missi discovers the dairy myth
In this edition of Missi Pyle's guest blogs about becoming vegan, my witty friend is faced with the age-old dairy argument we've all heard before:
Wary about no dairy? aka Fred the Dairy Fairy aka Vegan blog #6! aka rip steve jobs. Sigh
The thing about being a vegan is, everybody has an opinion about it. Especially the bartender, at The Buggy Whip. Who incidentally is not only a bartender but also a professional nutritionist and architect with his very own clothing line. Hmmm. I guess business must be slow. or he just bartends on the side for funzies. Anyhoo. I was waiting for Megan and Meredith at the bar and looking over the menu for something vegan to eat. They had broccoli sauteed in garlic. yum. and a beet salad. I told the bartender, Fred, that I'd like both but that I was a vegan and just wanted to make sure both dishes were, you know vegan.
fred looked at me and shook his head. "being a vegan is not healthy." wow. thank you so much for your opionion fred. tell me more. "i am a nutritionist, a professional nutritionist and if you don't have dairy from a cow you can't get enough calcium and will get osteoporosis and weak bones." and shrivel up and die? ok, i get it. again, thank you for your opinion. I'd still like to have the broccoli and the salad. fred stared me down cold and hard like john wayne in some vintage western. i thought maybe he'd draw his pistol on me. but no. he just tore the ticket off his ticket order pad, slowly turned, glared at me one more time and walked into the kitchen.
wowzers! while fred was gone. i decided to do a little googling about this whole cows milk- osteoporosis thing. on my iphone. (sigh rip steve jobs... you will be eternally missed) Turns out there are an ass load of other ways to get calcium. Broccoli being one of them. suck on that fred! and look at all these other vegan foods that have calcium:
i have no idea what blackstrap molasses is. it sounds painful. but dang theres a lot of options.
when fred came back he brought me my broccoli which was sauteed in olive oil and an extraordinary amount of garlic. awesome. and my beet salad covered in cheese. i just looked at him. "really fred?" do you not remember the conversation we had 5 minutes ago? is this why all your other businesses are in the shitter? fred again looked at me like i was the dumbest a hole on the planet and said. "well i guess the cook might make you another one." amazing.
he brought me back the salad with beets this time with no cheese and no salad dressing. i guess to teach me a lesson? and simply walked away. then meredith and megan arrived. meredith ate most of my broccoli. she is so cute, i didn't mind. then we slammed a glass of vegan wine and took megan to the airport. which incidentally is right around the corner from the Buggy Whip. We did not take a buggy to get there.
alas. i wondered if you, my best friend, have thoughts on the calcium vegan conundrum. maybe you wanna share them with me? so i can go give fred the what for the next time i see him
that's for fred. not you
until then
in the words of steve jobs...
stay hungry, stay foolish
ps. steve jobs gives this speech to the graduates of stanford. it is the most inspiring speech i've ever heard. I think i've listened to it at least a dozen times. it gives me hope when my heart feels heavy and i feel, you know, hopeless. if you have 10 minutes check it out.
For more info about calcium and why dairy is nasty, check out my blog post about organic dairy here, or page 34 of The Kind Diet.
What food myths were you surprised to discover?
Related Stories:
Missi and Meredith Do Vegan Texas-Style
Guest Blog: Missi Pyle's Vegan Quest - Day 1
Guest Blog: Missi Pyle's Vegan Adventure!
Guest Blog: Incredible Cruciferous Veggies!
36 comments
-
-
Great post! I love this topic. Those who attack Vegan eating really do not have a leg to stand on, and if you think about it, why are their panties in a knot to prove that we are wrong? Could it be because they know THEY are wrong? They are jealous that we can keep our bodies clean and free of animal fat, and all the hormones, chemicals, and every other horrible things that comes with eating meat and dairy! Don't even mention the animal cruelty issues, because they don't get that either. I guess with all issues in life, there are two sides, sometimes more. We must respect others, but what I don't get is why they have to attack us, and worse ...with wrong, inaccurate information! They don't even have their facts straight. I would have done exactly what you did, and I have many times, which is firing back with supporting evidence that they are simply wrong! Plant life alone provides us all the protein we need, let alone calcium, and much much more! Good job in silencing those who fear us! KEEP ON KEEPING ON!!! And please visit me at http://themeganlifestyle.wordpress.com/ I'd love to have you ALL visit me, and check out my book - The ME-gan Lifestyle!
Love and hugs........ knowledge is our best weapon!!!
Mary Bortel
-
Actually, I've read many studies that consuming milk CAUSES osteoporosis! Is it an odd coincidence that the places with the highest levels of osteoporosis are also those that drink the most milk? Not a chance.
Developing countries, who don't drink any milk beyond infancy have no cases of osteoporosis.
