CHAPTER 8
Dairy Free

GROWTH HORMONE RESET: Days 16 to 18

There is a good reason you aren’t getting thin, despite your skinny lattes, nonfat cottage cheese, and nonfat fro-yos. These items that you think will lead to weight loss might actually be promoting weight gain. Despite your best intentions, your daily dairy could be making you fat.

That’s because dairy is one of the top foods that contribute to excess inflammation, a state that causes you to gain weight and become resistant to losing it. Remember that inflammation is your body’s emergency response system, a normal part of what your body does. When your body is functioning properly, inflammation should stop after seventy-two hours. But when prolonged, it’s a problem that I call “biochemistry gone wrong.” The impact of inflammation cannot be overstated. It’s a major contributor to obesity, among many other diseases.

By eliminating this irritant to the immune system, you will be amazed at how quickly you’ll get results. In addition to seeing a reduction in symptoms like fatigue, irritable bowel, anxiety, and even tight jeans, you’ll lose weight as your body’s inflammation subsides and your misfiring hormones go back into balance. I was stunned to learn that when I added one serving of dairy, after cutting it out for two weeks, I gained 3 pounds overnight—probably because my gut became inflamed and bloated, and I retained fluid.

With the Dairy Free three-day reset, you may be able to determine if dairy is what’s holding you back from reaching your ideal weight.

Self-Assessment

Do you have or have you experienced in the past six months …

A swelling of the lips, tongue, face, throat, or mouth?

A gurgling belly after a hunk of cheese or bowl of ice cream?

Bloating or an irritable bowel?

The feeling that a meal without cheese is a meal not worth having?

Diarrhea or constipation after make-your-own-sundae night?

An addiction to a milk-based treat, such as a latte or Frappuccino?

A stuffy or runny nose, watery or itchy eyes, coughing, sneezing, or wheezing after ingesting an afternoon yogurt?

Frequent skin reactions, such as a rash, itchy bumps or hives, or red skin?

An unsettling feeling like you are addicted to your favorite cheeses? A habit of being glued to the cheese station at parties?

A tendency toward sinusitis (sinus infection), but you have never figured out why?

A memory of having a rash in reaction to cow’s milk as a baby, but your mom told you that you outgrew it as you got older?

Anaphylaxis—a sudden and severe allergic reaction during which you can have trouble breathing, talking, or swallowing due to swelling?

Interpret Your Results

• If you have five or more of these symptoms, you are very likely intolerant of or allergic to dairy. The inflammation caused by dairy might be your roadblock to the size you want to be. Please read this chapter so you can reduce or eliminate your symptoms and lose weight. You may also want to consider getting yourself tested, as described later in this chapter (page 191).

• If you have fewer than five of these symptoms or are unsure, I recommend following this reset and seeing how your body reacts to three days without dairy.

From Dr. Sara’s Case Files: Gina, Age Fifty

• Lost 14 pounds.

• Hardest to give up were bread and cheese.

• “I have been overweight my entire life and know I am a STRESS EATER. I was able to lose 14 pounds, and I realized for the first time how empowered I felt. I never felt hungry, which made the process easy for me. I didn’t put a lot of thought into the ‘I can’t do this’; rather I took it day by day and watched the pounds drop off. It gave me the tools to look at my diet in a whole new way. My 14-year-old son said to me: ‘Mom, I am going to choose to eat healthy. You have been an inspiration to me.’ That was the best gift of all.”

The Science Behind Dairy Free

Humans’ love affair with dairy starts at birth. A mother’s breast milk is clearly known as the healthiest form of food for her child.

We’re designed for human breast milk, but cow’s milk? The jury is still out. In fact, humans are the only mammals that drink milk as adults. Time to rethink it? Most people—approximately 75 percent, including most people of African, Native American, and Asian descent—can’t make lactase, the enzyme that breaks down dairy, as they get older and therefore can’t tolerate dairy. Northern Europeans fare somewhat better and are more likely to keep making lactase as they age.

The bottom line is that dairy (along with gluten) is one of most common hidden food sensitivities. Dairy sensitivity is the result of long-term yet subtle violence against your gut. Maybe you took antibiotics for acne as a kid, or perhaps you take ibuprofen for a nagging injury. Quite feasibly, stress has been your constant companion. Or maybe you like to golf and have been exposed to endocrine-disrupting pesticides on the golf course. These small insults add up to create leaky gut. This syndrome makes food particles, such as the proteins in dairy, trigger an alarm in the immune system of your gut. Now you have a food sensitivity and low-grade but pathological inflammation—and it can make you fat, insulin resistant, congested, tired, foggy, depressed, asthmatic, and cranky.

