In my pre-vegan days, I loved cheese. I enjoyed making cheese dips, was known for my delicious baked cheese dishes, and always went for the cheese tray at parties. I can confidently say, if there was anything that was “difficult” to give up when I became vegan, it was definitely the taste of cheese.
Why did I stop eating cheese and all other dairy products (yogurt, milk, butter)?
Well, there are many reasons to not eat cheese, health being one of them. I had been diagnosed with “acid reflux” and blamed it (always) on oranges. It didn’t matter if I had eaten an egg salad sandwich with cheese, or eaten yogurt that morning, it was always “the orange’s fault.” I have since learned that dairy (milk, cheese, butter), breads, eggs, and numerous foods cause an acidic environment in our bodies and lead to multiple undesirable symptoms including a lack of energy, headaches, acid reflux, fatigue, aging, acne, excess music, and difficulty in shedding fat (where acid toxins are stored).
While acid is not entirely bad, our body is constantly trying to balance our pH level with alkaline. What is interesting (and quite surprising) to many is that while some foods themselves fall on one side of the pH scale, we need to look at whether the food is acid-forming or alkaline-forming inside of the body. When our pH level has too much acid, our bodies know what to do to balance our pH level. Some of the ways our body does this include:
1) Pulling stored calcium and magnesium from skeletal bones and teeth to neutralize the blood acids
2) Eliminating acidic residues through the skin (seen as acne) and urinary tract.
2) Eliminating acidic residues through the skin (seen as acne) and urinary tract.
This is a piece from one of many articles about milk and calcium:
So, we’ve been led to believe that milk offers the human body a surplus of calcium because milk, itself, is high in calcium. But in fact, milk is acid-forming in the body, and our way of balancing that acid is through using our stored calcium (from our bones and teeth) to neutralize that acid. That is why some might hear that milk actually depletes the body of calcium. The same goes with any acid-forming food. Read the full article.
Fermented, or ripened cheese is one of the most toxic foods known to man. The smallest quantity has a catastrophic effect on the system. It disturbs digestion and makes everything ferment in the digestive tract, so foods eaten don’t benefit the body… So in conclusion, no cheese is recommended for health, but fermented cheese should be avoided like poison. -~Frederic Patenaude
For more information on acid-forming and alkaline-forming foods, please see this article, which includes a chart.
In addition to its highly acid-forming nature, dairy is known to contribute to cancer development at all stages. Casein, the main protein found in milk, was connected to cancer during a study performed by Dr. T. Colin Campbell. During his study, Dr. Campbell found that “the connection between casein and cancer was so profound that the scientists could literally turn cancer growth on and off in the laboratory animals, like a light switch, simply by altering the level of casein protein in their diets. Interestingly, they also found that feeding the animals the same levels of plant based protein did not at all promote cancer growth.” –See article about dairy protein. I would highly recommend Dr. Campbell’s book, The China Study.
In addition to its highly acid-forming nature, dairy is known to contribute to cancer development at all stages. Casein, the main protein found in milk, was connected to cancer during a study performed by Dr. T. Colin Campbell. During his study, Dr. Campbell found that “the connection between casein and cancer was so profound that the scientists could literally turn cancer growth on and off in the laboratory animals, like a light switch, simply by altering the level of casein protein in their diets. Interestingly, they also found that feeding the animals the same levels of plant based protein did not at all promote cancer growth.” –See article about dairy protein. I would highly recommend Dr. Campbell’s book, The China Study.
While one might think that understanding the health hazards of dairy could easily make me dairy-free for the rest of my life, I found myself making compromises.
Just think: How likely are you to indulge in a tasty treat for just a moment of bliss, even while knowing that it isn’t healthy? I’ll be the first to say I was likely!
Then, I came to this realization…
Now, think about this: How likely are you to knowingly cause tremendous harm on another being for that same moment of bliss? Likely? Unlikely? I thought to myself, “Unlikely! I would never do that.” But I was doing that.
