Confessions of a Former Milk Addict

Hello.

My name is Larissa and I’m a milk-o-holic. Reformed.

It’s true.  I drank milk for 41 and a half years. Drank? No, guzzled. Chugged. Gulped. I would easily go through a gallon every two to three days.  I put it on cereal, mixed it with Ovaltine, drank it with cookies, pizza and popcorn, cooked and baked with it.  I stopped just short of bathing in the stuff, although I’ve read that it can benefit your skin.

These days, however, it is a rare occasion that there is any cow’s milk in our refrigerator.

Why the change?

Milk was helping to keep me fat.  At my heaviest, I was 244 pounds.  Not good.  Let’s do a little Milk Math and see how much milk was contributing to my weight.

Milk was contributing to the Type 2 diabetes I developed several years ago.  With 12 grams of sugar per 8 ounce glass, 2 gallons a week was dumping over 2 cups of sugar into my body.  My body was not pleased.

The inflammatory properties in milk were more than likely making my lupus and fibromyalgia symptoms worse.  No actually proof on this one, except for the fact that,  since stopping my regular intake of cow’s milk, my pain and inflammation has improved at  least 60%.

So, what DO I drink now?

The answer to that varies.  For cooking and baking, I use soy milk. Same for cold cereal.  And for instances where I used to pour myself a tall, cold glass of cow juice…well, now I just don’t.  I drink lots more water now than I used to; in fact it has become my go-to beverage most of the time.  Every now and then, I’ll come home from the store with a quart or half gallon of dairy milk (NEVER a whole gallon!), but that is very much the exception rather than the rule.

Want to learn more about the benefits of eating LESS dairy?

Be sure to listen to Episode 033 of the Vegetarian Zen Podcast, “Reasons for Eating Less Dairy”.

Do you have questions about how to cut back on your dairy intake, or maybe a story about going dairy-free you’d like to share?  Please comment on this post, click the green “Send Voicemail” button to leave us a message, or shoot us an email.