What? No dairy????

Let's start by talking about what Paleo is.  Paleo is all about eating natural foods, just like our ancestors did years and years ago.  It's nothing more than ditching today's processed food habits and switching to high quality foods that our digestive system was meant to consume.  It's actually pretty simple!

Such a happy cave woman!

When my daughter Gracie was an infant, she had "colic."  She would cry for hours for no apparent reason.  This went on for months.  I then noticed her bowels had changed to a greenish color and then spots of blood appeared in her diaper.  I was panicked!  Her pediatrician diagnosed  her with an allergy to the cows milk protein, or casein.  I was nursing her at the time so once I stopped consuming dairy in my diet, her symptoms were no longer.  I had a happy baby!





My Gracie girl at 5 months!

 

Dairy causes inflammation in the body, hence the blood in Gracie's stools.  Her gut was irritated from the dairy that I was consuming.  I won't go on at this time about "leaky gut" but I'll direct you to a website that talks about it if you'd like to learn more!

http://paleoparents.com/featured/how-do-grains-legumes-and-dairy-cause-a-leaky-gut-part-2-saponins-and-protease-inhibitors/

What about calcium?  Most people believe milk is the main source of calcium in our diets.  Not true!  There are many seeds, nuts, fruits, veggies and even seafood that can provide this mineral.  Calcium needs a happy, calm alkaline environment to get absorbed in the body.  Dairy is very acidic.  When you consume dairy, the body leaches the calcium from the bones to digest your meal.  If we consume a balanced Paleo diet, we will have an adequate acid-base balance where calcium can be absorbed.

What to use instead of milk for cooking:

Coconut milk

Nut milk (almond)

no milk

The decision is up to you.  I'm not always 100% Paleo.  If I want some cheese, I go for the full fat, fresh mozzarella as a treat every now and then!

I would suggest cutting dairy out for a few weeks, maybe a month, and see how you feel and what type of results you get with your weight loss and heath.  Give it a try!