If you think you are the only one cursed with a future devoid of ice cream sundaes and cheese plates, think again. Dairy allergies, reduced enzymes to break down lactose (the main sugar in milk), and sensitivities are on the rise.¹ As you can see in the figure on the opposite page, half of adults who are sensitive to gluten are also sensitive to dairy!

Dairy Causes Inflammation in Susceptible People

Inflammation is your body’s natural defense system: when bad guys invade, your white blood cells kick into gear and send chemicals called cytokines to protect you. But when inflammation shifts into overdrive and gets imbalanced, it can become the cause of many other diseases, including cancer, diabetes, dementia, and (as I’ve already mentioned) obesity. Any inflammation lasting longer than seventy-two hours is a problem and will start to poison you and your health.

Unfortunately, women are more vulnerable to inflammation than men, so we need to be even more careful—that is, women of all ages have more robust immune responses to invaders (bugs, vaccines, and food) than men, which leads to higher rates in women of autoimmunity, thyroid issues, infections, arthritis, oral health problems, and other conditions.² The reasons are not fully understood but may be linked to our lower levels of testosterone and higher levels of estrogen.³

As Ann Wigmore, author, holistic health advocate, and nutritionist, says, “The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.” Inflammation is poison when it doesn’t resolve, like a smoldering fire in your gut that makes you leaky, bloated, and gassy, and it causes trouble when you want to lose weight. Fortunately, it doesn’t always require a lengthy doctor visit to reclaim your health and weight; it just takes kicking inflammation to the curb by changing what you put on your fork. With my Dairy Free reset, you are giving yourself the chance to put out that fire and start anew.

YOUR ACIDIC SUPERHIGHWAY: WISE ADVICE FROM KRIS CARR

One of the key reasons we’re inflamed, feel off, and can’t lose weight is that we drive every day on the acid superhighway. What’s the major contributor to your high acid level? Dairy. Fasten your seatbelts, because I’ve got good news: you can fix that problem very easily by creating a proper pH, which reflects acid–alkaline balance in your own body.

Here’s the rundown: The pH scale runs from 0 to 14. Neutral pH is 7. A pH greater than 7 is alkaline, while a pH lower than 7 is acidic. “An understanding of how to keep your blood in an alkaline range is important for maintaining good health,” says Kris Carr, New York Times bestselling author of Crazy Sexy Kitchen. Kris works with a large community of raving fans to balance their pH levels for optimum health and harmony. (You can find her at http://kriscarr.com.)

Your body doesn’t just magically find pH balance; it works extremely hard to create it so that your biochemistry works optimally. When you make poor lifestyle choices or are burdened by toxins, your body has to work even harder. For good health, your body needs to be slightly alkaline. Carr explains that the Standard American Diet, which includes coffee, dairy, sugar, fried foods, soda, artificial sweeteners, and simple carbs, sabotages your chance at pH balance. “Most folks are bathing their cells in an acid bath by making poor choices three or more times per day,” explains Kris. “A menu like this keeps the body in panic mode all day, every day.” This takes a toll on the body, especially on the digestive system, liver, and kidneys. “Inflammation, allergies, arthritis, skin problems, mood disorders, depression, constipation, bowel issues, stress (physical and mental), and chronic disease love this diet,” she says.

Kris’s recommendation? Banish an acidic diet that is high in animal products (dairy included), processed carbs, refined sugar, booze, cigarettes, and coffee. Replace this with a more alkaline diet, consisting of leafy greens, wheatgrass, veggies, sprouts, avocados, green smoothies, and soups to flood your body with chlorophyll, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and oxygen. “Look at your plate. Peek in your glass,” says Carr. “What direction are you moving in? Burger, fries, diet cola, muffin, candy bar? Acid bath! Green drinks, salads, sprouts, wheatgrass? Alkaline super disco! Your goal is to make energy deposits instead of constant withdrawals.”⁴

Enough said. Be like Kris and dump the dairy. Your pH will thank you.

