It Starts With Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways (19 page)

Phytates (anti-nutrients) in grains and legumes, stress, and the aging process all inhibit calcium absorption. Acute restriction of dietary protein reduces calcium absorption and may be associated with significantly higher rates of bone loss. (Adequate protein, on the other hand, increases calcium absorption, and stimulates new bone formation.)

In addition, bone-healthy vitamin D
₃
and K are both fat soluble—meaning they require some fat in order to be absorbed into the bloodstream. So a low-fat diet (like the kind we’ve all been advised to eat for the last twenty years) may impair your body’s ability to absorb these two vitamins, which can also impair bone health.

We told you it was complicated.

Finally,
too much
calcium is just as bad as not enough. This excess calcium generally comes from a combination of dairy
plus
calcium supplements
plus
the calcium added to a variety of products, from antacids to orange juice to cereals. Too much calcium increases the risk of developing dangerously high levels of calcium in the blood, which can result in impaired kidney function, kidney stones, and high blood pressure. Furthermore, recent studies suggest that taking calcium supplements actually
increases
the risk of a heart attack.

Of course, a “just right” calcium balance is still necessary for overall health (bone and otherwise). But it’s high time we correct the “facts” promoted by years of industry-sponsored marketing and addressed the third fallacy.

You can find calcium (in bioavailable forms and significant amounts) in a wide variety of nondairy, nutrient-dense foods: vegetables (like kale, boiled spinach, collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, and bok choy); sea vegetables like nori; meat and seafood (like bone broth, sardines, anchovies, shrimp, oysters, and canned salmon); and nuts and seeds (like almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts).

We think we’re in need of a summary here.

Your body likes balance. Remember Goldilocks? Not too little, not too much ... just right. And calcium doesn’t work in a vacuum, so too much calcium means your body is forced to compensate by adjusting levels of other vitamin and mineral stores, leaving you even
more
out of balance.

So how do you build strong, healthy bones without dairy and without supplements? The short answer is, just follow our guidelines! The food quality of our plan ensures a wide variety of micronutrition, includes adequate protein and fat, promotes a healthy hormonal balance and minimizes systemic inflammation.
^*

Even if you follow all of our recommendations, however, you’ll find that you’re probably still not getting as much calcium as the Powers That Be insist is necessary.

Know what?

We’re not that concerned.

Remember, it’s not about how much calcium we’re taking in. And studies support the fact that you probably don’t need as much calcium as you think if the rest of your nutrition and lifestyle are supporting healthy, strong bones (and they are, if you’re following our plan!).

So skip the milk, eat your greens, get some sunshine, exercise regularly, and enjoy
all
of the health benefits of a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory, hormone-optimizing diet—including strong, healthy bones.

The dairy discussion always brings up a series of questions, all of which start with, “But what about ...?” Let’s address some of the dairy options, and whether or not we’d classify them as healthy choices.

Don’t be confused—
pastured
is not the same as
pasteurized
. Pastured refers to the way the animal was raised (mostly outside on pasture) and the food it was fed (in the case of cows, grass). Pasteurization is a process by which milk is heated, then cooled, in an effort to delay spoilage by discouraging microbial growth.

Cows raised in a natural environment and fed a natural diet are inherently healthier. A pastured (and ideally organic) dairy product will contain a larger percentage of healthy fats like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega-3 fatty acids and a healthier essential-fatty-acid balance. In addition, pastured dairy contains larger amounts of carotenoids (a class of antioxidants) and vitamins A and E, compared with conventional dairy. Finally, pastured, full-fat dairy will not contain protein remnants from a grain-based diet, which can be a problem for people with serious grain or gluten sensitivities.

However, simply sourcing dairy from cows that roam freely only sidesteps
some
of our concerns. Pastured, organic dairy still contains the same lactose, milk proteins, growth factors and hormones as conventionally-sourced dairy, which means it’s still not such a healthy option.

Proponents of raw milk will say that raw (unpasteurized) milk is a superior choice, since the pasteurization process destroys enzymes (such as lactase) that help digest some components of the milk. However, aside from those issues,
all of the other concerns still apply to raw milk
.

If you’re dead set on consuming milk, raw is perhaps a “less bad” option—but if you live in the United States, you’ll probably have to hunt hard for it, as selling raw milk is illegal in many states.

