Let’s talk about the best and the worst milk or milk replacement products. First up, plain, old, everyday, regular milk. This is a no-go from the start. First of all, it contains the wrong protein called casein A1. Casein A1 is an inflammatory protein that’s present primarily in Holstein cows, which is that black and white cow you see in America. So, this is an inflammatory bomb. Number two, we forget that milk is mostly sugar. Yeah, there’s a bit of protein and a lot of fat, but there’s a ton of sugar in regular milk. Third, milk is designed to make baby cows grow quickly, so it’s loaded with insulin-like growth factor one. It makes cows grow quickly, just like baby sheep, baby goats; you are not a baby cow. You don’t need insulin-like growth factor, nor does your child. So put that back.
How about number two? Everybody’s into almond milk. Now almond milk has its own problems. Number one, you’ll notice that there’s a peel on this package of the almond, and the peel of the almond has lectins. Not only that, even if you found almond milk that has been blanched and peeled, a number of my patients with leaky gut and autoimmune diseases react to almonds. In fact, it’s on my no list in the new book “Gut Check.” So even if it says organic, just be very careful with almond milk.
How about oat milk? Well, number one, every oat milk tested has shown glyphosate and another herbicide that’s banned in the United States. But almost every oat product tested contains this herbicide, which stunts growth. So this isn’t even organic; it doesn’t really matter. Oats contain a protein that cross-reacts with gluten, which means it’s a no-no for people who are sensitive to gluten. And by the way, one hundred percent of my patients, when we test them, test for antibodies against gluten. One hundred percent. So that’s a no-no, unless you want a healthy dose of glyphosate and herbicides in your white milk product.
Soy milk, same problem with soy milk. Soy is traditionally now sprayed with glyphosate at harvest time, so not even soy is safe. Soy contains one of the nastiest lectins that’s been described, so if you want lectins and glyphosate in your milk, get soy milk. Not. There are other options. Well, there actually are increasingly better options. For instance, here’s walnuts. Walnuts make a great milk. Why be interested in walnuts as a milk? They contain a short-chain Omega-3 fat called alpha-linolenic acid, and they’re actually a pretty good source of alpha-linolenic acid. And if you’ve read my previous books or you’re reading the “Gut Check” book, you know that alpha-linolenic acid, the short-chain Omega-3 fat, is incredibly good for your heart health and incredibly good to prevent lipopolysaccharides, those little pieces of dead bacteria from entering your circulation. And now this is readily available.
How about coconut milk? Coconut milk’s another really good choice. I should mention that any of these pseudo-milk products, these white products that have some health benefits, you don’t want to get ’em flavored. Even vanilla flavoring is a no-no because if you see any flavoring or vanilla, you know there’s lots of added sugar to these products. Luckily, these are unsweetened and unflavored, so they’re perfectly acceptable. Plus, coconut milk has sometimes some pretty good content of medium-chain triglycerides, which may benefit you as I talk about in the books.
But there is a word of warning about any of these products, and that is what are you gonna put these products on? Quite frankly, you are probably going to be putting them on cereal. And while there are lectin-free cereals that I talk about in all the books, you’re still getting a huge load of carbohydrates and simple sugars. If you put ’em in your coffee, again, you’re looking for unsweetened varieties of these products to put in your coffee.
Finally, we’re beginning to see A2 milk in the stores. Now, A2 refers to casein A2 as opposed to what is in most milk, which is casein A1. Casein A2 is much safer. It doesn’t have the inflammatory property of casein A1. Most people in my practice who think they are lactose intolerant, the sugar in milk, in fact, are casein A1 intolerant. And when we give them casein A2, they don’t have a reaction. Now, the same thing applies to this milk as the other. It’s loaded with sugar lactose, and it’s loaded with insulin-like growth factor. So cow’s milk, even if it’s A2, is still not your best choice. On the other hand, we’re beginning to see A2 cream cheese and A2 yogurts, and there the sugar has been eaten by the bacteria and makes it a perfectly acceptable form of dairy to use.
Now, there are several other fake milks that are not up here that do deserve attention. Cashew milk is very popular. Unfortunately, cashews are part of the poison ivy family, and they contain a really nasty lectin. I can’t tell you the number of people who have heard some of my podcasts who had stomach issues and were using cashew milk and got rid of their cashew milk. And lo and behold, the problem resolved. Same way with rice milk. Many of my patients react to not only brown rice but also white rice. And rice milk, unfortunately, is mostly sugar. Again, if you add a flavoring to any of these milks, you negate any potential health benefits.
Speaking of negating health benefits, there are now lots of products based on pea protein, and pea protein sounds great. It’s vegan; it’s plant-based. The problem is peas are real lectin bombs. Now, there are options if you do protein isolates of peas or protein isolates of beans, the lectins have been removed. So pea protein isolate-based foods and bean protein isolate-based milks are actually okay from that standpoint.
The other thing, buyer beware. Pea protein is cheap. And a lot of companies who have a pretty good product, like for instance, macadamia nut milk, have started to add pea protein as a thickener. So you’ve got to read the label. Now, just because it says, for instance, walnut milk, read the fine print. Good news, this is just filtered water and walnuts. But sadly, every time I go to the grocery store and pick one of these up, I see another company that’s added pea protein to their nut milk to make it thicker and creamier. Just put it back if you see the word pea protein.
If you found this video helpful, I think you’re gonna love this one. But just remember, most of the meat in these fast-food restaurants is not from a healthy grass-fed pastured cow. It’s from an industrial process, and that’s not your friend.