The meat munching and dairy slurping dilemma (Part 1)

Dangling a slice of prosciutto into my gob or munching on a bacon roll were two of my favourite past-times, but through time and some research I had learned that the animal products I loved to eat were creating a toxic environment inside my body. My immune system just wasn't able to handle the damage that was being done. For some time before my diagnosis, I had become interested or drawn to healthier eating lifestyles. I had read and researched about vegan, raw and alkaline diets and I was slowly learning that what I had been told...no, educated about our so called healthy and balanced diet was in fact mis-information. Being a nurse for many years, I believed that we need meat for protein and milk/dairy for calcium (when I say meat I am referring to all animal meats e.g. chicken, pork etc). In all the years I practised and did professional development, not one doctor, specialist or dietician told me that humans do not need these animal products to survive (or thrive). Doing my own research, I learned that the truth of the matter is that animal products actually do great damage to our human bodies and the increasing burden on our healthcare services is the direct result of our mis-information regarding the western diet.

Luckily the information I had read, meant that once I was diagnosed with breast cancer I was immediately able  to start putting a new diet into practise. Initially, I veganised my old favourites...spag bol, chicken salad, kormas, etc. Bit by bit, I started experimenting with making different dishes, utilising different spices and putting some effort into ensuring that my store cupboard had all the basic essentials to create any dish...just add veg. Thankfully, I'm quite a good cook (even if I say so myself!) and I enjoy pouring over recipe books. I must admit, I love it. I love it that I am eating healthily and it is effortless. I love it that I feel cleaner, lighter and more energetic. I love it, that my family see the changes I have made and have improved their own diets. There are still some things I miss but like an ex-smoker, as time passes so does the urge.

So what about the mis-information then...
Did you know that the majority of the world's population is lactose intolerant (which is completely normal, we are not biologically designed to continue drinking milk past infancy)? But many populations such as ours, where dairy is consumed as part of our standard diet, have developed a gene mutation which allows for lactose to be consumed past weaning. It is only in cultures such as ours that lactose intolerance is even considered to be a problem. Symptoms such as bloating, gas, diarrhoea/constipation, etc are common in our dairy fixated culture.(Link to symptoms of lactose intolerance)

The common symptoms mentioned above highlight the inflammatory nature of dairy and a study last year by Dr Karl Michaelsson (link to study) showed that high milk intake was associated with higher rates of fractures and death, especially in women. In countries where dairy and animal products are more heavily consumed, we see greater rates of chronic disease such as heart disease (e.g.link to study) and cancer (link to study).


Meat (all meat, including processed/cured and chicken!) can cause cancer and inflammation in (link to study) So you can see why someone such as myself, diagnosed with breast cancer and researching ways to protect myself from reoccurrence would cut out these products. And to be honest, this information is only the tip of the iceberg, I haven't even started discussing how animal foods contribute to the levels of growth hormones in our bodies...i.e. we eat these foods, they cause inflammation and we promote the growth of cancer (and other chronic disease) through these circulating hormones (link to study). There's lots of research, but it is difficult to understand (hmm... I wonder why?) and there is also great deal of research which discusses the nutritional value of animal products (funded by meat and dairy industry!) Plus, there is research regarding hormones which is not made publicly available and is of particular concern (link to study). To highlight these issues I have included this great article that discusses the animal products we eat...(Article link)

Basically, it is no surprise that we are getting fatter and sicker eating our western diet. And to those that stupidly say, what you eat has nothing to do with it, go and do some research! Here is a study about diet to get you started...The lower risk diet is vegan (link to study) but it is important to realise that our bodies are not designed to eat the levels of animal products and refined foods that we pack into it. Also, we get more than adequate levels of protein and calcium (which is absorbed more readily) from vegetables.


What I find fascinating are those doctors/researchers (mainly in the USA) who acknowledge that diet is a (if not the) crucial factor in our poor health equation and are promoting plant-based diets to reverse and cure chronic illness. Dr Dean Ornish is one of those doctors. He has successfully (and proven scientifically) reversed heart disease in his patients through a plant based diet. Many of his patients were considered to be on their 'last legs' by their own cardiovascular consultants, yet made full recovery. He also promotes the same diet to those with prostate and breast cancer with excellent results. There are so many studies to choose from if you want to read the evidence...just Google (scholar) his name. And for some excellent information regarding all things diet and based on published academic papers have at look at Dr Michael Greger's site, it is a fantastic resource (link to his site).