The Case Against Casein

If you feel burpy, belchy, or bloated after you eat dairy, you may have a sensitivity to casein, a protein in milk. Casein is a leading cause of inflammation among my clients who are overweight or obese. With this protein, we have yet another case of mistaken identity. Remember the problem of gluten and how it punches holes in your gut (the leaky gut) and how your immune system fights back with its weapon of choice, the antibody? It’s the same sad story here with dairy. Your sensitivity to dairy occurs when your immune system falsely identifies the dairy protein as harmful and inappropriately fires off allergic antibodies for protection. This interaction triggers a cascade of body chemicals that set off the fire throughout your body and make you hang on to weight. These chemicals include histamine, which causes symptoms that may include

• a swelling of the lips, mouth, tongue, face, or throat;

• skin reactions, such as hives, a rash, or red, itchy skin; or

• a stuffy or runny nose, sinusitis, sneezing, itchy eyes, coughing, or wheezing.

The most serious reaction to a milk allergy can involve anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening reaction that can occur rapidly. Food allergies (including casein in milk) are believed to be the leading cause of anaphylaxis outside the hospital setting. People who have asthma in addition to a serious food allergy to a protein, such as casein, are at greater risk for worse outcomes if they suffer an exposure and develop an anaphylactic reaction. Symptoms such as swelling inside your mouth, chest pain, hives, or difficulty breathing within minutes of consuming a milk product may mean you are experiencing an anaphylactic reaction and need emergency medical attention. Most of us won’t experience this scary phenomenon. But some of us will just feel bad, fat, and bloated after eating dairy.

Be Wary of Whey

Remember Little Miss Muffet, eating her curds and whey? Ever wonder what the heck that whey stuff was? Whey is the “serum” of milk—the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It’s used to make processed foods, such as bread, crackers, and pastry, as well as cheeses, such as ricotta. In modern times, Little Miss Muffet has to be careful not to eat too much whey, or she might get renamed Little Miss Muffin Top. While whey intolerance may not be as severe as casein, it’s still common.

If milk gives you the sniffles and a gurgling tummy, it might not be due to the casein. You may have a whey allergy or sensitivity, another type of immune overreaction caused by dairy. In the Western diet, dairy protein consists of mostly casein and approximately 20 percent whey. Some folks experience double trouble and are allergic to both casein and whey. Overall, whey protein leads to fewer allergies than casein. But for those who have a reaction to milk, whey may be the secret culprit because it is often dried into a powder and added to foods and supplements that you wouldn’t expect to contain dairy.

Can you be allergic to casein but not whey, or vice versa? Yes. The symptoms of both allergies are similar. I find that some of my patients, especially those who’ve been drinking smoothies made with whey protein powder for a while, develop a whey allergy. How do you know? The two Rs: remove and then reintroduce. For one week, stop eating anything with whey in the ingredients. See how you feel. For the second week, stop eating all dairy. See how you feel and compare that feeling with the first week. This is a great way to cultivate your body awareness!

A Line on Lactose Intolerance

Another potential reason you may have symptoms when you consume dairy is lactose intolerance. You may have friends who drink Lactaid milk or take enzymes before eating a dairy product. That’s because they are lactose intolerant, which means they lack sufficient enzymes to digest the main sugar in milk, called lactose.

A lactose intolerance is usually milder than a casein or whey intolerance, which as we’ve learned can cause hives and difficulty breathing in its most severe form. Still, it’s a major nuisance: when you can’t fully digest the lactose in dairy products, you get a civil war in your small intestine. The battlefield in your belly often appears later in life, with symptoms including gurgling, bloating, discomfort, gas, diarrhea, or gastroesophageal reflux (GERD). How do you know if you’ve got it? Ask your health professional for one of the following tests:⁵

Hydrogen breath test. The preferred way to test for lactose intolerance, this test is based on the measurement of how much hydrogen you exhale after breathing into a balloon-like container.

Lactose tolerance test. This test examines your gut’s reaction to a liquid that contains high levels of lactose. Two hours after drinking the liquid with lactose, a blood test measures the amount of glucose in your bloodstream. If your glucose level doesn’t rise, it means your body isn’t properly digesting the lactose-rich drink.

Stool acidity test. When babies or children can’t do the two previous tests, the acidity in the stool can be measured as fecal pH. When you consume dairy, fermentation of undigested lactose produces acids that can be detected in a stool sample. As described earlier in this chapter, dairy is acid forming, and when you cannot digest lactose, you create even more acidity (measured as low pH).

