Dairy, especially cheese, is addictive. That’s why it’s so difficult to stop eating it. Why? The primary protein in dairy, casein, breaks down into casomorphins. If that sounds like queso morphines,
Dairy, especially cheese, is addictive. That’s why it’s so difficult to stop eating it. Why? The primary protein in dairy, casein, breaks down into casomorphins. If that sounds like queso morphines, good, because that’s what it is. The morphine-like addictive substances in milk keeps infants blissfully sucking on their mothers’ nipples until they grow big enough to move on to other, hopefully more age-appropriate foods.
Why ditch the dairy addiction? There are so many reasons! Here are a few:
- You are not a calf. Milk is the perfect food…for the infant of the mother who produces it. Mammals produce milk for their infants, and for no other reason. No mammals need to drink their mothers’ milk past infancy. That’s why they all eventually wean and move on to solid foods. And unless the mother dies or is otherwise unable to provide milk, no mammal needs the milk of another species. So humans old enough to be weaned from breastfeeding have absolutely no need for milk, be it from their mothers or another species. You wouldn’t drink the milk from your lactating sister, or a dog, or a horse, or a pig. Why would you drink milk from a cow?
- You do not aspire to be a 1,000-pound cow. Cow’s milk naturally contains the large amount of growth hormones, fat, and protein needed to turn a 80-pound calf into a 1,000 pound cow in one year. Those amounts of protein and hormones are not only unnecessary for humans, they’re actually unhealthy. Whole milk is 50% fat, milk advertised as 1% (low fat) is still 18% fat, and cheese is 70% fat.
- Milk makes people sick. The vast majority of mammals, including humans, lose the ability to digest the sugar in milk after infancy. About 25% of humans (mostly of northern European descent) have a genetic mutation that allows them to continue to digest milk sugar or lactose. The rest of us (an estimated 75% of us) are lactose-intolerant as adults, including the vast majority of people who are of Asian, African, Native American, and southern European descent. Symptoms of lactose intolerance include bloating, pain or cramps in the lower belly, gas, diarrhea, and vomiting. Another milk sugar, galactose, is toxic. As far back as 1981, cow’s milk was reported to cause cataracts.
- Dairy production is cruel. To keep them lactating, cows are artificially and forcibly inseminated on what farmers call the “rape rack” year after year. Most newborn dairy calves are forcibly removed from their mothers before they’ve ever had a chance to nurse. The rest are removed in a matter of hours or days. Mother cows bellow and search after being separated from their babies. Female calves may be slaughtered soon after birth or kept alive to be enslaved and exploited like their mothers. They spend the first 2 to 3 months of life lonely, confined in hutches, and fed a diet of milk replacer while humans drink the milk intended for them. Male calves are taken, chained in tiny stalls where they cannot take a single step, and raised for veal. Because it is unprofitable to keep dairy cows alive once their milk production declines, they are usually killed at 5 to 6 years of age, although their normal life span exceeds 20 years. Their worn-out bodie