Mmmmmm Cheese
As most of you have probably noticed by now, a lot of my recipes include dairy (usually as an optional). I have always been pretty anti-dairy. I am not a big fan of drinking milk and I long did without any other dairy products.
Recently I have re-introduced dairy to my diet in the form of cheese, yogurt (organic whole milk plain cream on top) and cream cheese (once again organic whole milk and minimally processed). I have yet to notice any ill side effects from this. I would definitely not say that it is a staple of my diet, but I don’t exactly avoid it either.
Lets start off by saying that milk is NOT truly primal. Humans have utilized the milk of animals for longer than we have grains but still not really that long when you look at the timeline of human development and existence. Have we been utilizing animal milk for long enough to adapt to it? Well definite not some people and maybe not any of us but I would like to think that we are better suited to it than we are grains.
If you are going to stray off the path of primal eating slightly then good dairy products may not be too bad of a way to go. Let me preface this… if you can’t digest dairy or if it causes you problems then definitely avoid it. Dairy is definitely not a necessity in any diet. But lets look at the breakdown of some of the dairy products that I do partake in.
Cheese:
1 ounce of whole milk mozzarella cheese has 84 calories. That is 2.5 from carbs, 55 from fat and 26.5 from protien. Thats a breakdown of 65% fat, 32% protein and 3% carbs. I would call that a pretty primal ratio. Add to that the 1 ounce of cheese has a good amount of calcium. Also of note is the omega fatty acid profile. 104mg of Omega-3 to 110 of Omega-6. That is pretty awesome.
Yogurt:
My yogurt is Stonyfield Farm Organic whole milk plain cream on top yogurt. One cup has 170 calories. 52 from carbs, 81 from fat and 36 from protein. That is a breakdown of 48% fat, 22% protein, and 30% carbs. Not as great a ratio as cheese but keep in mind that this yogurt has 6 active cultures and all of the benefits that go along with that!
Cream Cheese:
Mine is Horizon Organic Cream Cheese. 2 tablespoons of this has 110 calories. That is <2 from carbs (not a typo!), 9 from protein and 100 from fat. That is a breakdown of 91% fat, 8% protein and 1% carbs. That is a lot of good fat!
So, one could theoretically maintain a diet that includes dairy and still eat close to their primal diet. I like to mix my yogurt and cream cheese with different berries and nuts. It is truly delicious. Until I see some negative side effects from eating dairy, I will probably continue to not avoid it. I doubt that it will ever become a staple of my diet though.
P.S. The wife of SoG definitely can NOT handle the dairy and we all suffer when she eats it if you know what I mean 
What are your thoughts?
December 2nd, 2008 - 12:00 pm
I definitely crave cheese over milk. If it’s not in my house, I can’t eat it. However, I’m very susceptible to the late night quesadilla!
But I don’t have dairy on a daily basis.
Thanks for the post!
All the Best,
Andrew R
December 2nd, 2008 - 12:39 pm
I usually have 2 cups of milk a day, 1 cup each for 2 protein shakes. Not really a huge cheese fan myself. I eat yogurt at least once a week. I have never had any trouble with dairy though, I used to drink a half gallon or more of milk every day.
December 2nd, 2008 - 12:55 pm
I plead selfish and slightly ignorant on this one, and carry no shame for that. I never even look at the numbers or nutrients, but I eat goat cheese or feta every day of my life, often several times per day. Pretty primal otherwise, but god help the sole who trys to keep the goat cheese off my afternoon monster salad or the feta out of my omletes. Last time I drink milk, was 30 years ago.
December 2nd, 2008 - 1:15 pm
Andrew,
Quesadillas are quite delicious. You CAN do them primally too. I bet you would like to know how huh?
Coed Fitness Tips,
If you drink milk, you should see if unpasturized raw milk is available in your area. I think you would really like the difference.
emergefit,
Goat products are rather delicious. We probably nomadically domesticated goats even before cows too. Now you have some nutritional numbers to back up your habit!
