Whole 30 and Dairy

So I'm starting the Whole 30 plan again tomorrow. I feel like I need a bit of a detox/kick-start after Jamaica and getting back into work mode. And this past weekend really made me want to stick with hard-core Paleo. I don't think I ever mentioned how Whole 30 went for me last time. My body just felt better - less upset stomachs, less headaches, etc. And I managed to lose 7 lbs over the course of one month (even during Thanksgiving). The two things that I cut out for Whole 30 in comparison to how I usually eat were alcohol and natural sugars, such as maple syrup and honey. What does this tell me? Apparently I consume a lot more alcohol and sweets than I thought.

So a few girlfriends came over on Saturday night to have a sleepover. Yes, we had a slumber party. Don't judge us. We watched Winning London, Dhoom 2, Pitch Perfect, and Jodhaa Akbar (though I think KAOS was the only one who lasted through that 3.5 hour-movie). Anyways, we ordered pizza for dinner; KAOS and I shared a gluten-free pizza with pepperoni. It tasted okay; nothing to write home to mom about. Unfortunately, by the time I fell asleep, it was misery: pounding headache, achy stomach. It was a non-Paleo food hangover. And it stuck around all day on Sunday with a pretty hefty dose of lethargy. So that's another reason why I'm sticking with Paleo. Because grains and dairy are bad, evil things. Evil, I tell you!

I got into a discussion with one of my friends about Paleo and dairy. I follow the type of Paleo where I don't have ANY dairy, including ghee/clarified butter or heavy cream. My friend said that he mainly follows Paleo, except for the weekends, but he does have dairy, like cheese which is a bit easier to tolerate from a lactose stand-point. He theorized that people who follow Paleo are making themselves lactose-intolerant by not eating dairy. I understand what he was saying. Trying to reintroduce dairy  products after eliminating them for a long time can be very unpleasant. The way I see it (non-scientific view) is that by continuing to eat grains, dairy, and legumes, your body has to maintain a defense against these foods. When you cut them out, your body gets the chance to relax and eventually stops being paranoid that you're going to do something mean to it. It gets used to your clean diet. When you reintroduce the evil foods, your body freaks out because it has forgotten how to handle those foods.

I think that he has a point, but only in the fact that I feel like you may feel more intolerant of dairy the longer you go without eating it. If you're like me, eliminating dairy makes you feel much better. So when you consume dairy again, the resulting stomach upsets seem that much worse in comparison to your new healthy baseline.

I've read articles and seen TV shows that claim that we as humans were not built to handle dairy. I agree with them. I've even seen the stat that 75% of humans are lactose-intolerant. Milk contains hormones that are intended for infants (of the respective species). Babies grow at much faster rates and don't have the teeth necessary to eat food that adults would eat, so milk helps deliver nutrients to aid growth and immune development. Here's an analogy for you...

Breast milk : babies :: cow's milk : calves.

Cow's milk is not meant for human babies, much in the same way that human breast milk is not meant for calves. Calves stop drinking milk once they are weaned. And I don't see any adults still drinking their mom's breast milk. So why do we consume something that's meant for babies of a difference species? Think on it...

Here's summary from the National Institute of Health (NIH) on lactose-intolerance:

http://consensus.nih.gov/2010/images/lactose/lactose_finalstatement.pdf

Some other articles to read about dairy:
http://thepaleodiet.com/healthy-eating/qa-with-dr-cordain-milk/
http://whole9life.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/cordainbastosdairy.pdf
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/dairy-free-dairy-6-reason_b_558876.html
http://paleosimplified.com/milk-no/