double trouble? dairy and grains- Upper respiratory phlegm production
- Water retention
- Weight excess
Sometimes when I tell people to avoid all dairy products for
a month or two, they look at me with this incredulous look, as if I
had just said the most un-American thing I could ever say. But I’m
not kidding. The first three weeks will be hard, but then the crav-
ings will go away. I am not sure why the cravings last three weeks,
but that has been my observation with milk products, especially
cheeses. The harder and more ridiculous this concept of staying
off milk products seems to you, the more I want you to try it! The
most “stunned” people are usually the ones who have the most
dramatic responses. Make sure you note any symptoms or bodily
changes that occur while off dairy products and then pay atten-
tion to what happens when you add them back into your diet. (Use
the Diet-Exercise-Symptom Diary under Educational Handouts at
Prescription2000.com to chart symptoms.)
Where’s Calcium for my Bones?
I know one thing you’re thinking: “How do I get calcium for my
bones if I am off dairy products?” In America, we are hammered
with the “calcium-milk-bone myth” from an early age.
A paper in 2009 in the well-respected American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition by Dr. Amy Joy Lanou challenges this very issue
of dairy products and bone loss-fracture prevention. Commenting
on two very large studies, she states, “Both showed no protective
effect of increased milk consumption on fracture risk.” And she
continues, “Further, two meta-analyses of studies of milk or dairy
consumption and fracture risk have shown no reduction in risk
with higher intakes of milk, dairy, or total dietary calcium.”^1
It is noted that osteoporotic bone fracture rates are highest in
countries that consume the most dairy, calcium, and animal pro-
tein.^2 This article is a must-read. It notes that the countries with