216-SYNCPodcast_Dairy

[00:00:00] Jenny Swisher: Welcome, friends, to this episode of the Sync Your Life podcast. Today, we’re diving into the topic of dairy and its role in inflammation, hormone imbalance, and period problems. I have my own personal story with dairy that I will share, but beyond that, I know that this impacts approximately 80 percent or more of women today.

[00:01:15] Jenny Swisher: So it was definitely relevant for the podcast. So often, I see women in my courses and my consults who complain about things like belly fat, belly bloat, painful cramping during their periods, migraine headaches, and digestion issues. When we eliminate dairy, it can actually be life changing. I also know that women love their cheese, so just like me when I made the decision to go dairy free 12 years ago, it can be a hard decision to make.

[00:01:40] Jenny Swisher: By the way, did you know that cheese is actually addicting? Some research studies point to casein, which is a component of dairy, as being as addictive as some drugs. Casein triggers the brain’s dopamine receptors. Don’t just take my word for it, Nicole Avina, who has a PhD and is the Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at the ICANN School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, says this is a first step towards identifying specific foods and properties of foods which can trigger this addictive response.

[00:02:09] Jenny Swisher: This could help change the way we approach obesity treatment, and it may not be a simple matter of cutting back on certain foods, but rather adopting methods used to curtail smoking, drinking, and drug use. That is how addictive casein in cheese and dairy can be. Casein is a protein that’s found in milk.

[00:02:26] Jenny Swisher: So while lactose, which is a sugar found in milk, often gets the blame, close to 80 percent of women are sensitive to casein. This could be why many women can’t tolerate whey protein drinks or other forms of dairy more than others. It’s very likely that you’ve chalked up your discomfort after having dairy to being intolerant to lactose.

[00:02:45] Jenny Swisher: We don’t blame you. In fact, about 30 million Americans find that they’re lactose intolerant before they’re 20, which is especially prevalent in communities of African, Asian, or Native American descent. However, a reaction after having milk products could be more toward casein protein. With a casein sensitivity, the body develops an inflammatory response to the casein.

[00:03:04] Jenny Swisher: With a lactose intolerance, that occurs when the body lacks the enzyme lactase to digest the lactose. So they’re two different things, and either or both could be affecting you. According to Dr. Laura Bryden, one of my favorite mentors in the hormone balance space says, I quote, a big reason is that for some women stopping normal A1 dairy can dial down a mass cell and histamine inflammatory response to the dairy protein A1 casein.

[00:03:29] Jenny Swisher: I’ll make sure that I link up her article in the show notes so that you can read it further on your own. But I also want to share with you my personal story because I’m seeing that it’s quite analogous to the issue that so many women are dealing with, but they don’t know about it. Thank you In my twenties, my husband and I did a three week elimination diet.

[00:03:45] Jenny Swisher: It was high in fruits and vegetables, low in animal product, and completely void of dairy. At the end of the three weeks, I was having regular bowel movements for the first time in my life. That was not my story before the cleanse. My acne had cleared up entirely, and I started to feel amazing. No belly bloat, and I had the smoothest period of my life.

[00:04:04] Jenny Swisher: I knew something was up. I guessed that it had to be the meat products that we eliminated. So for close to two years after this little reset, I went off of all animal product as a vegan aside from fish. I guess I was pescetarian. I stayed lean and I felt great digestively for close to two years, but slowly my ferritin and iron started to tank.

[00:04:24] Jenny Swisher: This caused energy issues, stamina problems in my workouts, all the things I’ve talked about before as it pertains to low ferritin. I decided to go back to red meat and animal product and found my magic nutrition regimen to be a diet high in animal protein, healthy fats, but not dairy, and vegetables. I also find I do well without gluten, but I’ll save that story for another day.

[00:04:45] Jenny Swisher: I remember my mom telling me after this long journey. She said something like, oh, that’s so funny. You had a dairy allergy as a baby. Well, Mom, turns out that never really went away. That’s okay, she didn’t know what she didn’t know. Before we go on, just know this. I loved dairy. Cheese slices, charcuterie, shredded cheese, pizza, Cheez Its.

[00:05:05] Jenny Swisher: Goodness, we used to buy Cheez Its by the cart full. I was a huge fan. I wasn’t having it 24 7, but I was having it every day. And making the choice to eliminate it entirely was a hard one. Those addictive properties really are true, but I knew how good my body felt without it, and that that was enough motivation for me to stay off of it for 12 years.

[00:05:25] Jenny Swisher: When my oldest daughter was born 7 years ago, we found out quickly that she too didn’t tolerate dairy formula. She actually didn’t have a bowel movement for the first 7 days of her life. And when I reached out to my functional medicine doctor, she said, change the formula. It’s the dairy. So now my entire family is dairy free.

