Why Dairy Products Make You Stiff

Last night I had some Parmesan cheese. Not a lot, just a little bit, over my beans and rice. This morning in my Bikram class I felt stiff, and was clearing my throat of mucus continually.

Doing the same thing every day, like clockwork, I notice variations like this. I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago - the day after I drank 500ml of organic milk.

Diary produces mucus in the body - not simply in the lungs, which causes you to clear your throat, but also in the body tissues.

I take a whey protein isolate each day. I also treat myself, from time to time, with a Cherri Berri frozen yoghurt with fresh fruit. Neither of these produce the same reaction as the small amount of cheese did, or the 500 ml of milk.

Diary is good for bulking up. That's why body building shops have huge tubs of whey protein concentrate and isolates. As the lady in the health food store told me: "Compared to rice and soy protein, whey protein concentrates have the most bio-available protein. It's more easily absorbed into the body".

In his "Rules for the Temple", Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura writes:

Excessive foppery, excessive drinking of milk, eating luxuriously like a big man, should be totally given up. We don't want gymnasts (body builders) in our math.

Diary is animal protein - "meat" in another form. Whereas the blood of the cow is salty, her milk is sweet. Otherwise the nutritional value is similar, as Srila Prabhupada would point out.

An early practice in ISKCON was to add salt to burnt milk to remove the burnt taste. Srila Prabhupada wrote to devotees to tell them not to do this, and that this is a "cause of leprosy." H.H. Jayapataka Swami pointed out to me that adding salt makes it again salty like cow's blood.

Milk is a natural food for infants. Small animals and birds are unable to forage for themselves, and unable to digest large amounts or difficult to digest foods. By nature's arrangement their parents are able to supply them - birds by regurgitating into the mouths of their young, mammals by producing highly concentrated milk.

After a number of years a human being develops lactose intolerance, which is a natural way for them to wean off their mother's milk and begin to eat solids.

However, it turns out that a significant number of humans do not become lactose intolerant. Investigation has shown that there are five distinct genetic adaptations for suppression of lactose intolerance.

This indicates that in geographical isolation different groups of humans discovered that instead of expending huge amounts of energy hunting animals for protein, they could get protein by milking cows. Their bodies adapted to this - in a different way in different places.

For a hunter-gatherer a nice big cup of milk is a great way to get protein - little energy has to be expended to get it, versus hunting down and killing an animal - and it's comparatively low risk.

For a subsistence farmer, it can be a life saver. When you farm locally for survival a failed crop doesn't just mean that the vegetable prices go up in the market - it means you starve.

People who could stomach milk had a greater chance of survival. It's not that human beings are "not designed to eat meat". They obviously can. I think the more accurate thing to say is that they are "not optimized for meat eating".

Mucus is the body's reaction to foreign invaders. Because milk is animal protein, it's identified by the body as foreign. While the body can absorb the proteins and bulk up on them, it also bulks up with mucus. This mucus can cause persistent cellulite, and it also makes the muscles stiffen up.

Modified milk, such as yoghurt, which has acidophillus bacteria in it that aid assimilation, and whey protein isolates, are more easily absorbed by the body than straight milk or cheese.

All foods have an effect on the body. Which ones we choose to take is influenced by what we want to do. If I had the choice between starving and drinking millk, I have absolutely no doubt which one I'd choose. If I had to be really big and strong to swing a sword, I'd be knocking it back by the keg. However, right now I'm opting to pass on the milk when I'm working on increasing my flexibility, because I have first hand experience of what it does to me.