Home     Essays                                                                                                 July 2006

Milk. The current obsession with milk, and all dairy, reminds me of that Monty Python song about spam. Milk is in everything, or it certainly seems that way; as if there was a global conspiracy to contaminate everything we eat with this wretched substance. It is an unnecessary ingredient in so many products that it makes eating very awkward and difficult for those who have chosen to, or for health reasons; must, exclude dairy from the diet. Nowadays, this includes a substantial and ever growing number of people.

Milk and it’s derivatives can be found in crisps, bread, soya and quorn products, all manner of sauces and even in supposedly dark chocolate and gluten free products. In so many cases there is simply no good reason for it to be there; it is detrimental to our health and, not that I especially care; but surely also costing producers who by adding dairy to their products have needlessly excluded an ever growing number of potential customers.

Of course, regarding the twisted so called logic of manufacturers, they most likely use milk as a very cheap and readily available ingredient to suit their purposes and because it is literally addictive; it contains an opiate.

As problematic as it can be, at least until you become more experienced with buying and preparing food; I would recommend the exclusion of dairy from the diet for everyone. Some people of course have allergies and others problems with dairy and it can often take many years, even decades to realise such. I myself have excluded dairy as it became clear that it was a significant factor in my long term digestive problems (as gluten is also). For many years I had significant problems with severe bloating, paleness, intestinal pain and other less pleasant difficulties, all of which has improved considerably since excluding dairy and six months later; gluten, from my diet. However, even without these problems, various other issues should be considered. Apart from the mistreatment of animals, the majority of milk produced contains puss and blood, drugs and other chemicals that have been used in production, which involves artificially and unnaturally stimulating the cow to produce excessive quantities of milk. Even if you choose organic products the fact still remains that dairy is rich in fat and will contribute to poor health and weight gain. I was bloated and slightly overweight and have seen my waist dimensions reduced by 3 inches in the 18 months since excluding dairy. In any case we simply do not need these products; the calf does. The last time I looked; none of us have hooves or a tail. The argument that dairy is somehow good for you is ludicrous. Apart from the aforementioned points, no other animal continues to drink milk beyond infancy, and certainly none consume it from another species altogether. Infants never given breast milk and who are fed entirely on cows milk have been proven to be less developed mentally and physically than would otherwise be the case. Furthermore, according to some research; there is a substance in milk which can inhibit the body’s abilities to absorb calcium.

Excluding dairy can be difficult, especially with overcoming life time habits and cravings; and eating out is often a nightmare, but overall; the positives far out way the negative points of this. Be brave and ditch the dairy.