-
Girl, I know how you feel. My fiancé and I have both become Vegan recently. We both work at the same place and most of the employees are older. Well, I was at a workshop and my fiancé was eating lunch by himself the other day and happened to mention to one of our (older) coworkers that we were vegan. Well her response, "What does it matter what you eat, something's going to kill us anyway." Yes, exact words... no matter that this woman is over weight and has health issues from FOOD!!! I mean, every time she eats a doughnut she has to shoot up some insulin. Ugh, what does it matter to other people what you put in your body? I'll tell you one thing, when I die it wont be the food that killed me!
-
Getting enough Vitamin D plays a big part in calcium absorption and can be more of a factor in bone health than a lack of calcium. Weight bearing exercises also tell your body to lay down more bone or keep the bone it has. Also interestingly, countries with the most dairy consumption have the highest incidence of osteoporosis and countries with the little to no dairy have the least incidence.
Ben Miller- amino acid combining is an old myth. In fact, the original source of the theory, Frances Moore Lappe, changed her position on protein combining. As long as you eat a varied diet, you don't have to combine amino acids in a single meal, you can have bean burrito for lunch and then rice for dinner rather than making sure you have both rice and beans to complement in the same meal. I also bet that studies also show that many non-veg people are also nutritional deficient. -
Missi,
If you check this, I just want to say I think you are awesome.
I love the show Boston Legal, and the character you played was nothing short of perfectly amazing. That show had a lot of characters in it's 5 years, but you stood out in such a unique and believable way.That character was HILARIOUS!
You rock.
Now this doesn't have anything to do with calcium. But, milk leaches calcium from bones, it does not help build your bones strong as advertised. Your body processes calcium most effectively by getting it from vegetables. It is the easiest way for your guts to utilize vitamins.
Now that I have talked calcium, I can gush some more.
You are an amazing actress, and I wish I knew what other work you are doing.
thanks for listening.
-
-
@Mark, you may also be interested in this vegan calcium factsheet about cows milk.
Most people in developed countries have been brought up to believe that our teeth and our bones can only grow healthily if we drink cow's milk. Over the last three decades we have witnessed a barrage of marketing campaigns designed to reinforce the idea that only milk can supply calcium in sufficient quantities to help us grow big and strong. But is milk really good for you? An increasing amount of research challenges the outdated notion that cow's milk is best and in fact shows that our consumption of dairy products is doing us much more harm than good.
-
As far as calcium from milk goes it turns out that the countries with the highest levels (1143mg/day) of calcium intake (largely from dairy) also have the highest levels of osteoporosis. Whereas countries with much lower (544mg/day) calcium intakes (mostly from vegetables) have virtually no osteoporosis.
So the common wisdom that we need to consume lots of calcium (esp from dairy) to avoid osteoporosis is apparently not true. We don't need as much calcium as we thought and we can get all we need from a plant based diet.
It would appear that dairy is bad for you in so many ways - as I have mentioned here before there are estimates that around 90% of all migraines are caused by cows milk.
If you are interested on the negative effects of dairy products then I would recommend reading Whitewash: The Disturbing Truth About Cow's Milk and Your Health.
Mark Osborne - www.veganhealthandfitness.com
-
I am blessed with a very supportive husband. Although he is actively in the flirting stage, not fully vegan, he and my kids eat whatever I make for dinner. Everyone has been completely on board... within my household. However, despite the fact that I have explained repeatedly WHY I have chosen to be vegan, despite the fact that I do NOT lecture anyone else about why they should be vegan, and despite the fact that I bring my own food with me almost everywhere so no one else has to cater to my dietary choices, I am still getting flak from almost everyone outside my house. Especially my parents who somehow feel that my change in diet and lifestyle is actually an attack on the way they raised me... go figure! That being said, I choose to ignore them all, smile politely, and occassionally flip them off. But, I have quit defending my choices. I feel better than I have in years, and considering my health issues, that means more than anything they have to say!
-
@Cabbage:
I fully agree with you on the taste issue. Many "meaters" as I like to refer to, are usually the product of a lifetime of meat and dairy consumption which results in atrofied taste buds. Being vegan eventually restores your taste buds and will give you the ability to taste the amazing variety in vegetables. A little bit of elbow grease with cooking recipes can result in some incredibly mouth-watering concoctions that will certainly knock any doubt of veganism right off.
Tofu itself is very tricky and demanding, its hard to get it right. Most people treat it like meat and thats why it tastes bad. Tofu is its own thing and has very specific ways of being prepared. Research is imperative when preparing tofu properly :)
-
Regarding the speech Steve Jobs gave at Stanford University in 2005, I've watched it a few months ago in August and I don't remember much of what he said, I'm going to watch it again when I get my high speed internet connection in a few days...
