcium supplements and the repeated pregnancies and breastfeeding, you would think osteoporosis would be rampant. Guess what?? Osteoporosis is unknown in the Bantu women.
However, once these same women migrate to cities or Western countries and adopt their diet, animal products including dairy, they are in the same boat as the rest of us...osteoporosis is now a problem. All that excess protein and calcium is just too much for any body to handle. Then the other disease states become prevalent....heart disease, cancers, stroke, and all the rest of the chronic diseases we have in this country.
Much to the dairy industry's dismay, our body's are just not designed to consume milk products. 97% of the world's population is lactose intolerant.....that's HUGE! Some people don't even realize dairy is at the root of some of their medical issues. We are taught from childhood that meat and dairy are absolutely essential to have a strong, healthy body....this is so far from the truth. Because so many people believe this, we have become a fat, sick nation with health care costs totally out of control.
However, you don't have to be one of these people....take control of your health one day at a time. A Whole Food Plant Based diet has been scientifically proven to be the BEST way of eating there is. I try and encourage EVERYONE to just TRY it....try it for 3 months....start by eliminating processed, artificial foods, then step 2 would be to eliminate meats, step 3 to eliminate dairy products....you have to do what is right for you. If eliminating certain foods gradually works, then that's great. It doesn't matter how long it takes you to do this, what's important is you're doing it!! Once you begin to feel the difference, (and people in my class felt improvements in the FIRST WEEK!!) you will be motivated to keep going.
Of course, the longer you follow a WFPB diet, the better you will feel. Disease states start to disappear, your energy returns AND, the best "side effect" from eating this way: POUNDS start melting off! Now there's a side effect that everyone wants to experience.....
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