December 2nd, 2008 - 3:50 pm
SOG,
I use cheese as a flavor enhancer. Not all the time… or sometimes 3 days in a row, it’s random. No ill effects I’ve ever noticed. However yogurt has a different effect on me (I do make it from time to time. I’ll make tzatziki with lots of cucumber and garlic)
whenever I eat yogurt (I also like the stonyfield kind) I get absolutely ravenous afterwards. And I’ll want to eat all day.
Now that I see from your post that the yogurt has 30% carbs….it’s starting to make some sense. Thanks for the info, quality post!
Marc
December 2nd, 2008 - 3:58 pm
Mark,
Your do it yourself skills are amazing! Fortunately I don’t experience that same problem with yogurt but I could totally see it with the higher carb reference. Maybe I don’t experience the same because when I eat yogurt, it is usually with berries and almonds as a kind of small “dessert” before bed.
December 2nd, 2008 - 4:17 pm
[...] Recently I have re-introduced dairy to my diet in the form of cheese, yogurt (organic whole milk plain cream on top) and cream cheese (once again organic whole milk and minimally processed). I have yet to notice any ill side effects …[Continue Reading] [...]
December 3rd, 2008 - 3:40 am
I agree. The Masai consume a lot of milk and they are in good shape equivilent to hunter gatherers. I tend to think of the Masai as the transition from hunter gatherer to agriculturalist since this tribe herded cattle but were not ‘settled’. So if you are going to stray then dairy is probably ok. Perhaps you could call yourself a pastoralist:)
But on a more negative note. Remember a lot of dairy products have been shown to increase insulin resistance. Whether this is highly processed dairy products or not is up for debate.
December 3rd, 2008 - 6:57 am
Dr Dan,
That is an interesting point. Do you have any studies for me to read? Most of the studies that I have read (the CARDIA study) report a DECREASE in in insulin resistance in overweight adults that consume yogurt/cheese/milk/butter.
The SoG
December 3rd, 2008 - 8:07 am
SoG,
I haven’t examined the Stoneyfield closely as our local stores only carry the lower fat versions. My wife eats Fage Total greek style yogurt. Full fat not the 2% or 0% versions. I believe it has only about 6 carbs for the 200 calories in it. Some also say the bacteria/enzymes in it eat the sugar, so its actually less. Its her breakfast most mornings with some unsweetened coconut flakes. I eat it every now and then. We’ll mix it with berries or such. I’ve also mixed it with low-carb protein powder. You might want to check it out. Seem a lot lower carb than the one you’re eating.
Joe
December 3rd, 2008 - 8:50 am
Joe,
I will have to check that out. I hear that greek yogurt is delicious. One thing to note about my breakdown is that the carb content in the yogurt is expressed as a percentage and as raw calories. So as a percentage of total calories, it may seem high in carbs. I still would not consider it “high carb” by any means. I think it has around 10g of carbs per cup.
The SoG
December 3rd, 2008 - 8:58 am
SOG,
Mis print….
I’m good but not that good
I don’t make my own yogurt…
Looking anxiously forward to your jerky post.
Have a great day!
Marc
December 3rd, 2008 - 12:46 pm
Hi, here is a link to a post i wrote about insulin resistance increasing with increased milk consumption and saturated fat consumption – http://darwinstable.wordpress.com/2008/11/23/insulin-resistance-from-non-carbohydrate-sources/
If you still need the reference then let me know and Ill try and find it. But I usually delete the papers once I have read and wrote about them.
Also another link you might find interesting is my post on the Masai – very healthy pastoralists who ate huge quantities of dairy. It explains their good health.
http://darwinstable.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/the-missing-link-what-are-we-adapted-to-eat/
I tried incorporating dairy and some unrefined grains back but it just didn’t work out for me.
December 3rd, 2008 - 6:43 pm
Dr Dan,
Some good reading, thank you. Maybe the fact that I have not really seen much ill effect due to the dairy is because I stick to the less processed versions.