-
Personally I don't have any doubts that there's ways to be vegan and perfectly healty, maybe even a bit better if eating the right food... But I'm talking about TASTE, I'm extremely difficult when it come to food, for me all vegetables taste mostly the same and I don't really like it (I didn't remember the english word "vegetable", I had to search on Google for the translation, it's true)... To be blunt I don't really like the taste and/or look of most vegan food including tofu, so before burdening myself with that I would like to be certain it's worth it... Personally my opinion is that just thinking twice before buying meat and try buying it from someone who treat cattle correctly is enough...
-
I'm confused by the confusion about what's good. You can follow the path paved by food associations, or you can look at the epidemiological studies and animal studies (sorry) that show strong correlations between consumption of cow milk protein and cancer, vascular disease, and osteoporosis. Perhaps Professor T. Colin Campbell has the best research in this area, although Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. has excellent work with patients suffering from vascular disease. Dr. Joel Fuhrman has published excellent material in the area of diabetes.
Just because a food is "fortified" or has lots of other good stuff does not make it desirable. For example fish has lots of naturally occuring Omega-3s, however, it carries a heavy toxic load including heavy metals. I choose ground flax seed for Omega-3s. I seek a diet that contains rich nutrients without the excess salt, sugar, oils, fats, contaminents, flavor enhancers, preservatives, and other food additives.
Sure molasis contains lot's of minerals, but I don't want to spike my blood sugar level. Be careful around refined and processed foods. That's why I avoid processed foods that are called "healthy" by the manufacturers. It's time to look deeper into the foods that we put into our bodies. Be suspicious of food vendors, even if they sponsor a good web site.
-
This is awesome! I'm going to print this out and keep it as a pocket guide! I get the same reactions from people all the time, whether it's calcium, protein, or whatever...SO maddening! I try to be polite and give people a stock answer and assure them that I'm on-top of my nutrition. But if they push, then I offer to email them the results of my bloodwork where my dr. tested for virtually every vitamin, etc. and I was off-the-charts, i.e., well above what I need for everything, including B12, calcium, iron, & Vitamin D. Usually people who want to question/criticize veganism are those who are not educated about their own food choices. Education doesn't mean finding a bunch of research that suits your answer; it means finding all research, weighing all the information, and making an informed choice. So yes, suck it, Fred!
-
Some people can be so ignorant. Sad, really. Also, Blackstrap Molassass tastes just like an almost chocolatey version of molassass. Being a life-long vegetarian (and recently mostly vegan) I have had several bouts with anemia (low iron). I was told by an awesome midwife to put a spoonful of molassass in almond milk, soymilk, whatever, and it would give me the extra iron (and calcium) I needed. It doesn't taste bad at all, and when I put in it HOT coconut milk, that is the best! It keeps me from getting anemic if I have it every day (that and the essential vitamin b12 which all vegans need.)
Lonica Lee
http://www.organiclonicalee.com/
http://www.theorganiccompany.com
-
My son (who is now a very healthy 8 year old vegan) was born at almost 9 pounds, by 8 1/2 months was at 10.4 pounds. The cause...dairy. He is severely allergic to the point that the incidental dairy that was ending up in my breast milk(you now, casein in my tablespoon of non-dairy creamer, etc) was killing him. After that, I read everything I could get my hands on about nutrition, allergies, the rise of food allergies in our children (don't get me started on that one!), everything and we became vegan. Dairy was the first to go for obvious reasons but seriously...anyone who has ever read anything (Whitewash is a good jumping off book, though) would be crazy to ingest the stuff. Not to mention what dairy "farming" does to the environment or least of all the atrocities that the poor cows are subjected to. Need calcium from cows? Stay a bartender, Fred.
-
If I at all came about as sounding rude, that is never, ever my philosophy. I do tend to joke a lot and it can come across the wrong way in writing I suppose, but that is not what I intend. I only want to educate folks and if I have come across as insincere or rude, you have my apologies. -
About the whole dairy leeching calcium from your bones:
"Another food that can leach calcium out of your bones is protein from animal sources, including meat, seafood, eggs and dairy. The Physicians Committee suggests ingesting protein from plant sources instead, as they have not been found to leach calcium. Although some sources recommend ingesting dairy for calcium, the Physicians Committee cites a longitudinal study by Harvard University which found that women who drank more milk had more bone fractures than those who drank less, as well as other studies with similar findings."
"There are 28 amino acids in nature. The human body can manufacture 19 of them. The other nine are called "essential." We must get them from the foods we eat.
One of those "essential" aminos is methionine.
One needs methionine for many human metabolic functions including digestion, detoxification of heavy metals, and muscle metabolism. However, an excess of methionine can be toxic.