By now, you won’t be surprised to learn that there is a genetic tendency to have lactose intolerance. Unfortunately, a dairy intolerance—whether it’s casein, whey, or lactose—may mean that you are at risk for other health problems too. Drinking your beloved milk may increase your chance of diabetes, although debate continues.⁶ And research shows that a cow’s milk allergy increases your risk of mental health problems, like schizophrenia.⁷ So, if you do suffer from a milk allergy, be aware of these correlations and pay attention to changes in your health.

THE MILK MYTH

Most of us were raised to think that milk is required for strong bones. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture told us to drink three servings of low-fat milk each day—mostly because milk provides calcium, potassium, and vitamin D (which is added to milk). The rationale is that milk will help reduce bone fractures and blood pressure.

We’ve all seen the commercials: it does a body good, right? Maybe not. A growing number of experts believe that milk is a top allergen, the cause of many symptoms, such as constipation, sinusitis, rashes, bloating, and irritable bowel syndrome.

Given the number of people I see in my practice who are intolerant to dairy, I agree with a professor at Harvard School of Public Health, Walter Willett, M.D., Ph.D., who calls the milk recommendation a “step in the wrong direction.” It turns out that there’s very little science to prove milk consumption reduces your risk of bone fractures. Luckily, you don’t need to drink milk to have strong bones. Alternative sources of calcium include salmon, sardines, turnip greens, almonds, kale, bok choy, broccoli, spinach, and sweet potatoes.

If you are indeed intolerant to casein, whey, or lactose, don’t worry. Despite the convincing commercials from the industry, a panel of experts found that dairy is not essential to a healthy diet.⁸

The Addictive Side of Dairy

Did a friend ever have to literally pull you away from the frozen yogurt shop? When the cheese plate comes at dinner, do you elbow others out of the way and make a beeline for it? There is a reason you feel “addicted” to your favorite dairy treats. It turns out that they contain “casomorphins,” protein fragments that come from the digestion of the milk protein casein. A cousin of morphine and heroin, casomorphins are opioids that keep you addicted. Casomorphins are like crack, which is why so many of us have an addiction to cheese or lattes or cream in our coffee. With its drug-like effects, no wonder dairy is constipating, just like opiate painkillers. Overall, dairy is low in fiber and slows down digestion.

It’s good to have this information so you can understand your emotional and physical relationship to dairy foods. It can be tempting to turn to your addictive foods when you’re feeling under pressure, down, or just plain bored. While food can be soothing, it’s important to remember that it’s not a salve for stress. Interestingly, more than 90 percent of your body’s genetic expression—in other words, how those lovely genes play out or manifest for you—is determined by what you eat. You consume more than one ton of food per year, so this is a ton (literally and figuratively) of information for your genes.

How do you want to influence your genes? Feed them morphine-like substances or kale?⁹ By choosing to eliminate dairy from your diet, even for seventy-two hours, you could be doing your body a wonderful service to clear your addictions and begin with a clean slate.

The Link Between Dairy and Growth Hormone

You didn’t think I’d stop talking about hormones, did you? Let’s get to the effect of dairy on your hormones. It turns out that conventional dairy raises growth hormone and insulin. And growth hormone, along with cortisol, determines how much fat you deposit on your belly.¹⁰ Like cortisol, insulin, and all the other hormones of metabolism, growth hormone should be in the neutral zone for optimal functioning: not too high and not too low.

The problem is that synthetic growth hormone, known as “bovine somatotropin,” has been on the market since 1994 and is injected into about a third of the nation’s nine million dairy cows.¹¹ When injected once every two weeks, the hormone can increase a cow’s milk output by 10 to 15 percent.¹² You don’t need to be a scientist to figure out that if cows are injected with growth hormone to fatten them and you eat their products, you may also be affected.

Avoid dairy beginning with this three-day reset and for the remainder of your Hormone Reset, and if you pass the reentry test (chapter 10), buy organic dairy from cows without growth hormone.

The illustration below presents a balanced look at the pros, cons, and unsettled science of dairy. For citations, go to www.HormoneReset.com/bonus.

Dairy Free: The Three-Day Reset for Growth Hormone

You’ve now had a chance to see how good you feel after the three-day eliminations of conventional meat, sugar, fruit, caffeine, and grain. Now it’s time to heal further from going dairy free. In only three days you can reduce inflammation, reset your growth hormone and insulin balanced, and determine if dairy is making it impossible to lose weight.

Remember that you want to keep your eyes on the prize—getting lean for the long term. You now have the finish line in sight! Only six more days to go before you begin to add back one challenge food at a time, to track your biological response to it.

