I was reading about a new book on cheese and what you are actually eating (and how bad it is for your body)…. and that motivated this blog – Cheese – What you don’t know will hurt you! This isn’t my first ‘what you don’t know will hurt you’ blog. It seems to be a running theme this year. lol
Anyway, like most people trying to become plant based eaters, I am finding it very, very hard to give up cheese. So when I am presenting these concepts from a new book to you, I’m actually listening to them myself to see what makes sense.
And if you find any of this information is of value to you? Pass it on to friends through maybe an email blast or your social media. I’m a big believer of passing good info on…. and that’s probably what I’m providing research and all my time, to give you as much information as I know and continue to learn.
My son was making fun of someone we both know when he said today:
“I brought home salad and cheese”.
Health and disease. lol
Thanks to the Plant Powered Kitchen for sharing some excerpts from Dr. Barnard’s Cheese Trap and showing us some important realities:
The 30 pounds of cheese that the average American has added to his or her annual diet hold 55,000 calories. You could drink a can of Coke every day and not get to 55,000 calories. Cheese has plenty of fat, as you know only too well, and people who eat cheese and other fatty foods are at much higher risk of developing diabetes, compared with people who avoid them.
To point out the obvious, most cows do not produce milk, any more than most women do. They only make milk if they have been pregnant. So farmers impregnate their cows every year. Surprising as it sounds, much of the milk that goes into the dairy products …..comes from pregnant cows. So when you drink a glass of milk, have a bowl of ice cream, or chew a bit of cheese, you are getting traces of hormones that surge during pregnancy.
The milk drinkers had more acne, and how much of a problem it was depended on the fat content. Those who drank the most whole milk were about 12 percent more likely to have had severe acne. But those who drank the most skim milk were 44 percent more likely to have had severe acne. In other words, fatty milk was a problem, but low-fat milk seemed to be a much worse problem.
Could a cheese sandwich make your joints hurt? Arthritis is something we attribute to older age or maybe to genetic traits passed along from our parents. But rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory condition, your joints do not just ache; they are also swollen and tender, and that means that something is triggering the attack. If you have rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, or any kind of inflammatory condition to a dairy-free, plant-based diet.
A great many people have turned away from meat-eating because of the grotesque cruelty involved. But dairying can claim no ethical advantage. The industry relies on impregnating animals, separating them from their infants, pushing them to produce as much milk as drugs and biology can manage, and killing them as soon as it no longer pays to keep them alive.
A cup of milk contains about 7.7 grams of protein, 80 percent of which is casein, more or less. Turning it into Cheddar cheese multiplies the protein content seven-fold, to 56 grams. It is the most concentrated form of casein in any food in the grocery store.
I hope this gives you some incentive and understanding about Cheese. I know it has helped me – especially that last line about cheddar cheese (my favorite).
Happy Healthy Eating,
