Practicing diets that lack dairy sustenance is a popular trend today with our recent organic orient and healthful awareness. Whether we’re lactose intolerant or just looking to eliminate the toxins in dairy from our bodies, often times we will snatch up the next most available product, failing to do our research on this said product’s ingredients and effects.
According to Dave Rietz of Not Milk, “Cow's milk is an unhealthy fluid from diseased animals that contains a wide range of dangerous and disease-causing substances that have a cumulative negative effect on all who consume it.” Unfortunately, cow milk holds 200 times the danger levels with dioxins, herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, feces, bacteria, viruses, pus, and sometimes even blood. Cow’s milk contains 59 powerful growth hormones, one being Insulin. Rietz refers to this Insulin hormone as a “fuel cell” for cancer. What this means is, this hormone is part responsible for rapid growth of prostate, colon, and breast cancers. With this in mind, could we ask ourselves if it might be promoting all cancers? Rietz mentions, “Milk can be thought of as "liquid meat" because of its high protein content which, in concert with other proteins, may actually LEACH calcium from the body. Countries that consume high protein diets (meat, milk and dairy) have the highest rates of osteoporosis.” It’s interesting that we are brought up to believe that milk is very protein dense and assisting us in the growth of big and strong bones, when in fact it actually helps us in the adverse way, by infecting our blood and causing us to have weak bones due to all of the bacteria and hormones.
Now that we’re educated on why we shouldn’t purchase and consume cow’s milk, let’s discuss our options. The National Institutes of Health- Office of Dietary Supplements states that typically, the human body requires at least 1,000 milligrams of a calcium source each day, and 1,200 milligrams if over the age of 51 years. Of course, every human body is unique depending on size, age, gender, and activeness, however 1,000 milligrams is the average baseline. How should we fill and build our bodies to meet that quota? In a room of dairy-free advocates, the first immediate response recorded would be either soy or almond milk.
Many fail to recognize that soy milk does more harm than good to our bodies. Although almond milk has a lesser source of calcium unless it is manufactured as calcium-fortified, soy milk should remain on the shelves and not in our refrigerators despite it’s impressive calcium count. Paleo Leap mentions, “Soy contains high levels of goitrogens. Goitrogens are compounds that inhibit the thyroid’s ability to utilize iodine correctly which could lead to hypothyroid problems.” When hosting an underperforming thyroid, the whole metabolism drastically slows down as well as the immune system. Soy milk also has trypsin inhibitors; toxins that block digestion of certain proteins. When consuming soy milk, the imbalance of testosterone and estrogen may cause devastating effects such as lower libido (sexual drive,) incredible fatigue, excessive weight gain, interrupted menstrual periods, and fertility problems. In a nutshell, soy is ruining the planet. Paleo Leap comments, “Soy crops are probably the most destructive of all the monocrops. They rob the soil of nutrients without giving back, they’re one of the pesticide laden crops and they are now almost all genetically modified...save yourself and the environment from soy.”
Almond milk, almond milk, almond milk! When calcium fortified, almond milk holds as much vitamin D and calcium as cow’s milk, without the bacteria and hormones! I’ve found that unsweetened vanilla almond milk is the safest and most delicious alternative for consumers who are either lactose intolerant or have ethical issues with drinking true dairy beverages. Not only is this nut beverage tasty and safe, but also bursts with rich vitamins and minerals like manganese, magnesium, vitamin E, copper, selenium, and potassium. The calorie count per cup is also quite low, only packing 30 calories every 8 fluid ounces. Also, according to Life Hack, almond milk serves as a very beneficial tool for weight management, strong bones, healthy heart function, glowing skin, muscle strength/healing, and digestion.
It’s without a doubt that more of society should be guzzling down almond milk as opposed to true dairy or soy milk. Do your body a favor and be pro-almond milk!