In the Dairy Free reset, you’ll be able to swap out your favorites with creamy but nondairy choices. My hunch is that with some creativity, you won’t even miss your milky companions.

DAIRY FREE RULES: DO THESE EACH DAY

When you eliminate dairy, you’ll make more room for alkaline-forming foods filled with fiber, minerals, and iron. Remember to continue the rules you’ve already implemented from the previous resets.

1. Avoid milk, cheese, butter, kefir, and yogurt.

2. Make sure you are getting enough protein in the form of crustaceans, cold-water fish, grass-fed beef, pastured eggs, seeds, and maybe beans (if they don’t cause weight gain).

3. Eat lots of fiber and fresh vegetables to fill you up. Continue to aim for one pound of vegetables per day, or even more.

4. Drink “milk”—just not from an animal (see Milk Alternatives on page 187).

5. Substitute conventional butter with pastured ghee, which has the milk solids removed and is casein free.

6. Make creamy non-dairy soups that will last three days.

7. Look for foods that are labeled “vegan” at your supermarket or your local health food store; this means they contain no dairy. Examples include “vegannaise” and nondairy cheeses. Just be sure to check the labels to ensure they don’t have casein. For instance, on page 279, you’ll find a recipe for crusted chicken stuffed with almond cheese and roasted red pepper. Yum!

SAMPLE MENU

A suggested dairy-free menu for resetting your insulin and growth hormone is on the following page. For nutritional data, check out the Notes section.¹³

MILK ALTERNATIVES

If you can’t have your tall glass of cow’s milk, you still have a plethora of other options.

• Almond milk. Great in smoothies or with your favorite (gluten-free) cookie. Make sure to buy unsweetened so you bypass the extra sugar.

• Coconut milk. Made from healthful coconuts, this milk has a distinct taste that can be great whether you drink it alone or use it for cooking. Scrumptious in shakes!

• Hemp milk. This is another milk in your arsenal when you are eliminating dairy from your diet. Hemp protein is one of the most digestible if you have gut issues.

• Coconut kefir. This product is gluten- and dairy-free—and it’s a great source of fermented food. Go to www.cocokefir.com, or make your own version.¹⁴

Supplements

Digestive enzymes can help lessen inflammation, and I encourage you to take them. We all make fewer enzymes as we age, so popping a few digestive enzymes before a meal can really help after age forty. Lactase can be taken as a chewable pill that helps you digest lactose if you’re intolerant,¹⁵ but my preference always is to get to the root cause, which may be imbalanced gut bacteria. You can also take digestive enzymes that help you break down casein.

Cell to Soul Practice

We all have to eat. But according to yoga’s sister science, ayurveda, it’s more important to pay attention to how you eat than what you eat. Personally, I believe both are important, but I respect this message from the sages of ayurveda, and you should too. Here’s the idea: mindful eating promotes good digestion. In modern life, it’s easy to scarf down a meal at your desk or in your car. I notice that sometimes I start to clear the plates from the dinner table at home before we are even finished! For this reset, focus on eating as a spiritual practice. Not only does this improve your digestion, it also gives you the opportunity to stay present to your experience.

Here are a few basic ayurvedic rules to follow:

• Don’t drink water during a meal; this dissipates the “digestive fire” you need.

• Eat your biggest meals in the middle of the day, when your digestion is strongest.

• Eat according to your state. For instance, if you are feeling tired, eat foods with spices for a little boost. If you are feeling spacey, eat grounding foods like warm vegetable soup.

• Don’t eat while reading or watching television, which distracts from the meditative nature of your meal.

• Rest after eating to allow your gut to assimilate nutrients.

Exercise

The right kind of exercise can reset your metabolic hormones to healthy levels, and we know this is important for getting lean. Most people think that exercising for forty-five minutes, continuously and at a moderate pace, will help them shed pounds. The research shows otherwise. Women don’t lose weight after sticking to this exercise regimen for three months!¹⁶

When your metabolism is broken by leaky gut and inflammation, one of the fastest ways to fix it is with interval training—which to me is a prescription to exercise like a cavewoman. Sprinting intermittently, followed by moderate exercise, works superbly to reset growth hormone, insulin, and cortisol. Most people refer to this form of movement as high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which is proven to work for overweight women.¹⁷ A recent meta-analysis of ten studies, which included 273 patients with heart conditions and a broken metabolism, showed that HIIT has double the benefit in terms of fitness compared with moderate-intensity continuous training.¹⁸

HIIT is a system of interval training that’s superefficient, with multiple rounds of high-intensity burst training interspersed with less intense exercises.¹⁹ The idea is to do it for a minimum of twenty-five to thirty minutes four days per week.