As for us, we can’t justify working that hard for something that’s
still
not optimally healthy.

Fermented dairy (such as yogurt or kefir) does have some advantages over regular milk. Since the bacteria in these foods have broken down a significant amount of the lactose and dairy proteins, people generally have greater tolerance for it.

The most commonly cited benefit of fermented dairy is its health-promoting bacteria, which help to maintain the balance of gut bacteria. You’ve probably heard of
Lactobacillus acidophilus
, one species famous for its beneficial properties, but there are dozens of other “friendlies.” (These are some of the bacteria “allies” we referred to in the discussion of the nightclub in
Chapter 6
.)

While you can obtain some benefits from consuming these bacteria, the delivery mechanism may still prove imperfect, and individual tolerance varies greatly. Feel free to play around with unsweetened yogurt or kefir after you’ve done the Whole30, but make sure it’s still pastured
and
organic. Conventionally-produced, sweetened, low-fat yogurt will not make you healthier, even if there is fruit on the bottom!

The good news is that yogurt is not the only place that you can find beneficial bacteria. Unpasteurized sauerkraut and kimchi, kombucha, and fermented coconut water “kefir” (as well as a probiotic supplement, if indicated) are good sources of beneficial gut bacteria without the potential downsides of most dairy.
^*

In summary, the question of whether eating dairy is healthy is complicated and depends on many factors, but we prefer to err on the side of caution. Why eat something that has so many potential downsides, especially when you can get all the nutrition your body needs from other, healthier sources?

As with our other “less healthy” foods, we recommend blending the science and our experience from the Whole30 program with some self-experimentation. Remove dairy from your diet for thirty days, so you can evaluate the effects the milk sugars and proteins are having on you. Most of our clients—especially those with acne, allergies, or asthma—experience great relief from their conditions when they stop consuming dairy, but until you try it for yourself, you’ll never know for sure.

“I was upset and self-conscious because my vitiligo—manifesting as splotchy white ‘disease-like’ discolorations—was on my hands, face, breasts, and other areas. I thought I would have to pile on makeup forever and spend eternity in a light booth. Yet today, I am absolutely astonished—I have an autoimmune disease for which my doctor says there is no cure, yet I’ve had NO vitiligo outbreaks since the Whole30!!!! This program has paved the way for huge positive changes in my family’s life. Thank you!”

—Jessica G., Vancouver, Washington

We’re finished talking about all the food (and beverage) groups that we think make you less healthy. But we are not quite done.

We’ve discussed how these foods are problematic when eaten in isolation. They are psychologically unbalancing, hormone-imbalancing, gut-disrupting or immune-system-provoking; sometimes all four at once.

But we don’t eat these foods in isolation.

We eat them all together.

We have peanut butter on whole-wheat toast, with a glass of milk.

We eat three-bean chili with sour cream and cheese.

We eat cereal with soymilk for breakfast, make sandwiches for lunch, and eat macaroni and cheese for dinner.

Insulin resistance and leptin resistance don’t happen overnight—it’s a gradual process. The gut doesn’t become chronically leaky from one meal—it often takes time for persistent permeability to develop. Chronic, systemic inflammation isn’t always an observable process—it’s silent, subtle, insidious.

Sometimes, as a result of your collective dietary habits and their long-term effects, your bodily systems start to break down.

Enter autoimmune disease.

Under normal conditions, your immune cells won’t attack cells that are “self”—your own body. In certain cases, however, immune cells get confused and attack your own body, causing the damage we know as
autoimmune disease.

There are more than eighty known autoimmune diseases, and many more that are suspected to be autoimmune in nature. Organs and tissues frequently affected include the thyroid, pancreas, adrenal glands, red blood cells, epithelial cells (arteries and gut), the myelin sheath or neurons, skin, muscles, and joints. Autoimmune conditions, several of which we’ve already mentioned, include multiple sclerosis (MS), lupus, celiac disease (CD), Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Grave’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and pernicious anemia.

Do you remember the significance of maintaining an appropriate barrier between “outside” and “inside”? And how, when that barrier is compromised, we end up with a “leaky gut”?

As a result of that increased intestinal permeability, bacteria and their toxins, undigested food, and waste may leak out of the intestines into the bloodstream.