Methionine = C-5, H-11, NO, S
Methionine is a good source for sulfur. That's the problem. Eat foods containing too much methionine, and your blood will become acidic. The sulfur converts to sulfates and weak forms of sulfuric acid. In order to neutralize the acid, in its wisdom, the body leaches calcium from bones.
"Dietary protein increases production of acid in the blood which can be neutralized by calcium mobilized from the skeleton." {American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1995; 61,4}"
-
Ah, yes! Why do the Steves of the world feel they can bully us into making bad food choices?! Sometimes, I try to see moments like these as teaching opportunities and kindly explain how cow's milk actually leaches calcium from our bones, and all that jazz. But you, sometimes people are just too rude, I have no patience and I'm just not in the mood. In those occasions, I've told people I'm allergic to dairy ;) I know it's a cop out and I do try to discuss and educate whenever possible but the sad truth is, most people don't want to hear it. As always, I loved Missy's post! Keep 'em coming! Rude gestures and all :)
-
@ Michelle Taylor: Grats on the switch! I was a vegetarian for 5 years before I really knew the truth. Made for an easy segway into veganism though.
You are doing it right! The key is to ENJOY IT. Most people bite off more than they can chew, get discouraged and fall back to their old ways so take it easy and enjoy it. You will know when its time to step it up :)
@ Bonnie Boatwright: Congrats on your decision! Standing ovation to you for taking the plunge. If its your first time being vegetarian/vegan I would suggest taking it slow and steady. Going full vegan for a first timer can be very daunting and challenging, causing most people to think veganism is unhealthy and go back to their old ways. As I mentioned above, take it slow and most importanly ENJOY IT. If you get frustrated or feel unhealthy you are doing something wrong. Best of luck to you and I look forward to helping you and anyone else with the process. :)
-
I worked as a raw/vegan chef for a cardiovascular surgeon's restaurant. The Dr. supports a completely vegan diet to reverse diabetes, obesity and some cancers. While I was working there I came to learn that not only is dairy NOT a good source for calcium, but dairy products actually leech out the calcium from your bones.
This information did not come from some conspiracy theory vegan pamphlet, but from actual medical journals (YOu can find it in the Merck Manual as well) and the dr's mouth himself.
Think about it like this. Centuries ago we didn't have meat available at all times, sometimes it would take hunters months to catch a large animal, but fruits and veggies were always available in some form or fashion. So our bodies although they have the ability to eat and digest omnivore for survival needs, absorb the nutrients from plant based foods so much more readily and easily.
And the next time you get the protein question, a cooked steak only gives you 20-25% protein. 1 single serving of quinoa or dark leafy greens provides up to 70% protein that is much more easily absorbed by your body. Besides when a person asks me that question depending on the level of smugness, I tell them I get it from eating my hair.
I have never understood the fact that if I ate funions and drank coke zero all day I would never get these kind of questions, but I choose to eat a healthy diet full of an assortment of fruits and vegetables and I just might be destroying my health. Watch Food Matters, that will answer all your health questions. -
I worked as a raw/vegan chef for a cardiovascular surgeon's restaurant. The Dr. supports a completely vegan diet to reverse diabetes, obesity and some cancers. While I was working there I came to learn that not only is dairy NOT a good source for calcium, but dairy products actually leech out the calcium from your bones.
This information did not come from some conspiracy theory vegan pamphlet, but from actual medical journals (YOu can find it in the Merck Manual as well) and the dr's mouth himself.
Think about it like this. Centuries ago we didn't have meat available at all times, sometimes it would take hunters months to catch a large animal, but fruits and veggies were always available in some form or fashion. So our bodies although they have the ability to eat and digest omnivore for survival needs, absorb the nutrients from plant based foods so much more readily and easily.
And the next time you get the protein question, a cooked steak only gives you 20-25% protein. 1 single serving of quinoa or dark leafy greens provides up to 70% protein that is much more easily absorbed by your body. Besides when a person asks me that question depending on the level of smugness, I tell them I get it from eating my hair.
I have never understood the fact that if I ate funions and drank coke zero all day I would never get these kind of questions, but I choose to eat a healthy diet full of an assortment of fruits and vegetables and I just might be destroying my health. Watch Food Matters, that will answer all your health questions. -
Hello! I am starting my Vegan life today. I was so excited to see a post in my inbox earlier today. I just perused the health food store in my town - it is waaaay improved from 5 years ago when I first wandered in. I came home with an armload of good items. I am going to be researching Soft Drink alternatives. Diet Coke is a staple in my life and i gave it up today. Love it though and would love a healthy alternative. Thanks!
-
I am so with Vedge.... I think that if most people who consume meat and dairy would watch Forks Over Knives would think twice about what they put in their mouth. It is what changed me! I have not gone full fledged Vegan but I am vegetarian now and happy with it.
Available at:
Available at:
Join the Discussion!