Here are a few pointers for how to do HIIT:

• Warm up for five minutes with your favorite type of exercise.

• Run for one minute, then briskly walk or jog for two minutes. If you can’t jog or run, walk as fast as you can for one minute, then walk at a less intense but still brisk pace for two minutes. Repeat this sequence for twenty-five to thirty minutes. Or you can try biking: do a five-minute warm-up, then cycle hard, with your highest possible effort, interspersed with a more moderate effort every other minute. After fifteen minutes, pedal backward for three minutes and then repeat the sequence.

• Finish your workout with at least five minutes of active stretching.

According to the founders, HIIT naturally releases HGH (human growth hormone), which helps you burn fat and gain lean muscle.²⁰ From my personal experience, it works, but science is also in total agreement: HIIT is way better than running or stepping for an hour!

Test Yourself

When it comes to looking at your reaction to dairy, there are several tests to consider.

• Take the hydrogen breath test (described earlier in the chapter, page 182), which will most accurately assess lactose intolerance.

• Measure your IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1), which is an approximation of your growth hormone level.

There are limitations to these tests, and they are best interpreted in the context of the rest of your health with a knowledgeable practitioner.

Notes from Hormone Resetters

“I think the most surprising thing for me was how much I’ve enjoyed the experience. I just didn’t have cravings. Having that ‘craving stress’ removed made eating healthy things more of a pleasure and also made implementing other things like exercise, sleep, and daily habits easier. Even though I considered myself a healthy eater before, I have a different relationship with food now.” —Kirsten

“I entered the program because I was fatigued, depressed, and obese. I kept remembering Dr. Gottfried’s quote, paraphrasing someone else, that imperfect action trumps perfect inaction. So I began the journey. While I experience more peace, more energy, have lost 14 pounds with no difficulty and with no cravings, the greatest gift has been that of an increased feeling of well-being. I’d say to anyone who learns about this program that the time spent in preparation and the time spent detoxing will change your life significantly. And I believe that the gains made with this journey are ones that are sustainable. The materials are so incredible. Just reading them and absorbing them are like taking a postgraduate course in how to care for soul, mind, and body.” —Anna

“I was stunned with my weight loss, and that really wasn’t why I was interested in the journey. I lost 12 pounds and 3 inches off my waist and 3 inches off my hips. My sleep improved, which was my overall goal. And I have felt so much calmer and at peace with myself. I feel like I have found my premenopausal self again.” —Deborah

Final Word

Dairy can feel healing. Think of a glass of milk before bed, perhaps with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Some people are fine when they consume dairy from high-quality sources, but the important takeaway of this reset is that dairy cravings and addiction are real, allergies and intolerances are on the rise, and both aspects may be contributing to your weight gain.

Dairy contains biochemical and emotional triggers of craving and addiction. Milk features L-tryptophan, which converts in the body to serotonin, the feel-good brain chemical, and melatonin, the sleep hormone. Milk also has choline, which has a soothing effect. Nature designed milk to contain casomorphins to help young mammals engage in nursing and adapt, yet modern milk production has increased your exposure to the opiate-like qualities far in excess of what was intended for the human species. Cow milk contains about seven times as much casein as human breast milk. Cheese requires approximately ten pounds of milk to produce one pound of cheese. That’s a lot of casein and casomorphin exposure. No wonder dairy can feel addictive.

If that’s not enough to encourage you to dump dairy for three days and the rest of the Hormone Reset Diet, consider this: because cows tend to be milked most of the year, they are often pregnant. In the final stage of gestation, cow milk (even organic) contains 33 times as much estrogen as milk from nonpregnant cows. You know from the first reset that estrogen pollution is on the rise; now it’s time to remove dairy in order to continue the aggregate hormone reset.

However, to get to the point of using dairy wisely, many of us need to take a step back before we take a step forward. This means a reset. Just like you reboot your computer every once in a while to make it work more efficiently, you can benefit from doing the same for your body. So, if you love your afternoon tea with a dash of milk or your morning Greek yogurt, this is not good-bye forever. It’s more like “See you later.” Commit to going dairy free, and then congratulate yourself. When you put your energy into this reset, you are giving yourself a chance for a new chapter in your book of dairy.