Food Snubbing: Dairy

So far I haven't received near as much flack as I thought I would for my Food Snubbing blogs, but I have a feeling that is about to change today as I blog about my refusal to snub dairy. 

I'm going to start this blog out stating that I am not a dairy expert.  Far from it.  The biggest reason I still eat and drink dairy is because I've never seen ANY conclusive evidence that any of the evil/scary things I've heard proclaimed about it are true.  I make it policy to not blindly believe what I am told- I want to see facts to back it up. 

The biggest argument against dairy that I have seen is that adults don't have the enzymes necessary to digest it.  If you've been a long time without eating dairy you are right- You DON'T have the enzymes necessary to digest it.  Our bodies are pretty amazing things and if we don't eat something, anything, long enough we will have trouble digesting it when it is reintroduced into our diets.  If we continue to eat that food, though, our body will again start to produce the enzymes necessary to digest that particular food and we will be able to eat it again.  But this principle is not isolated to dairy- It's goes pretty much across the board with any food you stop eating and then reintroduce.  (Ever heard a vegetarian say "I don't eat meat because it hurts?"  If they ate it a few times, it probably wouldn't hurt anymore.)

Now, there are some people who are lactose intolerant, and these folks should not eat or drink dairy.  It's another one of those "duh" moments.  But get diagnosed by a doctor for this.  There's no point in cutting out a food if it's not necessary.

The big reason I personally keep eating dairy is that I like it.  I enjoy a glass of milk with my protein pancakes on the weekends.  Milk is a nice treat to mix with my protein powder on my higher calorie days, and a really good balance of carbs and protein for post-workout, as well.  I enjoy Greek yogurt mixed with whey protein powder for an afternoon snack, and I like to make my protein pudding with milk for dessert.  I love low-fat cheese sticks with an apple when I get the munchies.  If I take dairy out of my diet, I start going for really crummy snack and dessert choices.  In short, dairy helps keep me sane while I continue to strive to eliminate most processed foods from my diet.

Side note: I do buy organic for as much of my dairy, particularly milk.  I won't go into the details, but after I did some reading up on how milk is processed and what happens to the poor cows to get it into the carton, I couldn't stand to buy anything but organic.  AND it has more complete nutrients, particularly if the cows are grass-fed.  Plus, it has a longer expiration date due to it being ultra-pasteurized, unlike regular milk.  If you are someone who would like the occasional glass of milk but don't buy it because it goes bad before you can drink it up, look into organic.  It's more expensive, but there is less waste.


Many coaches will remove dairy from their clients diets when said client gets close to a competition or needs to lose weight quickly.  The thought is that the elimination of the natural sugar in dairy can expedite weight loss.  But personally I've usually lost weight faster when I have some dairy in my diet.  However, I will concede that this might not be the case for everyone.

Look, I'm not pushing you to eat dairy.  It might not be a necessary food for humans.  I really don't know.  But I hate to see people eliminating or feeling guilty about eating an entire food group that simply has not been conclusively proven to be bad for the population in general.

Food Snubbing: Corn and Potatoes

I want to apologize for taking so long to get to the next subject in my "Food Snubbing" blog series. Aside from my regular life of mother, wife, grandma, personal trainer, and homemaker, we've been dealing with the way-to-long installing of counters and back splash in a rather gi-normous kitchen (had no sink or counters in there for a week!), painting of said kitchen, plumbing emergencies, massive hail storm that required lots of insurance people and repairs, and trying to find a MIA ex-husband to get him to sign off so that my husband can adopt my teenage daughter. (After 5 years of virtually no contact, a small miracle occurred: He was located and signed the papers! Relieved is not an adequate enough word.)

Here is a picture of the beautiful daughter who is in the process of getting, finally, after 10 years, adopted by her REAL Daddy, the man who has raised her since she was 6:

And here is a picture of part of our newly countered, tiled, and sinked kitchen. I am SO enjoying it! (And yes- I am bragging a little. After the process taking 5 weeks, I feel entitled to show it off!)

At any rate, much of the above is still in the process of being worked out, but there is at least a bit of a respite for me to handle the next Food Snubbing Topic: Corn and Potatoes.

I'm not really sure that the snubbing of corn is all that common. I just heard someone at a Weight Watchers meeting once say that the reason Americans are so overweight is because we eat corn. Huh? My thought was that it probably has more to do with super-sized portions and eating too much processed foods than the sole introduction of corn into our diets.

I've also heard that corn is for animal consumption, not people consumption. Er...... How many plants do animals and people both eat? Yeah.... That one falls apart pretty quickly for me.

Besides: Wasn't it the Indians who introduced corn to us? Didn't they eat it? Weren't they pretty darned healthy?

Now, let's move on to potatoes. Actually, it's not all potatoes that have a bad rap. Sweet potatoes are looked at as the Holy Grail in the potato world. White potatoes are generally seen as too high in starchy, quick-digesting carbs. Well, yes... but this is starch the way God intended it to be. We've found time and time again that when we eat stuff the way God grew it, not the way man modified it to be, it's good for us.

Also, you know how many famines potatoes saw people through? Talk to the Irish.

So my short answer on potatoes and corn? As long as they are minimally processed, I'm eatin' 'em.

The trouble with both, I believe, happens when we start to mess with them: Same problems I listed about white flour waaaaaaaaay back when I did the wheat blog. We smash 'em up and mix 'em with things like white flour or sugar or shortening (or all!), and then fry them (with corn, this is called a hushpuppy), which makes them fatty and super-high-glycemic, and NOW you have a problem on your hands.

Ever had fresh corn on the cob? Or a potato baked to perfection with just a little salt sprinkled on it? Yum-o! But when you add butter and sour cream and bacon bits and cheese and... well..... you get the point..... When you do all of these things.... heck!..... you can no longer taste the food you used as a base to pile all this junk on. Just put the goo in a bowl to eat it, and save the poor, unsuspecting, perfectly healthy potato or corn from being guilty by association.

One thing I do want to point out about both of these foods, though (as well as peas), is that the body treats them more as a starch than a veggie. So if you have potatoes or corn with your grilled chicken, you need to add at least one more veggie to your plate for a truly nutritionally balanced meal. And potatoes or corn AND a roll? THAT truly is high-carb. Just sayin'.

So, minimally mess with them: Bake, boil until JUST done, steam, shuck, and grill. Then count them as a starch and not a veggie, and you can enjoy without guilt.