[00:05:42] Jenny Swisher: We know that my youngest is a little sensitive as well, and it’s just easier to go without it. So I want to share with you what Dr. Bryden has to say about dairy and hormone problems. According to her blog, she says, In a 2023 paper called Childhood Asthma, Allergies, and Risk of Premenstrual Disorders in Young Adulthood, linked food allergies in childhood to premenstrual mood symptoms in adulthood.

[00:06:03] Jenny Swisher: They don’t actually say that dairy is one of the main food allergies that they’re observing, but I would say it has to be. If you think your period symptoms might be at least in part from a mass cell reaction to A1 casein, the plan is to avoid all A1 dairy. As in, every day, not just during your bleed, but for at least three menstrual cycles.

[00:06:21] Jenny Swisher: You can probably still have goat, sheep, buffalo, or A2 products. That’s like Jersey cow products. But not lactose free dairy products because they still contain the casein. Casein and lactose are different and not low fat dairy because that accomplishes nothing because dairy fat is good for periods depending on where you live. It should be quite easy to access goat sheep and Jersey products You could also try some of the plant based dairy substitutes if you’d like But make sure that you’re avoiding ones that have added sugar or vegetable oil The reason that she recommends persisting for at least three menstrual cycles is because she says, quote, That’s how long it can take to get a good sense of whether it’s helping or not.

[00:06:58] Jenny Swisher: After your third period, assess. How were your menstrual and premenstrual symptoms? How was your period pain? And did your flow lighten? You may also be wondering if you can improve symptoms simply by switching to raw or organic A1 dairy, normal dairy. She says, So my experience is that the mass cell histamine type symptoms I’ve been discussing in this podcast Cannot be improved by switching to organic or raw.

[00:07:21] Jenny Swisher: Basically, because the A1 casein is still present in those milks. So the reality is, friends, we are what we eat. Our food makes up our cells, and if we’re eating foods that are inflammatory to us, then we’re increasing overall inflammation in the body. It makes sense then, to me at least, that for women, these issues would be exacerbated during our periods.

[00:07:39] Jenny Swisher: Because if you haven’t heard it from me yet, let me be the first to tell you, when our body is getting ready to bleed, we are engaging in an inflammatory response that is natural to us. Our menstrual period is an inflammatory response as our uterine lining starts to shed. If you’re suffering with painful periods, belly bloat, headaches, or even histamine intolerance symptoms, consider eliminating dairy to see if it can help.

[00:08:03] Jenny Swisher: Now, side note, everything these days, by the way, has dairy, especially foods at restaurants. So you might be thinking, oh, this doesn’t have any dairy, but trust me, it almost always does. My family has to go out of our way to ask that things not be cooked in cream or butter or other dairy products. The grilled fish and veggies from your favorite restaurant, it’s probably cooked in cream or butter.

[00:08:23] Jenny Swisher: So make sure you’re asking for it to be cooked in something different like a healthy olive oil. I should also mention that a lot of restaurants are also cooking things in unhealthy oils like vegetable oil, which is also inflammatory. So making this request is good for you, regardless of whether you’re going dairy free or not.

[00:08:38] Jenny Swisher: But going dairy free takes intentional effort, but it’s not difficult. It’s just different. Last week on the podcast, I talked about how my family has a weekly pizza night where we make homemade pizzas without the dairy. We don’t need the cheese. In fact, there’s lots of flavor when you use pizza sauce and oregano and a lot of spices and flavors with vegetables and meats.

[00:08:58] Jenny Swisher: The pizza is still delicious. I know it might sound weird, but I’m telling you, don’t knock it till you try it. All of your favorite foods can still be delicious without the cheese, and you don’t even need the dairy free cheese to replace it, in my opinion. My course comes chock full of weeks upon weeks of dairy free, gluten free, and refined sugar free recipes to take the guesswork out of this for you, so that you can be boosting the right foods that are conducive to hormone balance during different phases of your cycle, and eliminating the inflammatory foods that are inflammatory to most women.

[00:09:26] Jenny Swisher: I realize that this is a hard topic for all of us because especially those of you who love cheese as much as I did, it’s hard to refute the evidence, though, that many people are sensitive to it. I recommend trying an elimination diet like I expressed here, or at the very least, reducing your dairy intake to see how you feel, especially leading up to your period.

[00:09:45] Jenny Swisher: I know it’s hard to handle. I know when we love our cheese and we love our dairy, it’s hard to accept that it might be causing inflammation in our body, or that it might be causing symptoms that we don’t want. But we don’t know until we try. Of course, there’s always food sensitivity testing, but in my opinion, elimination diets work just as well.

[00:10:02] Jenny Swisher: That’s a conversation for another day, but I hope this speaks to you. If you’re someone dealing with painful periods, with issues around your, your cycle, if you’re dealing with that belly bloat and digestive issues, just know that eliminating dairy can go a long way. As always, my friends, thank you so much for tuning in.

[00:10:18] Jenny Swisher: Share this out with someone you know, and until next time, we’ll talk soon. Bye bye.