“But how am I causing tremendous harm on another being?” I asked. Well, anytime we pay a business for their product, we make a personal contribution to the practices of that company, humane or not. It’s just like the outrage that the gay community and supporters feel after being informed that part of the money they spent on food at chik fil a was given to anti-gay organizations; they unknowingly made contributions to organizations that they are strongly against.
Simple, right? Yes, I was against the cruelty of animals, so I knew that it was contradictory to contribute to their suffering by monetarily supporting their abusers, aka farmers/CEOs.
“But how are they treated cruelly? How are dairy cows suffering?” I asked…hesitantly. Well, as we know, cows, like all mammals, produce milk for their babies during pregnancy and nursing stages. To keep milk production steady, cows are repeatedly and forcibly impregnated. This is done by painfully forcing a large metal syringe up the cow and injecting it with sperm. Then, several times per day, these female cows are hooked to electronic “milking” machines that often cause mastitis (serious infection of the cow’s breast), painful lesions, and electrical shock. Sadly, many cows spend their entire lives just standing on concrete floor or crammed into mud lots.
Naturally, cows produce about 16 lbs of milk per day, but cows at factory farms are given antibiotics and hormones so that they produce an average of 50 lbs per day. The natural lifespan of a cow is about 25 years, but with so much stress, pain, and abuse at the factory, cows usually live to be 4-5 years old, at which time they are deemed “unusable” and sent to the slaughterhouse.
“What happens to the baby cows, the calves?” I asked. Female calves are either slaughtered or used for dairy, while male cows are used for veal. Male calves are taken from their mother at as early as 1 day old and are
chained in tiny individual stalls to be raised for veal.
The confinement is so extreme that they cannot even comfortably turn around or lie down. As author John Robbins notes, “The veal calf would actually have more space if, instead of chaining him in such a stall, you stuffed him into the trunk of a subcompact car and kept him there for his entire life.”
Cows are extremely gentle and affectionate animals. They form strong bonds with one another, particularly between mother and child. As Michael Klaper M.D. recalls:
“The very saddest sound in all my memory was burned into my awareness at age five on my uncle’s dairy farm in Wisconsin. A cow had given birth to a beautiful male calf…On the second day after birth, my uncle took the calf from the mother and placed him in the veal pen in the barn—only ten yards away, in plain view of his mother. The mother cow could see her infant, smell him, hear him, but could not touch him, comfort him, or nurse him. The heartrending bellows that she poured forth—minute after minute, hour after hour, for five long days—were excruciating to listen to. They are the most poignant and painful auditory memories I carry in my brain.”
So then I argued, “But what if I’m eating organic?” The term organic only applies to what the animal is fed and the use of hormones and antibiotics. So, while it feels nice to know that the cow was given “organic” produce and wasn’t injected with hormones, the cow was still artificially impregnated, milked excessively by machines, raised in crammed mud lots or on concrete, quite possibly abused by workers (as if the previous conditions are not abuse in and of themselves), and I am still contributing to the cruel veal industry.
While I can say that I really enjoyed the taste of dairy, especially aged cheese, the mere moments of bliss from tasting cheese were not worth the agony that animals go through. Furthermore, eating cheese and dairy is not necessary and has been scientifically proven to be unhealthy. We live in a time where we can truly thrive on an animal-free diet, so why put the animal through any pain when it does no good for anyone?
For more information on the dairy industry, please click this link.
You can also read this article about dairy by Gary Yourovsky from Adaptt.org.
*This information applies to a vast majority of dairy suppliers. While there are a few farmers left who care for their animals and create the most natural life possible on a farm, most, if not all, dairy products that we buy in stores or from restaurants come from factory farms.
If you are considering a dairy-free diet, please look through my FOOD page where every recipe is dairy-free, delicious, and vegan. Also, I invite you to email me with any questions!
Peace.
Think occasionally of the suffering of which
you spare yourself the sight.
-Albert Schweitzer
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